"Spasm" feeling in chest, no pain involved. A few questions.

Guest · Guest

I, too, have chest spasms and have had them for the past several months. They come with no warning, just a sudden jump in the center of my chest and I gasp. There is no pain at all. I may have several of these, one after the other, and sometimes it just happens once. It doesn't seem to matter whether I am lying in bed or walking about. My doctor can't explain it. I am sure it has nothing to do with my heart, just a sudden gasp for breath and it is over, but it is very disconcerting. I wish someone would explain it to me.

vipbigv · Newbie Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 3

Hey, I'm 23 and been having these spasms/pinches too since i was about 16 or 17, but didnt really pay attention to them until last couple years. I can get them once a week or 3 times a day, no pattern. For the past 4 years or so, my sleep pattern has been bizzare, sleeping 3-5 hours about 3 or 4 times a week, always working out and playing basketball, drinking alcohol...in short just overworking my body, but I always felt I was healthy and mentally strong so I never slowed my pace down. This past summer I started generally feeling short of breath all the time, esp. on exertion. In sept., i went to a cardiologist, did echo, stress test, muga scan, chest ct...my left ventrical is slightly enlarged, but dr. feels it might be due to my lifestyle..LVEF was good (71%) at rest, but after stress test, dropped to 48%..i also did a cardiac mri...normal...so im puzzled b/c for the past 6 months ive been constantly short of breath, never gasping or wheezing nor hyperventilating, but just feel like i cant grasp a breath always, so i have to inhale deeply, which doesnt always help..did spirometry work for lungs and was normal...i havent done anything relating to sports for many months now, as every time i begin, i get short of breath and my heart starts racing...on top of all this, these "heart spams/pinches" just make me worry more about it all..they also sometimes come on prior to an orgasm for me, esp. when my heart starts racing..does anyone else experience these during sex/orgasm?...also, anyone have any ideas whats causing the shortness of breath (and always have chest tightness, but not pain) which is chronic, even at rest, some days better some worse, but I'm really mentally drained trying to figure out whats wrong, b/c all the Dr. apptments. are so long to wait for and it takes weeks to get results, so all this just been drivin me crazy...not really an anxious person, but have been very anxious over my condition b/c noone has pinpointed what exactly is wrong...any thoughts/ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated!

vipbigv · Newbie Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 3

also, does anyone experience these spasms/pinches while exercising (either lifting weights or cardio stuff)?

Guest · Guest

the chest tightness and spasms have also happened to me. i do not know what it is but i get it at night before going to sleep. it makes it hard to sleep.

rcthomp · Newbie Joined: 20 Mar 2008 Posts: 1

I've been looking all over for info on this. Im having these at a time where im experiencing asthma issues, allergy issues, inner ear issues, and learning to master the panic attacks that can result from all of this at once.

And just for one of the posts earlier talking about a doctor blaming it on high bp, that's wrong. My bp is well within normal and I have them. I suspect its anxiety, but I am willing to try the calcium suppliment suggestion mentioned in this thread.

Guest · Guest

I have been having these spasms on and off for over a year now. While I write this reply I am experiencing them. I am 48 and in quite good health. The first time I had these attacks I feared heart problems and like so many of the people on this post I went to the doctor who did all the tests including tests for reflux. Everything was positive. The spasms went away for a while then came back. There is no pattern to their occurrence. Obviously a lot of people suffer from this disorder, perhaps it is time that a medical university do some research and give a name to this syndrome and help us all.

