# Constant pain in the left side of my chest



## JohnBurkett (Dec 5, 2012)

For 4 years, (since 2008) I've had a constant pain in the left side of my chest. It began my senior year in highschool and has since gotten progressively worse as time goes on. Its a dull, aching, squeezing pain like if my heart were under constant pressure. It fluxuates and worsens when I'm disappointed or sad, and when I shout it lessens slightly. On a scale of 1 to 10, the constant pain would be 2 or 3 but when someone lets me down or does something that makes me feel bad it can jump as high as a 7 or 8. After a night of feeling good or happy, the pain will ultimately return and heighten at the end of the activity and be as high as a 5 or 6, and throw me back into sadness.
Its always there 24/7, except I don't feel it when I sleep. Which has, consequently, lead to me sleeping a lot more than I should. (I slept for 14 hours last night, for example. And I sleep 10 or 11 hours on average.)

I have had multiple EKGs performed and blood work taken but all of it came back clean. Doctors cannot find anything wrong with my heart. I was given morphine once and it took any other pain (muscle aches, headaches, etc) away except for my chest pain. It made my chest feel worse. The only way that I know of to relieve the pain is to see a certain girl (my ex-girlfriend Katelyn) who's presence relieves it entirely and has since the first time I met her. Other girls who I've dated since have managed to dull the pain but never relieve it.

Someone pressing their hand (head, arm, etc.) on the left side of my chest relieves the pain slightly, but my own hand does nothing. Shouting and hitting walls or other inanimate things helps, but never removes it.
At times it gets to be so painful that I cannot sleep or think and just shut down, beating at my chest or rolling around in pain. 
With the pain comes a sense of self-doubt and hatred. The worse it gets, the more I hate myself. I've come to be in a state of clinical depression (with a prescription to 10mg pills of Citalopram).

The pain has come to control my life, with a significant portion of the things I do being in the name of relieving it somehow. I end up hurting others or being very selfish towards the few people who's presence helps relieve it, and thats not fair for them and eventually leads to them walking out on me. Which consequently, makes the pain worse.

I need help. My latest theory is social anxiety, which is what lead me here, but since I don't actually know I wasn't sure if I should post it in that part of the forum or not.
I have no idea what is going on with me, but in order to see someone to treat it I need to figure it out. I can't live like this much longer. My thoughts have reached the level of stabbing my heart with a knife or cutting my heart out to remove the pain. I don't want to be alive anymore.

What is this pain? Or how can I find out what it is myself? Please help me.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

If it's getting worse when you're upset, and all of your tests have come back fine, perhaps it's psychosomatic. Saying "it is in your head" doesn't make the pain any less real - you feel it, so it's real, and EVERYTHING we sense is actually turned into sensation in our heads, so what that means is that the pain signal can originate inside your head, and not form your chest. 

Nobody here is going to be able to anything definitive if medical professionals and tests haven't found anything, but perhaps you could try to meditate, and relax, and see if that helps. You also mentioned, that you get relief from someone else touching your chest, which is interesting, so maybe something like massage, or acupuncture could help. Another avenue could be to see a psychiatrist to explore the connection between your emotional state and the pain (and maybe find a way to break that link).


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## Jenikyula gone mad (Nov 9, 2009)

I have these pains too, though not as often as you do. I used to think I was developing heart disease (at 22 years old, haha) but after Google'ing my symptoms I read that apparently this is a common thing that doctors can't even explain yet. It's probably not life-threatening... but that's all I know about it. I'm sorry it's ruining your quality of life so much, and I hope someone offers you better advice than I can. :stu


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