Chest pain when sleeping on left side

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Debjax
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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Debjax » Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:34 pm

Babette wrote:The pain - same pain - used to come NOW AND THEN when I turned to my left side. Now it's CONSISTENTLY there, and at Christmas, it woke me up, it was so bad. I laid there for what seemed like hours, debating about whether I was having a heart attack, or if I was just annoyed at my BF and causing myself heartburn. I decided the next morning I was primarily pissed off. .
So, it has changed.....and not for the better...hmm..I am NOT a doc, but what you're describing sounds similar to mine, only mine does radiate into the jaw and arm frequently. BTW, stress (and anger) can aggravate it.
Babette wrote:For one thing - I've never been clear about what heartburn feels like.

I do get this pain when awake. I'll go through phases with it. I won't have one for ages, then for awhile it's there in one form or another, for a random length of time, daily.
Mine does that too, and gets worse during spring and fall (again, hence the study, since allergies could aggravate the apnea which can aggravate the chest pain...)

Either way, heart or heartburn, you really should get it checked out by cardio and if nothing there, then gastro.

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Debjax
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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Debjax » Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:40 pm

Babette wrote:BTW, anyone able to give a real good explanation of what "heartburn" feels like?
Well, some heartburn feels like a heart attack. Conversely, 3 years ago, hubby thought he was having heartburn for weeks....it was his heart "burning" alright.....

When I went for my first workups, after the cath came up clean, they sent me to the gastro for tests for GERD. The way is was explained to me was that there is a bundle of nerves that both the heart and GERD can affect, and both can cause pretty much identical pain. It is pretty standard today to test the heart first, and if that comes out OK, the next round is the GERD tests....

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by MurphysLaw » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:02 pm

Babette,

I can't help you with your symptoms but just want to say that we need you, so please get yourself checked out very soon.

Lynne

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Kiralynx » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:05 pm

Babette,

Please get things checked out. You're too good a person.

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by RosemaryB » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:06 pm

I'll echo what debjax said. I had chest pain after shoveling snow. I thought it was GERD and ignored it. Next time I went to my doc, he chewed me out and he's normally a very mild mannered and sweet man. He explained what debjax said: There's no way to tell the difference between gerd and a heart attack since the same nerves are involved. My doc said that if I ever suspect i'm having a heart attack, to call an ambulance, no if's and's or but's.

I've been to the same ER twice in the past 10 years. The first time someone drove me in. I waited for hours. The second time, I went in an ambulance. When you come in an ambulance, there's a different protocol. They see you right away and take you much more seriously. So, if you think it's a heart attack, call the ambulance! You need to be seen right away. If you need some stitches (not bleeding profusely) you can probably have someone drive you.

If you have these pains again, you should probably go to the ER right away. My doc says they'd much rather have a bunch of false alarms than miss the few heart attacks caused by people who wait too long. He says they expect those odds.

BTW, The first time I went to the ER, it was suspected heart attack. I was "struck down" by sudden vertigo and was retching. These are common signs of heart attacks in women, though not in men. This happened at work, but I had someone drive me in. But they did give me a stress test the next day. So, if you go to the ER, they are more likely to follow up.

I'm very sorry to hear you are having these problems. People here would miss you very much if something happened to you. So, get thee to a doctor who knows what he/she is doing! ((((((Babette)))))).

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Slinky » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:21 pm

First off, and out of order, DebJax, those vessel spasms around the heart or to the heart? My neighbor was Dx'd w/them at Mayo Clinic in MN. I forget the name he gave for it, but one of the things he suggested to her was an OTC health food store product, l'arguinine (sp?), he started her out gradually and has her up to something like 12 a day? As I remember it there are only like two tests that can Dx these spasms and its only recently being recognized and Dx'd.

JeffH, I've had two echocardiograms and neither one was done w/my laying on my left side? How the devil do you rate the special treatment??

