I didn't know where to put this, because I
guess it could go into 5 or 6 categories.
I've had this issue for awhile and i'm
getting rather frustrated with my doctors'
inability to diagnose it. Btw, I am a 32
year old male.
2 months ago I started getting chest
pains. Bad tightness in the chest, some
small shooting pains, but generally just
very uncomfortable. These pains happen
more often when I smoke, but they're
always there. Nowadays it just feels like
someone is sitting on my chest. I don't
have bad shortness of breath, though,
which is strange.
I initially thought it was a heart
problem. (i've had lone atrial fribulation
once). That scared me, obviously. I saw a
cardiologist and they ran me through every
test imaginable- stress test, ekg, 48 hour
monitor, blood work, echo, you name it.
Everything came back fine. The cardio did
notice that I am in tachycardia (fast
heartbeat) more than 40% of the time, but
didn’t think much of it and didn’t
think it was causing this pain.
So I went back to my physician, got a
chest x-ray. That came back normal. The
doctor did say something about emphysema,
but he then did a breathing test which I
passed and did real well on (especially
considering I smoked). He then said
something like "they just thought it was
emphysema because of your frame". (i'm
rather tall and skinny).
The doctor also thought it may be
gastro-intestinal, gave me meds for that.
That didn't help, and I don't believe it
is anyway.
Emphysema seemed crazy for a 32 year old,
but I quit smoking anyway. I've not smoked
now (other than a slip here and there) for
3+ weeks. But that doesn't help. The chest
pains/tightness is still there. Maybe
it’s the lungs, maybe the heart, maybe
gastro-intestinal… I have no idea.
There's nothing worse than when a doctor
says they're at a loss, and that’s where
I am.
So i'm opening it up to ideas/suggestions.
