Resolved question:
Personal Profile
Male
23 years old
Height 1.70 m
Weight 73 kg
Ethnicity Latino
What is your problem?
Pain in the left side of the chest
Description of symptoms and time when you felt well.
Three years ago I felt a pain in the left side of the chest located between about 2 inches up from the left nipple, the arm pit and my back. It used to be a pain that appeared occasionally but now I feel it most of the time. It is an area of about the size of a ping pong ball. The pain is a bothering mild pain which I have never felt before. If I constrain the area by breathing I feel the pain. If I move my left arm from an elevated position to the side of the body I feel the pain. The level of pain and the area have not changed since it first appeared three years ago what has changed is the duration of the pain. I have been playing soccer and during the exercise the pain seems to go away.
iii. How did you notice the problem? Did the problem manifested gradually or suddenly?
I was sitting in the shower when the pain suddenly appeared.
iv. Your medical history or family history with respect to the problem
Migraine, none familiar history related
v. Present medication, if any.
None
vii. Recommendations by treating physician i.e. treatment plan or suggestions by any physician you might have consulted before.
None
Submitted:
4 Days
Category:
Allergy and Immunologist
Hello,
Thank you for your query at DoctorSpring.com
I understand your concern.
You are suffering from what is known as atypical chest pain, which could be muscular in origin or could also be due to costochondritis, where there is inflammation of the cartilage that connects all the ribs together. It does not seem to be due to any cardiac cause considering your age, neither it seems to be related to the lungs. I can rule out GERD too, which is also one of the reasons of reflux disorder, as you have not mentioned any reflux symptoms. Still to be on the safer side, I will advise you a Chest X-Ray and ECG.
As of now, I will advise you to try a mild analgesic for a week. You can try Advil or Aleve twice daily after food for a week. You can update me is there is any improvement on taking the medicine. Also, if you do get the investigations done, kindly share the results.
Regards.
Could the inflammation of the cartilage have persisted even for almost 4 years? What kind of Chest X ray should I ask to be done?
Hello,
If medicines are not taken the inflammation can be chronic, and keeps showing up intermittently.
I will advise Chest X-RAY both AP view and Laterl view.
Regards.
Hello,
If medicines are not taken the inflammation can be chronic, and keeps showing up intermittently.
I will advise Chest X-RAY both AP view and Lateral view.
Regards.
Hello,
Since the pain disappeared on taking Aleve it confirms the diagnosis of muscle related pain or costochondritis and rules out something sinister.
I will advise you a CT chest and share the reports with me.
Regards.