Had an EKG for chest pain at last.

[Sym]

Hi all.
Yesterday I went to the Dr. for chest pains.
I have had them on and off for about 2 years, mostly when I am screaming in someones face, or on hold with the telephone co-

I always related them to stress b/c they always went away .
Well, being in my non-stressfull season, and having alot of immediate stress lifted the past few weeks, I thought the poains would have diminished, but they didn't.
They came and stayed!, and they were more ainfull than ever on a constant basis and I realized I was holding my chest most of the day.

So...I decided it was time to find out why I was having signifigant and constant chest pain at 31.
I went to the Dr's, who is usually a quack that tells me to trink more milk, and lo-and-behold, I get to lay on the table!
Woohoo!
I needed sleep soooo bad-lol
Actually, It is likely if you get to lay on the table at MY Dr's, that your going to be looked at!, so I was relieved.
Poking, prodding and asking all kinds of silly (I tyhought) questions, he send me downstairs for an AKG!
Woah! THAT sent my heart racing, and the pain was huge!
Anyway, after a 2 minute stickerbook fest, where I was the 1/2 naked sticker book, I was all set up in the electrodes?
Geeze...If a stranger has to see you naked and move your breast out of the way to apply a sticker, the stranger should at least be the opposite sex- Icky!!

Anyway, the test only took 2 minutes, and back to the Dr's I go toting a very strange looking heart rate map, and of course, tryiong to figure out what it means when the lines go below the middle line. Of course, when they go up, you know your alive-
But, down...looks freaky!
It wasn't consistent anyway, and maybe Raz can tell me why, b/c the Dr. wouldn't. He said, its fine, you'll just get all freaked out if I tell you too much.
True enough-

So...he glimpses! at it, says I am too younge to have heart problems, and that I have Chest Wall Pain and I need to take these free samples 1/d for a week and come back.
Chest Wall Pain???
Yeah...sounded really scientific.
Kinda sounded like what I said, when I went in and said Dr.....I have pain in my Chest wall over my heart.

So I leave with my free samples, and feel sheifted by the DR.
I walk around all day, solemn, withdrawn, feeling doomed to die a sudden and painfull death with the very next sharp pain.
Well...OK...It lingered in my mind a few times-lol
But a few times = a very disturbing feeling!!
I get to the bank, and it is empty but for me and another customer.
The teller says to me...Oh...do you have Chest Wall Pain?

WHAT????
Am I IN the Twilight Zone???

She nods to my hand that is ever now clenched on my chest, in another pain, that I don't even notice I am trying to make feel better with mass pressure from this side, and asks me again.
I had really thought the Dr. had made this up-lol
So I say... "Its really a thing??"
and she lol.
We spend the better part of 10 minutes discussing this "thing", that apparently is not even a thing afterall!
It is not a health issue, has no determinable causes and no apparent fix, and the reliefs that are found are very trial and error she says.
Apparently the biggest part of this Chest wall pain, is that a person with it, has, for some apparent reason, pain in the wall of the chest (didn't even know there was a term made for it besides muscle tissue), and although it is painfull, there is no cause for alarm, it has nothing to do with your heart, and it is irritating as hell, and will likely never go away.



And I thought I was just going to the bank to get out some money-lol

So...I go home, thankfull for this woman and her knowledge of something that she has too. and I get online, b/c I have no life and I am becoming an internet junkie.

I look it up with google, and there it is!
So...the Dr. did right this time!
He prescribed me arthritis meds.
He has been trying to get me to take these for years only I refuse b/c I don't see the need, and he doesn't bother to explain a **** thing.Turns out, I probably needed these drugs 2 years ago, when he started Rx-ing them but I never filled them, b/c the Chest Wall is actually mass muscle, and ligaments, and chest wall pain is commonly caused from injury to these muscles and ligaments, and likely in me, from the heavy work my upper torso has been exposed to for like 15 years at this point.

((I am starting to think I should have listened to the Dr. more in the past-sheizers-
))

I guess arthritis meds are not just for arthritis. They apparently block some chemical that causes inflamation and swelling, and my chest wall, is essentially swelling and is chronically inflamed (maybe b/c I ignored it for 2 yrs??? - Dumbass Me!)
And the pain I feel is when the muscles tense up and push on the chest wall.
It is over my heart (hence me freaking out at last), but it is not the heart at all.


I have been very ill lately too.
I have a very bad secret.
I smoke cigarettes- naughty naughty I know!
So...I have a cold, and sinus infection, and smoking has made me have flem -ick, and made my lungs all yukkie, and since these things are right between the chest wall and the heart, there is even more pressure there. Hense the chronic/more intense pains recently.

So....I am not on my way to heart attackville - Yahoo!
I Just beat my body up alot when I was younger with my work and it is beating me up now as a result .

I am hoping to feels some results by next week. If the pain subsides from the swelling and inflamation, I will be on these pill for like ever I think.
Ironic part is...they interfere with the ovulation cycle and make ttc harded.
Ha! Everything seems to always go back to that -lol
Its OK - really.
I am 99% sure I am done ttc anyway.
Just odd how everything finds itself back to that one thing at some point.

Anyway....I am solo this week b/c Dh is in Mexico with my dad, so I better get out there to fight the fires. Not literally....I hope -


Oh!
P.S - I have joined Herbal Magic to shed some of these unwanted pounds.
Wondering if anyone wants to be pound buddies if your on a diet/ excercise plan as well.
I have daily motivations from the ppl at HM, but it is always nice to have a buddy as well.
Let me know.
I am trying to lose 67 lbs.
30 by the 1st week of June for my sisters wedding.
My goal date is October for the 67 lbs.
I will be a skinny minnie by then -
Sheesh...67 pound make me sound horrible!
Ikes!
Oh well. it won't be there for long.

Sym

[HollieJoy]

Stacey,

I am glad to hear that the chest pains aren't anything serious, although it does stink that it's nothing that will go away. You will be surprised at what athritis medicene does for the human body. It's funny that you mentioned your chest pains, though. I had been experiencing chest pains as well, but never mentioned them to the doctor for fear of being admitted into the hospital or hearing that I was on the verge of having a heart attack. I know that sounds silly, but I just hate doctors and always expect the worst. I'm such a pessimistic!! I would clench my fist to my chest and put pressure on it to subside the pain (which never worked by the way) and would scream out in pain from sneezing, coughing, etc... The pains that I experienced in my chest were very similiar to the pains I experienced in my hips and back before I was diagnosed with athritis in those areas. It always felt like I pulled a muscle, although I never know how. Amazing enough the chest pain went away when I was prescribed medication for the athritis in my knees, hips, and back. Now that I am off the medication again, my chest is back to hurting, along with those other body parts. At 27 years old, I feel like I should be in a wheelchair. That's how horrible I feel! I am sure that if I don't get back to the doctor and start taking better care of myself, that's where I will end up someday... Anyway, didn't mean to hog your post. Just wanted to share my experience, too.. Hope you are feeling better soon and that the medicene works for you.

HJ