Chest & Shoulder pains
 

Hey

figured I should just mention this, cause it's been going on and off for a while now, but been quite bad recently.

The whole thing is- I quite often get this dry, twisting pain in my chest, but it feels really deep, and it travels up to the back of my throat- and to my left shoulder.

Uhm... Even when I don't have the pain, my left shoulder is tender, especially around the socket area and hurts to touch or move- and if I sleep on my left side, I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and start crying because the pain is so bad, it's almost like a cramp- but more... dry (if that makes sense) and not as sharp or clear.

It's affected my right shoulder once or twice... but it's 99% of the time my left shoulder.

I get really short of breath sometimes too, like I can't draw oxygen in at all, and when I take really deep, quick breaths I get this lump pain in the centre of my chest...

Can't think of anything else to mention- 'cept I smoke, but only solidly for a year or two... On and off or socially since I was maybe 10 or so (heh)

Any ideas what it could be? I've passed it off as growing pains for nearly a year, but I'm 17, and I think I've pretty much stopped growing:-D

Any advice would be appreciated.

any chest pains you should see a doctor asap cos it could be serious. if the pain is really bad, and you can breathe, go to hospital immediately.
when i was approximately the same age as you, from what you've described, i had something similar. they ruled out a heap of things, heart, lungs and reflux, then it went away. i never got a diagnosis. but they ruled out the majorly serious things.
but it is important to see a doctor ASAP!!!! just because it wasn't serious for me, doesn't mean it won't be for you.
take care

yes, i think that you should treat this as serious.
any chest pain is serious - especially in the left side!
There are a lot of things it could be.
go to ur doc yeah?
xoxo

no, I'm on holiday... I can go in about a week or two... Thanks for the advice, it's died down a little bit now. I was just freaking out a little cause it was really bad.
Thanks for the advice, and when I get to the UK, I'll be sure to get it checked out when I get time, thanks again.

I think you've got two separate things going on there. Does your left shoulder/ arm have pins and needles when your chest is hurting? Have you got an ED and specially make yourself sick? Is the chest pain worse when you are breathing in or out or does it remain constant? Is the chest pain worse after exercise?

As you say it twists around to the back of your throat it's got me thinking of digestive problems; heart burn, though answering the above questions would be useful. It could be that with this you get nervous and start having a panic attack. When it happens it's best to sit down and stay as calm as possible with a friend or watch tele in case it has set off a panic attack. If you purge it can change the pH in your blood and therefore make you breathe differently to correct it. I think seeing a doctor would be a good idea

Do you lay on your left side all the time and is it worse in the morning? How long has it been going on,have you seen anyone about it and is it getting worse? Can you move your shoulder properly and does it ever feel like it's popping out of the joint/ your body looks different just below your collar bone (you've got either a dint that you've not on your left side or a lump that you haven't got)? How often do you get the pain and how long does it last?

In the middle of the night it may be it cramping that causes the pain. This tends to be what people wake up with sudden pain in the middle of the night in a joint and I can say from my own experience that it hurts like mad so I can sympathise. But it could be other things and muscle spasms can sometimes come on in the middle of the night which can be VERY painful but don't quite feel the same as cramp. When it gets bad try and put a hot water bottle/ heated gel pad over the area, it may help and Ibuprofen should also be helpful. You can also by heat pads which heat up themselves and are specially designed for use on shoulders and stick to them so that might be worth a try. It would be worth seeing your doctor about this as a course of physio/referral to an orthopaedic surgeon/ xrays depending on what they think may be the route to take.

Sorry about the million questions, it will just help me.

man... I took so long to write it down, I got signed out... so this time I'm gonna be short and quick.

No ED.

Nope, don't remember ever getting pins and needles in my left arm when I've got chest pains, but sometimes after I wake up, my left arm will be more clumsy than my right one, and twitchey, two or three of my fingers will shake quite badly, no extra lumps or bumps (or lack of) on my left shoulder than my right that I could find anyway, but it is very tender to touch- I can move my left arm as much as I can my right- without any pain most of the time, but it does crack and pop a hell of a lot more than my right one ever has... I always try to sleep and lie on my right side...
Incase it counts for anything, my left arm from the shoulder down is tired after typing, and feels kinda floppy.
The pain has probably been going on and off (by that I mean once a monce or less) for about a year, until recently.

The pain can last from anything from a few hour to days. The chest pain is sharper when I'm breathing in. Exercise could make it worse (but that's probably just cause I smoke a lot) and since I'm on holiday, I haven't really exercised much...

If it helps, when I was 14 or younger doctors thought I might suffer frm mild-panic attack's, because I had multiple occaisions where I couldn't breathe.

Hope that helped some, and thanks for the advice, I was just totally freaking out yesterday, today the pain isn't so bad- but I will go see a doctor when I get to the UK, especially if it gets as bad as it was yesterday again.

Thanks again for the advice, hope that managed to answer your questions.

About the arm thing, a lot of what you're describing is neurological signs so problems with your nerves. It could be that something is going on in your shoulder (whatever is causing the pain) to squash/pinch a portion of a big bundle of nerves there is there. Or, and I don't want to scare you but, it could be so be something going on within your brain/spinal cord as this is the area which tends to cause twitchiness and stuff and that tends to happen when you're more tired/when you're just waking up. Have you ever had a fit/seizure? It can be just a tiny minor thing going wrong, just some nerves firing worngly that can cause these problems but it's definately worth getting it checked out. The in your shoulder could be that it slightly slips out of place every now and again which is why I'm wondering about the nerves being squashed. This is very common if you've done something like dislocated your shoulder in the past.

The pain may be from your intercostal muscles which are the muscles between your ribs and often these can spasm causing pain. That tends to hurt more when you breathe in, though it could be a few things such as your lungs or your heart so it's always better to get it checked out. It could be your stomach and oesophagus but I would expect not real change in it with your breathing

hey
thanks for the advice and suggestions, some of it's worrying, but I do feel a lot less panicky now that I've had some advice, thanks.
I'm getting to the UK on sunday, so I'll get it checked out on Monday, or as soon as possible after then.
Thanks again for the replies and advice.