What Causes Pain In The Left Side Of The Chest?

Posted on Thu, 2 Mar 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 2 Mar 2017 Answered on

Wed, 22 Mar 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : I get a pain in my left chest if I lay on my side left or right . Its a pain like angina not a sharp pain. I can only sleep on my back for about 2-hrs before getting a pain in my back. thank you

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (25 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Welcome on HCM!

Regarding your concern, I would explain that your symptoms seem to be related to a musculo-skeletal pain or pinched nerve due to the pressure on the left side.

Gastro-esophageal reflux can not be excluded either.

Your symptoms are not typical of angina.

Anyway, considering your age, I would recommend performing some other tests:

- a resting ECG and cardiac enzymes
- PCR and ESR for inflammation
- a cervico-thoracic spine X ray study to exclude chronic degeneration of the backbone, which can lead to irradiating nerve pain in this region.

Meanwhile, I would recommend trying an antiacid or omeprazole before sleep. If it helps relieve your symptoms, you should consider gastro-esophageal reflux as the main cause of your troubles.

Hope you will find this answer helpful!

Kind regards,

Dr. Iliri

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar