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Forum Name: Chest symptoms

Question: chest in middle of night

jssoilea - Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:48 pm

I'm a 25 year old male and wake up in the middle of the night with Chest pains which feels like an extreme pressure on the left side always. I've had an EKG which came back fine. I do smoke and was wondering if this could be a lung issue?

Dr. Safaa Mahmoud - Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:31 pm

Hello, The chest contains many organs, like the heart, lungs with its pleural covering, esophagus, muscles, ribs, tendons, and nerves. They all can be the source of the pain felt in the chest. This pain could be due to: - A muscle spasm is the cause of your symptoms. Muscle spasm alone can cause this pain which can be an unidentified cause but in many cases is the result of inappropriate posture for long time like traveling, driving and certain types of work or from viral infection. Self care and avoiding the precipitating cause will lead to a gradual but clear improvement in the pain. Home treatment includes the use of Analgesics, cold or hot therapy. Rest for maximum two days is also beneficial. - Pleurisy (being smoker makes this cause of consideration) is an inflammation of the pleura, which is a double-layered membrane covers the lungs separating it from the rib cage. Viral infections like flu, are the most common cause of Pleurisy. The pain is felt as sharp pain which get worse by Coughing, sneezing, moving and deep breathing. Auscultation of the chest shows a characteristic sound known as pleural rub. - Evolving chest infection may present with Chest pain. - Sometimes Chest pain is not originating from the chest itself; instead it is due to problems in the digestive tract. These problems include IBS, Gastritis, gall bladder disease etc. -Cardiac causes, should be excluded in any case of Chest pain as your doctor has done. Best regards.

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