Guest · Guest

This is amazing. I have experienced this condition which you have all described (better than i have ever managed to at the doctor). I have high levels of anxiety at times and I can't help but feel that this exacerbates the frequency of the spasms. I have experienced them since I was 19. I am now 23. I find that they will even occur in my sleep and wake me. They are also sometimes accompanied by a feeling of an adrenaline rush. I often go months without them and then they occur multiple times a day for months at a time. Very distressing and uncomfortable.

xandersnape · Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 21

Hey, Im 16 and Iv been having the same sort of thing since I was probably 12 years old. Its worrying, but something I found out tonight (after having 2 prolonged "spasms" this afternoon) is that my dad (whos in his 50's) and my step-mother (whos in her late 40's) get them too. So maybe everyone gets them... and some people have them in varied degrees (so alot dont notice). I know I had these two long spasms today for the first time in about... 6 months? Im currently under alot of stress (with senior exams etc, and I just moved to my dads house cuz my mum moved away) but there arent links to stress for any other times Iv had them... that I can remember. But I like what Im hearing.. that people dont think its a heart thing. Id be pretty worried if it were, the main thing that relieves me (apart from knowing that toher people are in good health and still get them) is that its like... basically not possibly for someone my age to have cardiovascular disease etc... unless theyre born with it.

landon2006 · Newbie Joined: 14 May 2008 Posts: 1

I am 19, almost 20, and i am having similar symptoms. Although mine I think have very little to do with my heart and more to do with the muscles around my Diaphragm. It started about 2 1/2 - 3 months ago with a sharp pain in my right side. It felt like it was right at the mid-bottom of my left long. It scared me because I wasn't doing anything for it to really do that (I was sitting at the computers). At that time is scared me really bad, and triggered one of my panics attacks.

That pained continued off and on for a few days and finally I went to the Doctor. I explained all my problems and he listened to my heart and lungs and all that, found nothing wrong except for sever muscle spasms in my back. He gave me some nerve med, which I didn't take due to not wanting to become addicted to it.

Since then however, I have been having muscle spasms (or what I think are spasms anyway) in my chest / mid stomach area almost every day since then. They tend to not be "deep" spasms, they generally feel like there right on my rib cage, and will move from the center of my chest all the way to either side and sometimes even to my back.

They tend to be worse when I lay down, but that is not the only trigger. I really can't see it being to serious, or something would have happened by now. I have also noticed a general swimmy feeling in my head sometimes, kind of like a disoriented feeling.

Overall, I think it stress, because it didn't start until I lost my job about 4 months ago, stopped most daily exercise and also have many money problems at the moment.

Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Landon

Guest · Guest

I just started having these over the past couple of days, right around my heart area. Of course I was very worried it was my heart, which made me anxious. But then I took my pulse during the same time as the fluttering/spasms and recognized that my heart kept a steady pulse despite the quick fluttering of my chest.

This makes me believe it has nothing to do with my heart, but is just another muscle spasm. This calmed me down substantially as I've had the exact same spasms in my arms many times before.

As to why, I cannot say. My best guess is it's some sort of deficiency. I know my health habits have worsened the past few months. I was very health concious previously, and lost weight to go from 185 to 160. But I've become addicted to a computer game and have developed some poor habits as a result:
* poor sleeping habits (go to bed late and sleep little)
* started drinking caffeine again
* large reduction in vegetable intake
* large reduction in water intake
* little to know exercise
* gained wait, almost up to 180 again
* eating out more often
* in front of a computers screen a lot every day

These unhealthy characteristics are almost the exact opposite of what I was before. I'm sure my body is complaining about one or all of these and maybe the spasms are a result. Just thought I'd list those to see if anyone else who's having this issue shares any of those characteristics for comparison.

One last thing, I also have a twitching under my left eye. This I've read is caused by lack of sleep and excessive exposure to computer screens. This I believe because I took a week break from my computer, got a lot of sleep, and the twitching went away for weeks (was happening frequently each day). I resumed my poor habits and now the twitching is slowly coming back.

FYI I don't take any drugs at all (have not for years, not even aspirin). I'm a firm believer in symptoms being a way for your body to tell you something is wrong, or you're doing something wrong, and taking drugs only masks that problem making you think everything is okay.

I think I can fix my problems but my bigger problem is I'm addicted to some stupid MMO game which leads to all my poor conditions above.

"Spasm" feeling in chest, no pain involved. A few questions.

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