And now, Babette: I get chest pains on occasion when laying on one or sometimes even both sides. The only way I can describe it is that it feels like my heart is hanging by some muscles and those muscles are tearing or ripping. I've had regular stress tests, nuclear stress tests, echocardiograms, even a stress MUGA ... everything except a Holter monitor and a heart cath, and only MVP (mitral valve prolapse - not even mitral valve regurgitation) and that while the tests will show it, they can't HEAR unless I am laying down, and usually all they can hear is a systolic click rather than a true murmur. Go figure. MVP runs in my dad's family and he was the youngest to die at 79. We've finally come to the conclusion it has to be chest wall muscle.

The h*ll of it is for me, as I told my family doctor one time he was chewing me out for not going to ER, if I ran to ER each time I experienced the various symptoms of heart attack in women I might as well rent a room in Chest Pain Center at the hospital!!! We've gotta be real here in my case. Its been going on since that whiplash in '94. I was looking right when rear-ended and had a lot of trouble w/left chest pain including arm and shoulder since, much more frequently the first couple of years. It took a chiropractor and muscle stretches learned in Physical Therapy 2 1/2 years to get them down to a low roar and intermittent time spans of frequency until now I seldom get them unless I overuse my arms.

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by roster » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:48 pm

Babs,

If they suggest a heart catheterization, go elsewhere to avoid this highly invasive procedure that can cause scarring in the walls of blood vessel. The scars become "catches" for plaque to accumulate. The procedure also puts the patient at high risk for dangerous infection.

Find a center that does minimum 64-slice cardiac multidetector computed tomography (http://www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/con ... 15/13/1762).

Some of your doctors will argue against this because they make big bucks doing caths and the scans are done by technicians. Go elsewhere and get the scan.

Good luck,

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Debjax
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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Debjax » Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:09 pm

rooster wrote:Babs,

If they suggest a heart catheterization, go elsewhere to avoid this highly invasive procedure that can cause scarring in the walls of blood vessel. The scars become "catches" for plaque to accumulate. The procedure also puts the patient at high risk for dangerous infection.

Find a center that does minimum 64-slice cardiac multidetector computed tomography (http://www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/con ... 15/13/1762).

Some of your doctors will argue against this because they make big bucks doing caths and the scans are done by technicians. Go elsewhere and get the scan.
There is also a new MRI that is about as good as a cath at finding blockages...hubby was sent for the MRI last time instead of a cath. Our cardiologist said it is very accurate and gives him great view....

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Babette
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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Babette » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:50 am

JeffH wrote:Hey Babette. I just had an echo cardiogram last month and they do them with you laying on your left side. Takes about 20 minutes and is completely painless. They can look into your heart and see if anything is obviously wrong. I would highly suggest you get one...FWIW. JeffH
Done that. They found nothing.

Thanks though!
B.

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Babette » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:54 am

jnk wrote:
Babette wrote:. . . I've never been clear about what heartburn feels like. . . .
According to ABC's Dr. Stein:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartDisea ... id=4222504
Yeah. But see, I DON'T feel the burn. I occasionally feel the sourness in throat and mouth, and occasionally something in my esophagus, but this is a separate incidence. They don't go together.

Which leads me back to - see a doc.
B.

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Babette
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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Babette » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:57 am

Debjax wrote:Either way, heart or heartburn, you really should get it checked out by cardio and if nothing there, then gastro.
I'm going, I'm going!

One more question, Deb, do you ever feel like grabbing your breast and squeezing? I know, TMI.... That's what the pain does to me. That night I thought I was pissed off at my BF, I grabbed my breast so hard, I think I bruised it or strained something. It hurt in a completely different way for about two weeks.
B.

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Babette » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:05 am

1) THANK YOU for all the kind wishes!!! I hadn't PLANNED to be throwing a pity party, but clearly I have been! My gratitude for all the pretty "presents."

2) So, one thing that surprises me - how come none of you have slapped me silly for not TALKING TO MY FATHER THE MD CARDIAC ANESTHESIOLOGIST ABOUT THIS? Well, I'm wondering why I haven't called him, too. I certainly called him over 6ptstar's recent episode. I should call him.

