Angina

[don'twanttopanic]

Hello,

I am a 39 year old female who smokes. I am not overweight, but I haven't exactly folowed a heart-healthy diet.

For the past two weeks I've had sporadic sharp, but not intolerable, pains in the center of my chest. These come and go, and I notice them mainly, but not only, in the late afternoon(if that makes a difference?). I've had them mostly while sitting on the couch and also while riding in the car... sometimes while standing, but seldom while trying to sleep at night. The pains are a stabbing sensation, but as I stated- not intolerable. The pains come and go.

I have no pain when I take a deep breath and I am not running a fever. I have a light cough, but I do smoke. I have also noticed that I am lightly belching somewhat frequently even though i'm not eating very much. Maybe I am swallowing air due to worry?

I'm terribly afraid of making a big deal out of nothing, as I have no insurance and live in the US.

Could this be something benign, or should I go just to the emergency room or try to find a free clinic very soon?

Thank you very much.

[ehbland]

Hello, if you are still feeling these pains, go to the hospital and have it checked out. Your body is talking to you and you need to listen to it. I did, and I discovered I had 95% blockage of my left main and had surgery before I had a severe heart attack. The indigestion you are having is also a symptom so please get checked out if you have not already. One more thing, please stop smoking. Good luck.
EB

[Linda Gadz]

I have had chest pain for the past 7 months and have undergone a myriad of tests. Have you had any yet? How is your pain now?

[angelainpain]

I have ongoing chest pain and pain in my upper back also, what were your symptoms and what test did they do?

[Linda Gadz]

I have chest pain that is cardiac in origin brought on by stress and cold weather. Before I knew of its title, "coronary spasms or variant angina or Prinzmetal's Angina" , it certainly did feel like a spasm..sudden onset, middle of my chest..Last February I had several episodes that necessitated taking more than one nitroglycerine in order to make the pain subside. Now my cardiologist has put me on norvasc, a low dose, calcium channel blocker and I have not had any more episodes. In addition, I do have mechanical musculoskeletal chest pain that seems to be positional. A cause of this pain might be my thoracic outlet syndrome, whereby my pulse goes away when I hold my hand up. I also get costochondritis, an inflammatory pain in my sternum. The chest pain I have lately could be a symptom of lupus which is under investigation. So yes, there are many forms and origins of chest pain and all should be taken seriously.