# Sharp pain in chest. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2004, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharp-pain-in-chest/264531 "2004-09-15T08:34:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2004, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharp-pain-in-chest/264531/1 "2004-09-15T08:34:54Z")
Sometimes when I’m half asleep I suddenly feel a sharp pain, as if I’m being pricked by a needle in my chest. For a few seconds (i.e. less than 30) I’m unable to breathe in, as doing so increases the pain. As quickly as it arrives, it dissapears. The pain is always in the same place, about half way up my ribcage on my left hand side, and slightly inside my body, and lieing on that side seems to worsen the pain. The pain is very strong, but it isn’t what I’d call unbearable. I’ve had this pain for as long as I can remember (I think I even saw the doctor about it when I was 13, as the first time I had the pain I seriously thought I was having a heart attack. He described them as “growing pains”) and I’ve also asked a few of my friends about the pain, a few of them have had exactly the same sort of pain in roughly the same area, it appears at roughly the same time (when they’re half asleep) and is made worse by breathing in. What exactly is this pain? I’m 19, pretty active and have a decent enough diet, so what could it be? A trapped nerve? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2004, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharp-pain-in-chest/264531/2 "2004-09-15T09:43:14Z")
Maybe a nerve, but go to a doctor and explain your history with this. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharp-pain-in-chest/264531/3 "2004-09-15T13:50:09Z")
It sounds like pleurisy. Google that or “sharp pain in chest” and you can read about it. From what I can tell, it’s nothing to worry about most of the time. (I’ve had it for years myself.) ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharp-pain-in-chest/264531/4 "2004-09-15T14:10:17Z")
Might be chostocondritis. [http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/celebrating\_life/97655](http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/celebrating_life/97655) ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sharp-pain-in-chest/264531/5 "2004-09-15T17:03:19Z")
Wow, this is exactly what I’ve had going on since yesterday afternoon, and I stumble into GQ, see this thread, and find out that it’s most probably pleurisy. (The web sites I found pretty much confirmed it was indeed that.) (I _really_ didn’t think I was having an eighteen-hour-long heart attack. 😉 ) It’s not surprising, given that I’m a pretty hardcore smoker and have frequent pulmonary infections. I had lung problems as a child and therefore long before I started smoking. Smoking just makes everything a hundred times worse. Anti-inflammatories are supposed to help with the pain, so I’m going to take some ibuprofen and see if it helps. Thanks!