Chest pains while lying down

Hello all, I gave been suffering with pains in my chest ( left side) for the last year or so, they are worse while lying down and radiate to my left shoulder and arm. I often get short of breath while lying down too and my fiancé tells me it is like I stop breathing in my sleep. I am currently getting the pains as I write this.

They come on very sharp and seem to be getting worse these days, my whole body seizes sometimes. I went to a my old doctor 8 months ago about this and she told me it was stress. I returned to her twice again and she said the same, no tests. I am with a new doctor now and he fine an ECG which showed up fine and sent me for a chest xray. The results should have been back by yesterday but still no sign. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I know myself it is not stress and I am getting a little worried.

a reply to: sosobad
i would ask if youre over weight and have a bad sleep posture .you didnt say much so i can assume what i want.
but if your doctors dont know, what the hell would i know.

If the pain is worse after eating as well as laying down in bed try looking into gastric problems like reflux, it can make places hurt you dont expect/associate directly.

originally posted by: Rikku
a reply to: sosobad
i would ask if youre over weight and have a bad sleep posture .you didnt say much so i can assume what i want.
but if your doctors dont know, what the hell would i know.

Not overweight, I box so in fairly good shape. Sleep posture I really couldn't tell you but I get the pains even if I am lying straight down on the couch.

a reply to: sosobad

Well, an EKG will tell if a heart attack... if not, gas and/or stress are likely. Dehydration, salt/potassium imbalance is possible too... or a pinched nerve ...or a hundred other possibilities!

If heart related, look into the Linus Pauling heart therapy... people I know swear by it and say they avoided surgery and drugs with enough vit C and two amino acids (lysine and proline) and some other supplements. They actually reversed blocked arteries... weird as it sounds.

Heck, likely half of people's ailments are due to bad nutrition ... and nobody gets the 3 or more grams of vit C they need daily at a minimum without taking a supplement. Can't hurt to try (if you don't already).

originally posted by: Biigs
If the pain is worse after eating as well as laying down in bed try looking into gastric problems like reflux, it can make places hurt you dont expect/associate directly.

No it is generally just while I'm at rest or relaxing, I will also add I feel fatigued all the time even after a good nights sleep.

could be stress actually. also sleeping posture as said above.
pinched nerve can happen also from weight gain.

I hadhave similar experience..I didn't mess around though. went to the hospital and stayed for a couple days (racking up a nice bill) and found nothing of note...
get checked out of course, but don't become too worried about it. might see if certain things calm the feeling (muscle relaxers, exercise, low sodium day, etc).

Anxiety also will make it much worse (feel worse, not actually), so calm mind, breathing and stretching exercises, and yeah, work with a doc to figure out what it is...request some tests to make sure the old ticker is working fine.

And eat healthier and exercise 4 times a week for at least a half hour (staplemark suggestion, good for state of mind if anything else)

a reply to: Baddogma

I wouldn't say it is a heart attack, if that was the case I'd be long gone by now lol I suffer this every night. I am going to look up the Linus Pauling heart therapy out of curiosity though

Can you describe the type of feeling of the pain, pulsing, throbbing, like a bruise (dull ache), sharp pointy, large area tenderness.

Any more specific areas, does it feel deep inside pain (like a side stitch) or more surface muscle/skin areas? Does it hurt more when you take a deep breath? etc

It almost sounds like a pinched nerve or something out of alignment somewhere to me. I had a similar sensation some time ago across the upper chest one side to the other, that ceased when I cracked my neck just right. Not sure if I had pinched something or if something was just off-kilter, but it stopped immediately. Maybe a trip to a chiropractor is in order to see if that's the case for you?

a reply to: sosobad

im glad you have a different doc. i've been getting chest pain for a few weeks now, mines in the centre of my chest, im a heavy smoker too, i get breathless easy due to the smoking and also have chest pain when laying down i also have terrible heartburn and it could all be stress, im at the docs next week. it is frightening.

it could all simply be down to stress, that does weird things to your body. could also be wind/indigestion too.

im also glad rikku isn't your doctor too.

a reply to: SaturnFX

I keep in fairly good shape from the boxing, the diet could do with being a bit better though. If the chest xray comes back clear it is probably going to be stress/anxiety. But the funny thing is I don't feel stressed or let stress get to me.

a reply to: sosobad

Sorry to hear that buddy.

Hope you feel well soon.



Couple years ago, think I was about 24, I started getting really bad shortness of breath...
Heavy, heavy smoker since 13... So I kinda brushed it off...

Well one night I'm with my two mates and we are having a massive hotbox session... It was like a weekly ritual...

A few hours in I started getting a throbbing pain in my left arm, my heart was pounding...
Thought I was having a heart attack...

All of a sudden my fingers, hands and arms seized up and curled towards my body...
Trying to straighten them they would spring back...


Have no idea what it was, my mates carried me to the car, to go A&E...
Half way there it all relaxed and I could move my arms and fingers again...
Like the fresh air from the car window had eased the symptoms...

But the breathing, was worse than ever...

I went to a GP, had a hospital referral and an X-Ray...
I was told my lungs were that of a 60yr old...

Even now, the breathing hasn't improved...

I sound like a 60stone man as opposed to 10stone.

They had no reason for the seizure either...
It's like they dodged talking about it to be honest.




The reason for my diatribe is because the seizing up you mentioned sounded so familiar.

I haven't had the same reaction since, not in the heart or the left arm, or the clamped up appendages.
But as I said the S.O.B is still ongoing.




You should definitely bring it up with your doctor again and don't accept stress as an answer.
Ask them to give a breakdown of all things it could be, rather than the one thing they assume it to be.



Wishing you well SoSo...

a reply to: Biigs

I'll be lying down then I get this sharp pain that radiates from my left hand side of the chest feels like deep and spreads to my shoulder and left arm and lingers like a dull pain. I did get short of breath for the first time in awhile last week while doing bag work in boxing.

a reply to: sosobad

If you don't feel stressed, it ain't stress mate...

I hate doctors like that.



It's not like depression where the mind hits a denial phase...

If someone is stressed they feel it & notice it, even if they're not vocal about it.

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

To be honest Charlie I know myself it is not stress. It can't be so that's what has me worried. I smoke myself which is something I should have put in the op. Cheers for the wishes

Have you had any abdominal surgery in the past few years?
When I experienced similar pains several years ago, after extensive testing I was told that it comes from having had abdominal surgery and being pumped full of some sort of gas (can't remember offhand what it is they use). No matter how hard they work at it, they can't get all the gas out of the system before closing and it works its way into odd crevices and causes intense, sharp pains, particularly in the joints. Mine lasted for years....it was miserable but not dangerous health-wise----or so they said.

a reply to: diggindirt

No haven't had surgery in over 15 years and that was to get my tonsils out. Did you eventually get relief from it?

a reply to: sosobad

Maybe, & this is just a maybe...

The two symptoms are separate ailments...

S.O.B from smoking... Depending on how many you smoke...

And maybe overworking the bag caused some nerve damage or trapped a nerve.




As you said, if it was a definitive heart problem, a serious one, it would have been noticed by now.




Without wanting to sound like a fearmonger, in an extreme case, it sounds similar to Angina as well.
But I'm sure an ECG would have seen that.

a reply to: sosobad

I breezed through the page. I didn't see your age... unless I missed it.