Chest pain, slightly different.

Nakatomi2010

So, some of you folks may, or may not, remember some of my previous posts about my chest pains. It seems as though I may have a partial remedy. Eventually I settled on describing the pressure as a "gas pressure", and my wife and I went out and got Gas-X, as if flipping a light switch the bulk of the pain is now gone. The bulk of the pain being the "Holy crap my heart is going to explode" to a more "Holy crap it's going to cramp up"...

So... What could possibly be wrong with me?

The newer pain comes at it's worst after eating Chicken Selects meal from McDonalds, I regularly eat bagels from Einsteins Bagels and pizza from Pizza Hut on a regular basis, but feed me that McDonalds and BAM, chest pain...


Thoughts?

Kosenjou

Standard disclaimers apply: I am not a doctor or other health professional, I don't even play one on TV.

Have you been checked for Gall stones/gall bladder disease? Where is the pain located? Does it radiate or is it purely point pain?

Nakatomi2010

I was checked about a year ago, it was clean. No gall stones or gall bladder issues.

Pain is in the left side, behind my breast, there are some instances where I have, what I'd call, an itchy nipple while the pain is taking place (Will also take this moment to say I eat the chicken with BBQ sauce. Other occasion similar pain occured was after eating nachoes and salsa, now that I think about it)

Occasionally the pain will go out my arm.

Heart has been checked out, it's in perfect working order. (EKG about two years ago when "gas pressure" pain first began)

admanb

Acid reflux seems like the obvious possibility. Have you tried something like Prilosec?

Nakatomi2010

It was the initial recommendation of my gastro doctor, however as it did not solve the pressure problem I stopped...

Woulkd Prilosec interfere with Gas-X?

Also, I'm only 24...

Doxa

Of course nothing said here is as valuable as the doctor. Can I get answers to these questions?

Onset (Sudden, progressive?)
Quality (sharp, dull, burning sensation?)
Radiation (where do you feel the pain go?)
Severity (scale of 1-10?)
Timing (constant, intermittent?)

EskimoDave

you could try a better diet...

Nakatomi2010

Doxa wrote: »

Of course nothing said here is as valuable as the doctor. Can I get answers to these questions?

Onset (Sudden, progressive?)
Quality (sharp, dull, burning sensation?)
Radiation (where do you feel the pain go?)
Severity (scale of 1-10?)
Timing (constant, intermittent?)

Onset: Sudden, two years ago after drinking a two liter bottle of mountain Gamer Fuel, I caused myself to have a panic attack after reading that the bottle had a near "lethal" amount of caffeine in it (I drank it all in a short period of time)

Quality: Before Gas-X it was an internal pressure of which made me feel as if something was about to burst inside, such as my arteries or heart. (Decided to try Gas-X after I found farting and burping relieved the pressure) After Gas-X it's a burning/dull/achy pain, some might describe as crushing after eating chicken Selects meal from McDonalds with BBQ sauce, or nachoes and salsa.

Radiation: I can feel the pain radiate into my back and down my arm, it's "home" tends to be arond my armpit, then into my chest, back and left arm.

Severity: When it's not so bad, 3 or 4, at it's worst probably an 8 or 9... The gas pressure made it a nice 10, so Gas-X is my savior there.

Timing: After I eat. The gas pressure was if I hate too much (We'll say half a large pizza), with Gas-X I now get the appropriate "I'm full" feeling instead of "Holy shit my heart's going to burst" feeling. Now I get the different "uuggghhh, pain" feeling in my chest.

Doxa

radiates? which arm(s)?

are you under any stressful activity when this happens? Do you at least feel like you have been through stressful activity like running a race when this happens?

crushing, can you feel your heart trying to work harder, but is being prevented?

Sacrilege

You had an ECG two years ago? Get another one. Your diet sounds pretty hideous, not trying to be mean or anything but, uh. Yeah. Do you get any pains like this when you do any thing physical? Like go up a flight of stairs or something. it sounds cardiac in nature, any difficulty breathing? Shortness of breath?

PeregrineFalcon

Sacrilege wrote: »

You had an ECG two years ago? Get another one. Your diet sounds pretty hideous, not trying to be mean or anything but, uh. Yeah. Do you get any pains like this when you do any thing physical? Like go up a flight of stairs or something. it sounds cardiac in nature, any difficulty breathing? Shortness of breath?

No shit. McDick's, large pizzas, nachoes and cheese ... if this is your everyday eating, you need to fix that. Like, right fucking now. Chest pain radiating to your left arm screams "cardiovascular problems."

Sacrilege

On the fast track to CHF. Just cause you're 24 doesn't mean your is heart invincible. Chill out on the terrible food, even the healthiest food at mcdonalds is dripping in fat, and go see your doctor. Lay off the mountain dew, any kind of energy drinks, that's a good way to get a cardiac arrythmia. Start light exercise on doc's recomendation and just, holy. It's up to you man, it's going take willpower. Lots of it.

