Well I’m not going to the doctor yet anyway, the soonest he can see me is next Thursday. I might not go at all, because I think it’ll probably be gone by then anyway.
Formalities aside I was wondering if any of the doper docs can help with an informal diagnosis. I’m 25 and I’ve been having odd chest pains. I’ve dropped a lot of weight recently (gone from 240 to 185) and I’ve been doing strength training which may be related. These aren’t the normal “oh my God go to an ER” type pain over the heart that you’re probably thinking. The chest pain is further down and off to the side, over where my elbow would hit my ribs. Its in a very specific place too, a spot about the size of a quarter. There isn’t any redness or other bruising that I’ve noticed.
99% of the time it feels fine, I touch it, stretch, swim and bike with no problems but any rapid up and down motion makes me feel like I’m being stabbed. Its very strange, but I’m reasonably sure its non life threatening.
Any body have any idea as to what this might be? I was thinking something with my lungs but my breathing (even deep breaths) don’t cause any discomfort. It might be a muscle injury, but it seems odd that it would only hurt when I move up and down. I haven’t been overexerting myself or increased any of the weights I’ve been lifting, and I’ve been getting the pain for about 4 days now.
I’ll get to the Doc eventually, but does anyone have a clue what might be ailing me in the mean time?
I have no idea what “up and down” movement means in this context. Do you mean when you move your arm up and down? Or when you squat and stand? Or something else?
Most muscle pain is limited to one or two movements - the movements that the muscle in question controls. Something like fasciitis, pleurisy or joint pain would be more general, because those body bits are affected by many positional changes.
The big question, of course, is what side of the body this is on. If it’s on the left, a phone call to your doc might be all you need to let him decide if he needs to see you. If it’s on the right, there are far more worrisome things it could be - appendicitis and gallstones being the two biggies, but liver inflammation or injury is also possible.
Whatever it is, pain that cannot be connected to a specific injury (that is, you know you didn’t run into a countertop and bruise it or something) that sticks around for more than 3 days or so should be seen by a doctor. Chances are pretty good that it’s not terribly important, but there are a lot of Big Scary Things that share symptoms with Not a Big Deal things, and the two are impossible to distinguish without doing a physical exam.
Free medical advice on a message board is worth exactly what you paid for it. Please see a medical professional if you are concerned about this. I am going to close it.