23
Male
I’ve been having pain in the left side of my chest for about 2 years now. I’ve seen my doctor multiple times, but she doesn’t really know what it could be other than some kind of inflammation. My doctor prescribed ibuprofen which I took for a month or 2, and it did get rid of the pain. A couple months later and the pain is back. I start taking ibuprofen again, but this time it didn’t help. About 2 months ago, I started consuming more Omega-3 fats from fish oil supplements and salmon, and again, it helped at first, but now it seems to not help as much even though I’ve gone from 1 tablet a day to 3. I’m getting worried again that there’s something wrong with my heart, but my doctor seems to think it’s nothing serious. She sent me to get an X-ray a while ago, but nothing came up. Exercise also seems to help temporarily with the pain. What could this pain possibly be?
Hi and welcome to question doctors.com
That seems to be an old muscle strain in the intercostals that would have healed with fibrous tissue ..it must be treated well by ultra sound therapy..laser..and deep friction massage..
The pain may increase in cold weather and become better in warmth ..use hot packs at home and support the pain area when sneezing and coughing ..
hi
I agree with you that its something more than being just an inflammation.Any inflammation gets cured by anti -inflammatory medicines within 10-15 days. But 2 years of inflammation is rather unusual.An xray wont show any heart pathology. Get an ecg done and if requied a 2-D echocardiography to see if anything is wrong with the heart.
Thanks
HI
ALTHOUGH IT DOESNT SEEM TO BE JUST AN INFLAMMATION,MANY OTHER CAUSES RELATED TO HEART,LUNGS,MUSCLES,NERVES,CARTILAGE AND RIBS NEED TO BE RULED OUT. AN ECG,MRI OF CHEST CAN GIVE A GROSS IDEA ABOUT IT. ANXIETY AND STRESS ALSO COULD BE THE REASON IF ALL THE REPORTS TURN OUT TO BE NORMAL
hello there
any kind of chest pain should not last for so long. Heart related chest pain should also have other associated symptoms like pain in left arm,palpitations,sweating,dyspnea or giddiness. Just having pain are signs of some muscular or intercostal nerve inflammation. Do yoga,stretching exercises. Breathing exercises including deep inspiration and expiration should be done regularly. avoid taking pain killers