Nakatomi2010

Just to add some quick additional info, I walk about a mile a day at lunch, I weigh about 150.

I do get a little out of breath when going up stairs, and my pulse rate goes up, but after a couple moments it calms down...

Haven't had caffenated beverages in 2 years...

Also going to throw in a minor addition here...

Since I woke up this morning the pain is a kind of dull, yet persistant pain slightly to the left of mein nipple....

PeregrineFalcon

Nakatomi2010 wrote: »

Just to add some quick additional info, I walk about a mile a day at lunch, I weigh about 150.

I do get a little out of breath when going up stairs, and my pulse rate goes up, but after a couple moments it calms down...

Haven't had caffenated beverages in 2 years...

Also going to throw in a minor addition here...

Since I woke up this morning the pain is a kind of dull, yet persistant pain slightly to the left of mein nipple....

Please go back and read what you just wrote there.

I do get a little out of breath when going up stairs, and my pulse rate goes up

You're twenty-four. Do you really think you should be out of breath and have a notably elevated pulse rate from climbing a flight of stairs? That's the kind of thing you expect to hear from octogenarian chain smokers, not a young man.

Go see a doctor. Not an emergency room visit, but go see your GP. Tell him about what's been going on, and when he starts telling you to cut out the fast food and increase the exercise - listen.

Nakatomi2010

The doctor's have actually prescribed me anti-anxiety pills or some such. Their general feeling is that it's all in my head, they've done an upper-endoscopy and found that everything was fine.

I however know it's not all in my head.

I am making a bigger effort in changing my eating habbits, however stress, and efficiency of delivery is cutting into that.

Weird thing is though that I'm not that unfit, when in high school I ate about the same and I've always weighed as much as I do, and went for nice long bike rides and such. Even now I walk at least a mile a day, the actual count I'm sure is higher due to me walking to the bathroom so frequently.

Granted, I'll also be the first to admit that yes, I'm not as fit as I was back in high school because I don't go biking nearly as often, but still...

Regardless, I am eating healthier now, (The pizzas I ate were always hand-tossed cheese & peperoni anyways, Pizza Hut's healthier choice)

I didn't eat McDonalds everyday, it was about two weeks straight, and lunch only. The McDonalds I ate the other day was after a week and a half of just a bagel for lunch.


Also, minor note since my wife just reminded me of it, I have these weird lumps on the left side of my necks, about half an inch in size, two clustered together, and a third I just found near my collarbone, from just below my skull to my shoulder the muscle feel tight, and gets worse if I tilt my head to the right. I do not have this issue when I tilt tot the left....

Sacrilege

Go to a different doctor. An endoscopy is just your GI tract, nothing to do with your cardiovascular system. The dull pain just lends further creedance that it might be cardiac in nature. Any family history of cardiac problems? Are you on any other meds besides the anti anxiety stuff? Drinking, drugs?

Nova_C

This is very reminiscent of what I've been going through - chest pain mainly on the left side, although I also get skipped heartbeats. I've been checked out thoroughly and I'm supposedly really healthy. Here's the thing:

Drop your sodium intake. Like right the fuck now.

That is all.

EDIT: McDonald's, Pizza Hut, nachos, you're probably consuming sodium at a rate more than double the DRA and it could be playing havoc with your heart. Even if your blood pressure is fine, all that sodium is going to really cause you problems. Mine are immediate and telling - I get chest pains a couple hours after eating and my heart rate starts to climb. Then I get anxious and my heart rate spikes.

Check the sodium content of what you eat, you'll be amazed. You want to keep it to no more than, I think, around 1500mg a day. Don't eat fast food anymore, or pizza, or chips. Stick with fresh vegetables and fruit and healthy cooked meals like chicken stir fry or whatever you like.

It may not seem fair. "Man, I don't want to have to give up all the food I like!" I know it sucks. I don't know what your situation is, but for me, it was either that or lay awake at night with a speeding heartrate constantly wondering if I'm about to die. And this started when I was 28 (Almost 30 now). And you're going through this at 24? You really need to check your diet.

witch_ie

It kind of sounds like you might have a pinched nerve or something to me with the pain radiating. I think you should definitely get checked out by a medical doctor first, but then maybe consider getting an adjustment from a chiropractor if the MD can't find anything.

Bowen

Drop your salt intake, eat a little better, get a little bit more exercise. Sounds like hypernatremia or similar issue, basically, electrolyte imbalance. Since you're definitely not prime age for heart attacks, I doubt it's the case, although your diet would suggest it's not far off.

Chest pain is one of the symptoms of these imbalances, similar to the pains you feel from a heart attack.

It doesn't have to be just Hypernatremia, it could be the potassium or chlorine that are imbalanced, they all share similar symptoms. Similar to what you feel when you're dehydrated. Your diet would definitely point to an excess of salt intake. Go to your doctor, obviously.

Grislo

Nakatomi2010 wrote: »

Even now I walk at least a mile a day, the actual count I'm sure is higher due to me walking to the bathroom so frequently.

