Chest Pains

[imnothng]

I searched for this and I did find one, but it was from '07 so I thought I would just start a new thread.

I have been using the machine for about 2yrs now, on and off (dog's destroyed mask and I couldn't afford a new one for a few months). Since then, I started using it every night for the past 4 or so months. About a month ago I started waking up with really bad chest pains. Mainly in the upper middle of my chest and it kinda feels like someone is standing on my chest. It basically hurts to move my chest area at all. It is starting to cause me to wake up after only about 4hrs sleep every night because it hurts so much and makes it very uncomfortable. I went to the doctor and she told me I had VERY high cholesterol (which in itself is really scary, I'm only 28) and we decided to try to lower it with my diet before going on medication, and nothing showed on chest x-rays. So I basically assumed that was the cause of my pains. I did ask her if it could be my cpap machine and she straight out said no. Well I have been eating nothing with cholesterol in it (or extremely low amounts) for about a month now and it's still happening. I have my humidity on 1 right now because I thought maybe it was too high. I usually had it between 2 and 3, but I was getting rained out almost everynight (I did purchase a cloth cover for the hose in the hopes that it would help, but all it has done has made the hose more comfortable when it touches me).

As I sit here it hurts and I only slept for about 3hrs tonight.

Also, I should mention that I am a half a pack smoker and I know that's not good. But I would think if that was the cause then why would it happen while I'm not smoking and actually get better throughout the day while I AM smoking.

[bdp522]

Did they do an EKG? Until a cardiologist has ruled the heart healthy, I would be worried about a heart attack. Having the Heart checked out may entail wearing a halter monitor for a day or 2 but will be well worth it. Some soreness in the chest at the beginning of treatment is normal, but pressure that persists is not. If your MD didn't think to do an EKG, I would think a trip to the ER is in order. Going to the ER while the pressure/pain is happening would be best.

Brenda

[elader]

Good lord, you need decent medical care. High cholesterol may not be controlled by eating less fat. Yes diet and excercise can help, but if its really high, you need to get medicated. Chest pains are nothing to dismiss and try home remedies. You need decent medical care. No one on this board should be suggesting anything else unless they are doctors and have examined you and your test results.

[packitin]

Yes, Elader is right. You need to get a heart study done. That sounds like it could be a blocked vessel. None of us who aren't medically trained can offer advice on this. I just know that many of my friends (I am 70 years old) have either had by-passes done or other ailments relating to it.
Many of them are doing fine now. They had to change many of their habits, and ALL of them gave up smoking. Many of them now take an asperin every day and also exercise. But you need to get a doctor's opinion, and fast.
How is your health otherwise, and what kind of life style do you lead? There are many factors involved. My dad had a heart attack at age 49. His was caused by smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and stress. Today, for me, I'm scared stiff of having heart trouble. I wouldn't smoke a cigarette if you gave me a thousand dollars, and exercise and watch my cholesterol (I take meds for it). So far, so good.
(give up those cigarettes, please - and don't get around second hand smoke; I gave up a part-time job that I liked because so many thoughtless persons smoked, and did not want to spend one day in a smoked-filled room)
Jay

[kteague]

Ditto to what's been said. I'd want a full cardiac workup (more than an ekg) without delay. Your description warrants attention.

If your cholesterol is very high at this young age, it may be hereditary, in which case medication is more likely to be required. In addition to dietary restrictions, read up on foods that actually help bring it down.

As to the lungs, the problems smoking can cause (not referring to the cancer risk) are generally not from the immediate activity of smoking (except in asthma), but from accumulative affect on the tissues of the lungs/airways and impairment of their ability to process air. When this is going on, it likely won't be apparent on an xray until pretty far long. I had shortness of breath and chest pain upon exertion for years before anything showed up on my annual chest xray, and even then it was misdiagnosed as pneumonia early on. Even if the smoking is affecting your lungs, I wouldn't expect it to wake you with pressure type chest pain.

How does your cpap data look as far as length of time of your apneas and if they happen at the time you wake up with chest pain? Just wondering if ineffective treatment could be contributing to cardiac stress during the night. That cardiac monitor idea sounds like a good one to me too, but that involves a degree of delay, and I'd want them to do something investigative while waiting to get a monitor and its results. Not trying to be an alarmist, but chest pain as you describe is one of those things when it's better to err on the side of caution. Why does it worsen at night? Good question for a cardiologist. A good cardiologist should be able to hear your detailed descriptions of your symptoms and hone in on the possibilites and needed tests more directly.

If they can come up with a VERIFIED cause of your chest pain other than cardiac (no maybes), at least you can move forward with resolving the symptoms and not lose sleep hurting and worrying. Please let us know your doctor's findings. Hopefully it will turn out to be much ado about nothing.

Kathy

[Kenv]

If your ribcage itself is painful, especially around the sternum, it could be Costochondritis (check it out in Google). This is inflammation of the rib cage cartilage and can be very very painful giving similar symptoms to heart attack. Press your fingers into your ribcage, if its very tender then that is probably the problem.

[dsm]

I searched for this and I did find one, but it was from '07 so I thought I would just start a new thread.

I have been using the machine for about 2yrs now, on and off (dog's destroyed mask and I couldn't afford a new one for a few months). Since then, I started using it every night for the past 4 or so months. About a month ago I started waking up with really bad chest pains. Mainly in the upper middle of my chest and it kinda feels like someone is standing on my chest. It basically hurts to move my chest area at all. It is starting to cause me to wake up after only about 4hrs sleep every night because it hurts so much and makes it very uncomfortable. I went to the doctor and she told me I had VERY high cholesterol (which in itself is really scary, I'm only 28) and we decided to try to lower it with my diet before going on medication, and nothing showed on chest x-rays. So I basically assumed that was the cause of my pains. I did ask her if it could be my cpap machine and she straight out said no. Well I have been eating nothing with cholesterol in it (or extremely low amounts) for about a month now and it's still happening. I have my humidity on 1 right now because I thought maybe it was too high. I usually had it between 2 and 3, but I was getting rained out almost everynight (I did purchase a cloth cover for the hose in the hopes that it would help, but all it has done has made the hose more comfortable when it touches me).

As I sit here it hurts and I only slept for about 3hrs tonight.

Also, I should mention that I am a half a pack smoker and I know that's not good. But I would think if that was the cause then why would it happen while I'm not smoking and actually get better throughout the day while I AM smoking.

imnothing,

What type of machine are you using (bilevel or auto or std cpap ?) what settings ? - are you able to get nightly data.

The seemingly 'logical' set of choices for such pain can be ...
1) Heart
2) Lung over exertion
3) Excessive stress from daytime work or environment

But chest pains can get caused by cpap. They can seem like it is heart but if the pain is right in the middle & feels like someone standing on your chest & no pain moves to your left arm, then it can be a side effect of cpap. A possible cpap related cause is hyperventilation. Being a smoker leads me down this line.

Take a read of this ...
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36760&p=319291&hili ... in#p319291

It may provide some insights - are you aware of breathing fast in the night ?

DSM