Chest Pains

I've had chest pains since I was a little girl. When I was growing up, they were excused as growing pains. In college, when I wasn't exactly growing anymore, and I still had them, my dad suggested I go see a cardiologist. So, when I lived in Raleigh after college, I did just that.

They told me that I have heart palpitations - an irregular heartbeat. Other than that I was perfectly healthy. They told me that if I got dizzy or passed out to come back and see them. They didn't proscribe any medicine or recommend anything additional.

The chest pains aren't constant. They occur maybe once every couple of months. They feel like someone is stabbing me right below my left breast (up and in) when I breathe in. If I'm not breathing, I can't feel them at all. They are never accompanied by any other "heart attack" symptoms. They usually last about 5-10 minutes, and then I won't have another for several months. It's almost like one of those cramps you would get in your side if you were not used to exercising and had just started a running program...except that it's about six inches higher in the chest area rather than in the stomach area.

There's not any specific thing that I'm doing at the time that they occur. That I can remember, they've never occurred during any kind of exercise or strenuous activity.

I don't know if it's because of my increase in blood supply or if it has no relation to my heart at all and it is just my ribs expanding with the relaxin hormone, but I've had the chest pains off and on for the past two days.

They're more annoying than anything else. They keep me from breathing normally, as I have to breathe shallow or press against my ribs while breathing to keep the pain down.

I'm not really worried about them. I've had them all my life. I've gone into the doctor way too many times due to the spotting issue I've had, so I don't plan on going for this. I just wish it would go away.