The Doctors Lounge - Cardiology Answers

"The information provided on www.doctorslounge.com is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician."

Back to Cardiology Answers List

Forum Name: Cardiology Symptoms

Question: Stabbing chest pains, occaisional skipped beat

seonta - Sun Mar 20, 2005 12:40 am

I am almost 14 years old and am 95 pounds, not being overweight for my height. I eat normally, that is 2-3 fastfood meals a week more or less. I don't know how my blood pressure or anything is. I don't smoke. For about four years I've breen experiencing Chest pains. At first I had this ache in my chest, I can't remember what side it was on, but it was always there. I don't remember everything, but I remember once I was running for ten minutes without a rest and my chest was hurting so much I thought it was going to explode, but it could have been a cramp. I think the pain often went away with rest. Don't dwell on this though, pay more attention to my resent symptoms. I used to get sharp, stabbing Chest pains that occured every once in a long while. These went away, but now I have them almost daily. I get aches in my chest that stay for a few minutes or a few hours. The aches never radiate from one place to another, they are always either on the left side, the right side or the middle. More often on the right (the side my hearts not on, Im not sure if that really is the right). They can be on my lower ribcage, midcage, or behind my breastbone. These aches happen at any time, but often they seem to be brought on by strong emotion. When they are brought on by emotion they are usually in the right side of my chest. I also get back pains a lot. The pain comes from deep inside my back, and it usually comes when im stressed. Sometimes there is pain in my arm or shoulder. One day I thought I had a Heart attack because stabbing pains were stricking one after another and there was ache everywhere that wouldn't go away. Ocassionally, my heart seems to skip a beat. Can anyone tell me what is causing this.

Dr. Yasser Mokhtar - Tue Mar 22, 2005 8:38 pm

Dear Seonta, Young females are naturally protected against having Heart attacks unless they have lots of risk factors for Coronary disease such as high blood pressure and Diabetes for several years. This Chest pain sounds atypical as compared to that of Coronary disease. So, the probability of this pain be caused by a Heart attack is very low. This Chest pain might be related to a heart condition that is common in females called Mitral valve prolapse which is diagnosed by an ultrasound of the heart and needs to be watched and followed-up. This pain might also be due to chest wall causes such as muscle or rib pains caused by mild inflammation. Since you were never evaluated by a health care professional for this pain, I strongly suggest that you be evaluated by a health care professional and have a physical exam including of course auscultation of (listening to) the heart. This is the best next step. Thank you very much for using our website http://doctorslounge. com and I hope that this information helped. Yasser Mokhtar, M. D.

seonta - Thu Mar 24, 2005 4:42 am

Thanks for your information Yasser. I have an update. The pains are different now. I was laying in bed in the middle of the night and suddenly this very intense stabbing pain shot down from my shoulder all the way to my hip, stricking everywhere on the left side including my arm. It happened 2 or 3 times in the same minute. From then on my chest was rather sore all day. There were aches, a burning sensation and little stabbing pains everywhere on my chest. I found that if I misaged certain parts the pain would SOMETIMES go away. I also flopped down on the couch and when my back hit the couch it sent stabbing pain down me again, and when I took a breath it produced pain. It was all like that today and this all hasn't gone away since. Is there anything else it could be? The way the pain occured as I hit the back of the couch seems to me that it isn't a heart problem. But im suspicous of the burning. Could it be possible that I have Angina? I've heard that lots of young people get that. The pain is very intense, and its getting on my nerves. I went to see the docter and the dumb guy said it was growing pains :roll:

Dr. Yasser Mokhtar - Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:24 am

Dear Seonta, Thank you very much for the update. What you have is not heart related and Angina is pain due to Coronary disease and my previous reply mentions that it is a very remote possibility that this is Coronary disease. So, this is not Angina. This could be: 1. A nerve related pain. I would recommend that you have a neck x-ray to rule out neck spine problems. 2. It also could be an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the lung. 3. Even though it is a remote possibility, acid reflux disease can sometimes give rise to Chest pains. I still recommend that you have an ultrasound of the heart to rule out Mitral valve prolapse. Thank you very much for using our website http://doctorslounge. com and I hope that this information helped. Yasser Mokhtar, M. D.

seonta - Mon Mar 28, 2005 1:09 am

Thanks Yasser. I really needed to get that "off my chest." Ha..Ha.

Check a doctor's response to similar questions

send to a friend