3) Eeep! On the Cath. Okay, I've heard enough Cath hideousnous - I will endeavour to avoid the Cath.

4) I'm planning on typing out all the suggestions and possibilities you've listed here, and printing it out and taking it with me to the doc to discuss every one.

5) Please don't tell my BF - he's freaked enough about my health.

MANY, MANY THANKS!!!!!
Barbara

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by georgepds » Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:41 am

Babette wrote:1

3) Eeep! On the Cath. Okay, I've heard enough Cath hideousnous - I will endeavour to avoid the Cath.
I had a cath about 10 years ago.. it's not that big a deal. You do it under conscious sedation ( *). You lay on a table, the cardiologist inserts a small tub into your large leg artery ( inner upper thigh) and threads it into the heart. Once there he shoots a little bit of dye and looks at it on an Xray (used as a tv screen). Blockages show as constrictions of the dye stream

Chances are, you won't get one unless there is something odd that shows up in your EKG

I know you had a standard EKG, but there is also something called a halter ( portable EKG) If you wear that overnight you might pick up the event. At the very least you could note the event, and see if there is a corresponding anamaly in the EKG.

(*)I love those clinical drugs, I'd call it who gives a hoot drug, "so, you're threading a probe through my heart, why that's mildly interesting, can we change the channel to the red sox?"

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Babette
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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Babette » Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:15 am

Slinky wrote:And now, Babette: I get chest pains on occasion when laying on one or sometimes even both sides. The only way I can describe it is that it feels like my heart is hanging by some muscles and those muscles are tearing or ripping. I've had regular stress tests, nuclear stress tests, echocardiograms, even a stress MUGA ... everything except a Holter monitor and a heart cath, and only MVP (mitral valve prolapse - not even mitral valve regurgitation) and that while the tests will show it, they can't HEAR unless I am laying down, and usually all they can hear is a systolic click rather than a true murmur. Go figure. MVP runs in my dad's family and he was the youngest to die at 79. We've finally come to the conclusion it has to be chest wall muscle.
I can relate to that description!

Okay, I've written down all your separate diagnoses, all the test names and descriptions, and my own symptoms. I'm at least armed, if not dangerous!!!!!

Thanks so much!!!
B.

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Re: Chest pain when sleeping on left side

Post by Kullab » Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:19 am

Debjax wrote:
Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:34 pm
Babette wrote:The pain - same pain - used to come NOW AND THEN when I turned to my left side. Now it's CONSISTENTLY there, and at Christmas, it woke me up, it was so bad. I laid there for what seemed like hours, debating about whether I was having a heart attack, or if I was just annoyed at my BF and causing myself heartburn. I decided the next morning I was primarily pissed off. .
So, it has changed.....and not for the better...hmm..I am NOT a doc, but what you're describing sounds similar to mine, only mine does radiate into the jaw and arm frequently. BTW, stress (and anger) can aggravate it.
Babette wrote:For one thing - I've never been clear about what heartburn feels like.

I do get this pain when awake. I'll go through phases with it. I won't have one for ages, then for awhile it's there in one form or another, for a random length of time, daily.
Mine does that too, and gets worse during spring and fall (again, hence the study, since allergies could aggravate the apnea which can aggravate the chest pain...)

Either way, heart or heartburn, you really should get it checked out by cardio and if nothing there, then gastro.
Hi Babette,
I know this topic is quite old, but I experience the exact same symptoms as you:
- Stabbing pain on the upper left side of chest when I am sleeping on my left side only. The pain stops when I lie on the other side. I have been experiencing this pain time to time for many years, but since a few days it happens every time I sleep on my left side
- Now I can feel a constant but low pain on my left chest, that feels likes a slight pressure most of the time
- A few days ago I was in the country and suffered pollen allergy... And this is approximately at that time that my symtoms got worse. So I am starting to believe that my problem might be due to apnea.
So if you don't mind, I would like to know if you finally found what the problem was for you, and how to deal with it.
Thank you very very much for your time