question about chest and upper back pain

Guest

I'm a 20-year old male who has recently been experiencing some odd
symptoms that I worry may be heart-related. I know that my age makes
heart problems less likely, but I've been living a rather unhealthy
lifestyle (very sedentary, lots of junk food, heavy marijuana use) for
a number of years. Lately, I've been changing those things, but I'm
still worried about some of my symptoms.

My symptoms include mild pain/discomfort in the chest (usually under
the left breast, but sometimes between my pecs) that comes and goes. It
never been overwhelmingly painful, and seems to be related to the way I
move (walking and driving sometimes seem to bring the sensation about,
although not always). I don't experience this every day, but I do feel
it relatively often. I've also been experiencing some pain and
tightness in my upper back (again, usually on the left side, and
aggravated by walking). Although I never really feel short of breath,
the sensation of tightness in my back is most noticeable when I take a
deep breath. Sometimes I feel a tingling sensation in the same area of
the back. When I lay down in bed, I can feel my heartbeat/pulse much
more pronouncedly than when standing-the sensation is particularly
strong in my neck and head, and is sometimes accompanied by a feeling
of warmth in the face. My heartbeat does not feel fast or irregular,
just more pronounced. I initially assumed these symptoms were stress
related-I've been really on edge lately, and I've been having
trouble sleeping

Two weeks ago I went to a doctor complaining about these symptoms
(particularly the heat in face/sensation of stronger heartbeat, which
was more prevalent than the other symptoms at the time). He listened to
my heartbeat and my breathing with a stethoscope and said both seemed
normal. My blood pressure was also close to ideal. He looked at a few
other things, and said that I seemed healthy and that the symptoms were
probably stress-related. since that visit, the back symptoms have
gotten worse, the chest pain has been infrequent but still there, and
the sensation of heat in my face has subsided somewhat.

My question is: where do I go from here? Should I make an appointment
with a cardiologist, or return to the doctor I mentioned above and tell
him that the symptoms have persisted/changed? I've been changing my
lifestyle and trying to be health-conscious, but I'd still like to
know more about what I'm experiencing.

Thanks in advance for any advice,
Ron

RKailNP · medicine forum beginner Joined: 13 May 2005 Posts: 2

Ron,

You owe it to yourself to get an EKG, an echo, and a stress test. I
don't want to give out alot of advice about possible diagnoses, but
these tests, assuming they're negative, will give you a significant
degree of certainty that your symptoms aren't cardiac in nature.

Bill · medicine forum Guru Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 849

<heino072000@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD · medicine forum Guru Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 8540

heino072000@yahoo.com wrote:

Emma Chase VanCott · medicine forum addict Joined: 15 May 2005 Posts: 58

Are you a tall or skinny guy?

Emma
:)

heino072000@yahoo.com wrote:
: I'm a 20-year old male who has recently been experiencing some odd
: symptoms that I worry may be heart-related. I know that my age makes
: heart problems less likely, but I've been living a rather unhealthy
: lifestyle (very sedentary, lots of junk food, heavy marijuana use) for
: a number of years. Lately, I've been changing those things, but I'm
: still worried about some of my symptoms.

Guest

not particularly-i'm about 5'11",and not particularly skinny. i'm not
really overweight, either.

Emma Chase VanCott wrote:

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