The Student Room Group

Have you ever had a crushing left chest pain?[If its not a heart attack,what is it?]

OK...I've been feeling these left chest crushing pains for like 3-4 seconds ....where I unconsciously crush my chest and I can't move for those 3-4 seconds. It's a crushing sensation on a small area....like the circumference of a tennis ball. I've felt it twice today....and its been about 1-2 times a week....and I've begun to notice it's regular occurence for about 2 months now.

Over the past 3 years I've had a diet high in saturated fats and cholesterol because I have a humongous sweet-tooth. However I do also eat my veggies, fruit and meat.

But I'm not near overweight. And none of my family has had any heart problems.

And I had a blood test about 2 months ago (for an ear infection) and the doctors didn't find anything abnormal. I don't know however whter there are different types of blood tests.

Quoting the NHS [* indicates that applies to me]:

The common symptoms of a heart attack are:

crushing central chest pain, or mild chest discomfort, *
shortness of breath,
clammy, sweaty, and grey complexion,
dizziness,
nausea and vomiting,
restlessness,
coughing,
a general feeling of being unwell, and
a frightening sense that one is about to die.

The pain that you experience when having a heart attack often starts in your chest and then travels to your neck, jaw, ears, arms and wrists. Sometimes, it travels between the shoulder blades, back, or to the abdomen.

The pain can last from five minutes to several hours. Moving around, changing your position, or resting, will not stop, or ease, the pain. The pain may be constant, or * it may come and go and feel like pressure, squeezing, or fullness.


The factors that increase the risk of a hear attack include:

increasing age (men over 45 years of age, and women who are over 55 years of age),
smoking,
being overweight, or obese,
high blood pressure,
high blood cholesterol level, maybe *
a diet high in saturated fats (animal fats), *
diabetes,
a family history of heart disease, and
lack of regular exercise maybe *,



I don't tick off many points...but what could it be then? Or do most of you guys experience this too?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Jesus christ it's a heart attack.

That's my diagnosis.
Reply 2
It could just be really bad heartburn. Go to the docs :smile:
Reply 3
Could be angina? Get it checked out.
Reply 4
Just because you have a headache doesn't mean you have a Malignant Brain Tumour. You have to take things in context. You meet very few of those symptoms, therefore it is most likely something else.

I would speculate (obviously I am no trained medical professional, therefore my theory is by no means correct) either something along the lines of a trapped nerve or I might even say it might be a partially collapsed lung [not a big section, just a small section lacking air].
The next time that it happens, sit up straight, take a few deep breaths, do several stretches on the arms and the chest to open it up.

Once again, I am not a trained medical professional and I am simply speculating, visit your GP if you are concerned about this problem.
Reply 5
It is really, really unlikely to be a heart attack at our age (rare bizarre conditions notwithstanding). I can't tell you what it IS though, without you seeing a doctor.
Reply 6
I've had this a couple of times.

The intense pain. Lightheadedness. Tingling. Shortness of breath. etc
I also never exercise (mild cfs) and have a family history of heart problems(well.. in the older people)

I'm pretty sure it's just indigestion though, because rennie/remigel/whatever they're called; seem to help.

(As does burping...)

Buy yourself some and see if it makes a difference.

Because people do go into hospital thinking they're dying and it turns out to be indigestion. It can be bloody painful.

Or it could be a trapped nerve?

It's very easy to read symptoms and convince yourself that your dying. I do it often. lol.


Go get checked for piece of mind!
Reply 7
Yep. At best, he'll tell you it's a pulled muscle or some other benign cause. If it's more serious.....at least you'll be taken care of by a doctor and not a mortician.
Reply 8
Go see a doctor- they're the only people who can actually tell you what's going on. We're not doctors- and even if we were it'd be hard to diagnose you properly over the internet.

It could simply be bad indigestion- many people confuse that for a heart attack. However, it's better to be safe than sorry and to go see your doctor!
My advice,go and see a doctor as soon as you can.It may turn out to be nothing but it could equally be a sign of something else.

I started having left sided chest pains about 18 months ago and ignored it.I eventually had a heart attack at the age of 17 and the doctors discovered I had an undiagnosed heart condition.

Now I'm not saying that is the case with you as there are many other causes of chest pain such as indigestion,anxiety and muscles simply stretching across your ribs which sort of "stick" but any prolonged chest pain that occurs frequently needs checking out and no-one of us on here are trained doctors.Explain your worries to your GP and it's likely he'll do an ECG to check out your heart.Hope you get it sorted.
Yeah I get that crushing sensation there sometimes, but it usually goes away after 20 seconds of breathing.
Acid reflux? I had something very similar to you—and I thought I was having a heart attack!
Reply 12
Many people complain about this. It is, the vast majority of the time, heartburn.
my moms a doc and when we were talking about whether the heart is actually on the left side of the chest,she said that if the left hurts its actaully a problem with your digestion..

If you are indeed having a cardiac problem your left arm and jaw are supposed to hurt too...
Muscle I'd imagine.

I've had this before, very acute and sharp, it's only when I breath in deeply though and muscles are getting used.
Reply 15
Hmm it could just be heart burn, or bad digestion... Do you suffer anxiety? Do your family have a past of anxiety problems? I get pains in my chest like the ones you're describing when something bothers me. Our family has a past of anxiety problems (palpitations in chest etc.)

It's a good idea to go to the docs and check it out anyhow - it's better to go and nothing being wrong than leaving it and something is wrong.


Edit: as above it may be muscles! I get chest pains after windsurfing, because the muscles aren't used to 'opening' up. I was advised to do Yoga to stop this, however my chest pains don't just randomly occur - it only lasts about a day after a session.
I'm not 100% sure that my condition is similar to the OP, but when I say "crushing" I mean that when I breathe out it hurts, like I'm expanding my frame beyond its normal parameters, though thankfully not to breaking point. (Not sure if heartburn normally exhibits itself during breathing.)
Wow- I have exactly the sharp pain you mentioned! It feels something cuts into you when you breathe in, and if you carry on breathing , it will really hurt. Mostly happens to me during exercise though. I just stop breathing for a few seconds and hesitantly take another breath, hoping the pain is gone.
Reply 18
I get that too pretty often as well as a sensation that someone's standing on my neck (my brother, two years younger than me, used to jump on my neck if I was laid down when he was having a temper tantrum so I know what that feels like) or the middle of my ribcage and I can't breathe. I go dizzy a lot as well. Just for a few seconds, my head spins round and I feel like I'm going to keel over. That doesn't sound too good actually, does it? =/

Edit - none of those happen at the same time though and I've had the chest pains all my life - the other two are more recent. My mum always said it was nothing.
Reply 19
ok i'm glad that lots of other people feel the same thing!