Regardless, I am eating healthier now, (The pizzas I ate were always hand-tossed cheese & peperoni anyways, Pizza Hut's healthier choice)

Also, minor note since my wife just reminded me of it, I have these weird lumps on the left side of my necks, about half an inch in size, two clustered together, and a third I just found near my collarbone, from just below my skull to my shoulder the muscle feel tight, and gets worse if I tilt my head to the right. I do not have this issue when I tilt tot the left....

I think you're not being quite as healthy as you should be when you feel that you need to explain yourself to random people on a forum. Look, a pizza with pepperoni and cheese is never, ever a healthy choice. It just isn't, whether it's hand-tossed or sprinkled with fairy dust.

Counting your trips to the bathroom in your total daily exercise is also rather bad. You really need to get more than what you're getting from a mile of walking around every day. A mile doesn't really cut it at all.

I think your diet and whatnot wasn't why you started this thread, but you should take a long, hard look at those things. Not weighing terribly much isn't an indication that you're healthy when you're eating badly and getting very little exercise.

Actual advice on the topic: You need to push your GP more. Get a second opinion, or whatever one can do where you live. Mention everything, neck lumps et al. Prepare a note with everything from home, and don't take no for an answer.

Nakatomi2010

Costs me about a hundred bucks to go visit a doctor, after having recently gotten let go from Circuit City (For obvious reasons) my new job has terrible healthcare, I have a 1250 deductible, and no Co-Pays, meaning that every visit I do is full price until I've spent 1250, and I can't afford that, nor change my healthcare.

Welcome to the American Healthcare system....

Sacrilege

Then the onus is on you buddy, start taking better care of yourself. You can put off going to the doctor until you can afford it, in the mean time start taking a look at your lifestyle and figure out where things could be better. It's not hard to make a couple of tuna sandwiches before work, or, grilling up a chicken breast after work. The better you go when you're young, the easier off you'll be as you get older. At 24 you should not be having chest pains unless it's lifestyle induced or a pre-existing condition.

Hahnsoo1

Even with your qualifications of your eating habits (hand-tossed pizza is somehow healthier??), you really need to eat better. If you eat out at fast food (including pizza joints or family restaurants or Denny's or any other restaurant that isn't high class enough to serve wine with dinner) more than once a week, you are eating poorly. You can't compare your metabolism now to what it was in high school. At 24, your body is adjusting and slowing down. One way to eat healthier is to simply prepare your meals at home. A homemade lunch is nearly always better than what you can buy, in terms of cost and health value (although you'll miss out on those tasty Chicken Selects... it's for your body, do eet!).

Still, if Gas-X somehow relieves your pain, you may want to think about smaller portions and less fatty foods. If you are having pain when waking up, it also points more to gastrointestinal than cardiovascular (reflux often occurs during sleep, because of the horizontal position). Still, if you didn't get an ECG done, you should probably get one at some point to rule out Atrial Fibrillation (or other similar persistent heart anomalies).

I'd also try the anti-anxiety pills. It does NOT mean they think it's all in your head. There are various sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system responses that you cannot consciously control (like the fight/flight/fuck response). This doesn't mean your brain is out of whack... it means that you may have an anxiety disorder, which for all intents and purposes can look exactly like what you are describing. People with anxiety disorders cannot control when their attacks happen (that's part of the definition). It doesn't hurt to take the medication. If it works, you've identified the problem! If it doesn't, you have something solid to bring back to your doctor.

By the way, when people say "onset", you're not supposed to include details like drinking a 2-liter of Mountain Gamer Fuel once 2 years ago. That's definitely not relevant to your current status. Besides, you have to drink something like a dozen bottles of the stuff to even come close to having caffeine-related problems. The average adult will have to consume 5 to 10 GRAMS of caffeine to get caffeine poisoning. Mountain Gamer Fuel has 20.29mg/100mL of Caffeine, which means a 2-liter bottle has about 404mg. You'd need to drink at least 12 2-liter bottles within an hour to come close to poisoning values.

Amphetamine

From someone who has acid reflux (I've got it under control now) and suffered through gastritis, you need to change your diet. That doesn't mean not ever eating those foods. But christ man- eat some grilled chicken and rice and some fruit. Drink something that isn't soda (gatorade is pretty awesome). You don't have to eliminate everything you like but it sounds like your digestive system isn't what it used to be.

Hit up some Prilosec OTC as well. 30 bucks for a months worth of heartburn treatment. Should help get you on the right path.

EDIT:

also if your stomach is feeling especially shitty eat applesauce, rice, bananas, and toast. drink apple juice and non-acidic drinks. Tea is actually really bad for a sensitive stomach because of how acidic it is.

Beatnik

Sounds a lot like gastritis.

Highly unlikely to be heart at your age unless you plan on being a record breaker.

Any trouble at the other end? Constipation can lead to a lot of upper GI issues, particularly colicky type pain.