Chest Pain, sign of Heart disease or…muscle related?

I am a 29 year old female. I have been having chest pains for the past 3 ½ years that started after the birth of my 1st child. The pains are either sharp and quick or kind of a dull lagging. Sometimes it hurts in my arm, back, neck or even my breast(it’s always on my left side). I have been to several doctors(even the ER) and had EKGs.

They all came back OK. I went to a Cardiologist and he did an echogram and I wore a heart monitor for 48 hours. The only thing he said was that I have a low heart rate (on

Average about 60bpm), that if I were older he would give me a pace maker and that I have minimal backflow in a valve but that a lot of people have that and never know so it’s fine. That was 2 years ago and I’m still having pains. I have since had another child and find that I always carry her on my left side. Could this be pains in my muscles? I read on the net that valves that backflow need surgery, why was I told it’s no big deal? My age perhaps?

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Dr. Joshua’s Answer:

If your cardiologist said the backflow is not significant, then treatment is not needed. Trust him on that one. In any case, the valve backflow is not causing the chest pain. As you have been seen by the specialists, there is probably not much I can add. I’m happy that the cardiological examination, EKG and echogram were fine. They indicate that you do not have heart disease.?

I doubt that your pain has anything to do with your heart. You are right in thinking that the pain is probably from the muscles. Other possibilities include bones, joints and nerves. What is needed here is a thorough clinical examination. It’s absolutely essential before any diagnosis suggestions can be made. See your GP, and if no specific cause can be found, consider a referral to a physiatrist.

Sometimes, a clinical examination will produce findings that will promp the doctor to order some imaging studies. In your case, some possibilities include chest X-ray, shoulder and cervicothoracic spine X-ray, cervical and thoracic spine MRI (sometimes, chest pain can be caused by compression of the spinal nerves due to a disc herniation or a tumor, almost always benign). One possibility that comes to mind, if the symptoms come and go in cycles, and there is a rash involved, is herpes infection.

Try to give your left upper body some rest and avoid carrying your child on the left side. You could try a 1- to 2-week course of ibuprofen (if you are not breastfeeding, and check suitability with a pharmacist / doctor) plus rest.

These are just some suggestions that come to mind. Talk to your doctor.

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