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What Causes Chest Pains On The Left Upper Chest And Difficulty In Breathing?

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Posted on Wed, 22 Jan 2014
Question: Iam male 28 yrs old 150 pounds, I smoke regularly about 2 blk and mild cigars a day. As of lately I have been experiencing chest pains on the left side of the upper chest and difficulty breathing. I have been treated for these symptoms before and every test came back normal, except I was told my vitamin D was very very low..What could this be?
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Answered by Dr. Nsah Bernard (1 hour later)
Brief Answer: Left-sided chest pain often related to cardiopathy Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for posting your query, Sorry for your troubles. I am pleased to be able to assist you. The organ of interest when faced with a left-sided chest pain is the heart as most of the conditions that cause this are often related to heart problems. Given your age, the most likely cause will be coronary heart diseases with the most problem being unstable angina pectoris which can often show normal on routine heart evaluations. Since the condition is temporary, will not be detected on ECG or cardiac ultrasound but including a stress test may often show some positive results. Other conditions such as recurrent pericarditis, stable angina pectoris, aortic dissection etc need to be ruled out and I do believe that the tests previously conducted were aimed in ruling those out. Besides heart related conditions, then origin might be more superficial with you suffering from a condition such as costochondritis (which is rare in young adults) or of lung origin ( I suggest you get an x-ray of the chest). In the meantime, you can be placed on medications such as aspirin which can help treat symptoms. Consulting a cardiologist in future could become a necessity. Other conditions such as anxiety can rarely cause left-sided chest pain and you might need to be given anxiolytics. Low levels of vitamin D will hardly result to chest pain and can be corrected with supplements of vitamin D and calcium. Hope this helps and wish you the best. Please feel free to write back if you have any further worries. Dr. Nsah
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Nsah Bernard

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2012

Answered : 1704 Questions

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What Causes Chest Pains On The Left Upper Chest And Difficulty In Breathing?

Brief Answer: Left-sided chest pain often related to cardiopathy Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for posting your query, Sorry for your troubles. I am pleased to be able to assist you. The organ of interest when faced with a left-sided chest pain is the heart as most of the conditions that cause this are often related to heart problems. Given your age, the most likely cause will be coronary heart diseases with the most problem being unstable angina pectoris which can often show normal on routine heart evaluations. Since the condition is temporary, will not be detected on ECG or cardiac ultrasound but including a stress test may often show some positive results. Other conditions such as recurrent pericarditis, stable angina pectoris, aortic dissection etc need to be ruled out and I do believe that the tests previously conducted were aimed in ruling those out. Besides heart related conditions, then origin might be more superficial with you suffering from a condition such as costochondritis (which is rare in young adults) or of lung origin ( I suggest you get an x-ray of the chest). In the meantime, you can be placed on medications such as aspirin which can help treat symptoms. Consulting a cardiologist in future could become a necessity. Other conditions such as anxiety can rarely cause left-sided chest pain and you might need to be given anxiolytics. Low levels of vitamin D will hardly result to chest pain and can be corrected with supplements of vitamin D and calcium. Hope this helps and wish you the best. Please feel free to write back if you have any further worries. Dr. Nsah