Chest pains? Just got back from doctor, advice needed...

Hey hosers. Last night was day 5 (skipped one day so day 6 in a away) and today the pain in my chest I was having got worse.

Too see my history thus far see here: viewtopic/t54569/Newbie--TONS-of-questi ... -HELP.html

Basically just starting out and yesterday or the day before I realised I was getting small but SHARP pains in the exact same spot in my chest for about a week now, the same amount of time I have been on CPAP/APAP. Today after eating a big ice cream they became much more frequent like every 30 minutes for about 3 hours. I got worried it was my heart and went to a walk-in clinic. The Doctor there told me it is most likely NOT my heart but probably my lungs? Does this sometimes happen to new people on the machine? I think I read this therapy expands your lungs. Last night my average pressure was 12 and for the last week it would be about 10-11 overall.

The pain is in the same spot, almost right in the middle (a little to the right) just under my one chest muscle.

TIA for any insight into this.

GERD / reflux made worse due to aerophagia (swallowing air thanks to cpap) ? (your ice cream story could be a symptom of reflux or an ulcer in your throat).

If it's just due to not being used to the pressure, well after some time you will get used to it. Hard to say how long since each person is different.

If the pains continue I would take it seriously and go back to get a thorough exam. Is there any reason why your lungs might be stressed? eg COPD or emphysema or ...? In that case your sleep lab / doctor / pulmonologist should already have been aware and/or consulted with.

Definitely not heartburn or the like, I had that for the last 20 years also (same as OSA) and this was a heart or lung pain.

The only other thing that could effect my lungs would be the humidity maybe as it has been really high here for the last 2 months. I am/was also out of breath all night too and mentioned this to the doctor and he still said lungs with full confidence?!

What about your gall bladder? Has it been checked out?

I had a friend that had severe chest pains and a brother that ended up having to have their gall bladders taken out due to gall bladder stones.

This is no time for guessing and the doctor at the walk in clinic, as are most walk in clinic MD's, was a total idiot. You want to be sure that it is not your heart? Get blood enzymes tested and see a cardiologist for an EKG and stress test. You want to make sure you don't have issues with your lungs? See a respirologist MD and get a CT scan or MRI, etc. You will feel much better knowing what is going on or not going on once the tests are done. DO NOT be afraid to go to the emerg at the hospital. I do not wish to be a fear monger in any way, shape or form, but those little 'pecks' could be a warning of the tsounami about to arrive. Better safe than sorry. Do not bury your head in the sand. Do not take layperson medical advice with something like this.

When I ran my machine on APAP, in the beginning, I would know the pressure went to 8 or more by the pain beneath my shoulder blades and in my sides when I woke up in the morning.
Breathing out against the continuous positive air pressure blowing into our lungs does stress muscles are not used to doing that (normal human exhalation only entails relaxing those muscles, not using them actively against resistance). Chest/back muscle pains often happen to CPAP beginners, especially when their pressure is on the high side or they don't have (or use) exhale relief. You've let your machine roam up to 14 -- that's pretty high. So, in principle that could be reaction the CPAP,
Unlike forum members, doctors are taught and trained in doing differential diagnosis based on specific patient presentation -- and this doctor did see you and hear you and I assume examine you. Which is not to say "trust him" - I have no idea whether he is trustworthy or not. Nor do I presume to know the reason for the symptoms you are having.

If after meeting the doctor are still concerned, if you feel the doctor was not professional enough or not thorough enough, or trustworthy, or your symptoms are too nagging, do what torontoCPAPguy suggested.

By the way -- what did the doctor suggest as the reason for the lung pain?

O.

geez louise, go to a cardiologist...

I have had chest pains when I started apap, but they are not like chest pains that you get from angina..

you can feel your muscles inside of your ribs are sore and they hurt..

You can feel it when you take a deep breath..

go to the doctor and get it checked out, thats not something you want to fool around wtih, and youll sleep better knowing what it is...

Although I have nothing but confidence in the walk-in clinic physicians I have seen over the years (some proving better than other physicians), if you are still having the pain, I would go you your regular doctor, cardiologist, or back to the walk-in clinic doctor and say you need to know exactly what's causing the problem. If it's the lungs, why? You may have said this in your other thread, but did you have an EKG, echocardiogram, etc?

You might also want to check into costochondritis. My son has this and sometimes comes on for apparently no reason at all (he's 21 and was diagnosed with it over four years ago).

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sprains ... dritis.htm

"Costochondritis is a condition that causes chest pain due to inflammation of the cartilage and bones in the chest wall. Also called Tietze's Syndrome, costochondritis occurs when there is inflammation at the junction of the rib bone and breastbone (sternum). At this junction, there is cartilage joining these bones. This cartilage can become irritated and inflamed. Depending on the extent of the inflammation, costochondritis can be quite painful."


http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/costoc ... N=symptoms

Symptoms include:

* Pain and tenderness in the locations where your ribs attach to your breastbone (costosternal joints)
* Often sharp pain, though also dull and gnawing pain
* Location often on left side of breastbone, but possible on either side of chest

If the problem occurred just after eating ice cream, I would definitely ask about gall bladder trouble, but also not assume that because you've had epigastric trouble in the past that it hasn't morphed into a different version now - it happens.

Look up in an anatomy book the ziphoid process--it's the very tip of the bottom of your sternum. If the pain is just about 1" to the right of that point, and maybe just a little bit below--then that is a common place of pain associated with the gallbladder. Especially fat, but also sometimes coffee and alcohol can aggravate the gallbladder and result in pain at that location. Often the pain will have a slight burning quality. If this sounds very familiar then a lab work up and possibly a diagnostic ultrasound (to determine if gallstones are present) would be appropriate. If it is the gallbladder then it is probably coincidental that it occurred just as you started CPAP.

Good luck