strange undiagnosed problem with chest pains



Hi all.

I am a 30yo male, non-smoker, and social drinker. I've had mild chest
pains since I was 25. Sometimes it is a mild burn in the middle of the
chest that feels dully painful when pressed, sometimes it is some
pinging pain in different spots on the left side of the chest,
sometimes it is just dull painin the middle of the chest and/or top
upper left side. I think I've felt mild pinging in the left arm a few
times in the last year but I am not sure how relevant it was. On the
scale of 1 to 10 the pain never really crosses 2, very light and dull
usually but still very worrysome.

I don't remember this pain happening when I exercise, though I haven't
had much exercise the last few years. The pain can last for a few hours
on and off with no particular pattern, sometimes for weeks at a time,
and sometimes weeks would pass where I would forget it. I can wake up
with the pain or it can start after I eat. I am not sure if it is worse
when I am very stressed but that is also possible - I had a lot of
stress a couple of weeks ago for about a week and the pain was there
every day, on and off.

I usually take a regular aspirin when the pain appears and often that
lessens it. My cholesterol was a bit high when I measured it - 206 with
146 ldl and my doctor put me on lipitor, 10mg which was over a year
ago. My father had an infarction (I am really not an expert on this)
when he was only 29 and had a single bypass graft then. He recently had
to go through that single bypass again. I've gone through at least 3
cardiologists and they've all pronounced me healthy. I've done stress
tests, echo and nuclear, some new modern test last year - where I was
injected with a dye and went through a circular object that took
pictures (that showed no calcification of the arteries, etc - I don't
have test results here), but basically none of the tests showed a
problem. I never had anything invasive done though.

I was in the Air Force (low exercise environment) for 2 years and the 3
times they took my blood pressure through those years (age 26-28) it
was in the 130-135 over 84-86 range. But when I went to the civilian
doctors my blood pressure was usually 120/80. So the last cardilogist
who looked at that said that there might be a problem with my blood
pressure, that it is unregulated and often runs high and that I should
also probably start on blood pressure meds. When I measure myself at
night it does seem to be in the 130-140 over 85-90 range though it is
less in the morning and it varies from week to week.

I also went to a gastrointestinal specialist to check for other
problems but I didn't respond to medication for acid reflux and he was
at a loss for the chest pains.

Another symptom that I've had through the years (though not lately
since I don't exercise much) since the college years, when I exercised
I had certain spells especially when re-starting after a break. I would
do either some reps with the weights and then maybe some
pullups/pushups in somewhat quick succession, my heart rate would go up
very quickly, I would feel lightheaded, have to sit or lie down and
almost pass out. I never passed out but the feeling was extremely
dreadful, accompanied by cold sweat and extreme light-headedness and
weakness. I took martial arts for 3 years and had these spells probably
about 10-15 times through that time. Not sure if it is at all related
as it started before chest pains.

The chest pains occur so often, without too much pattern, can occur for
pretty much a whole day for weeks on end that even though they are
light, the fact that it's been over 5 years and with my family history
I don't find cardiologist words very reassuring. Any ideas?

.



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