AboutDavid Richardson Expertise Adult heart function and disease. Not very good about children lesss than 12. Hypertension is o.k. Heart rhythm a special interest.
Experience Certified in cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Was chairman of division of cardiology at the Medical College of Virginia. Am now mostly retired.
Organizations Fellow of American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology and member of American Physiological Society..
Publications Circulation, American Heart Journal, Hypertension.
Education/Credentials M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Residency training at Yale Uhniversity School of Medicine and Medical College of Virginia.
Awards and Honors Gold Heartt Award from American Heart Association in 1995.
Question I'm 21, I'm not on any type of medications, I'm 5foot3, 110lbs, I do not know my blood pressure. I have sharp random pains, witch I suppose is my heart. It feel's all most like there's a hand squeezing it really hard. When I was in high school It happened to me very frequently, and much more intense then today. I could all most pass out some time, I would get very dizzy. The worst time it happened I had sharp pain in my left arm, and lasted for maybe 20-30mins. It usually start with small pains getting sharper and sharper. This stopped for about the past 3 years, but started again just a couple months ago and is starting more and more frequently, more and more intense. Is this some thing I should worry about? Recently last's for approx. 20mins. Thanks.
Answer Dear Stephani
The most common cause of pain like yours is cramping of the muscles in the chest wall. If you can modify the pain, make it better or worse, by pressing on the area that hurts, then you have proven that the pain is coming from your chest wall. Chest wall pain is a nuisance but no threat to life or health. At age below 45, chest pain is very unlikely to come from clogging of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart. A few people get chest pain from congenital heart disease that causes trouble in mid-life, though this is unlikely in someone with good exercise ability. If pressure on the painful area does not modify the pain, ask your doctor to consider an echocardiogram to be sure that your heart's structure and function are normal. An echo costs about $1,ooo, so I hope you have good health insurance.
Please write back if this note doesn't answer all your questions.
