Aa
might I have lyme
For starters, I am a fairly healthy male in my mid 40s. About a month ago I started having dull chest pains, mostly on the left side. The doc did an EKG and sent me for a stress test to be certain. Everything came back fine. I still have the chest pains (multiple times a day lasting for a few seconds), but recently my ears started ringing constantly. The left is much worse than the right. I also have pain in my left elbow, which I've had for over a month. I pretty much wrote it off to a sports or exercising injury (which may still be the case). Lastly, I have periods of irritability and anxiousness, mostly in the evening, although I'm wondering if that's just because I'm worried about what may be wrong with me. Could this be Lyme or would I have many more (and obvious) symptoms?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
A lot of things can cause chest pain, some of them related to your heart and others not. What we worry about most is coronary artery disease and your heart not getting enough oxygen. Risk factors for this include age, a family history of heart attacks or strokes, smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. Minimizing those risk factors is most important (and it sounds like you’re already doing a good job exercising). The good news is you had a normal EKG and stress test, so there is likely another explanation for your chest pain.
I need to know more about your medical history, your physical exam, and look at your lab results, but I will go through a few additional possibilities. Some important questions regarding your chest pain include: is your pain with exertion, at rest, or random? Is it worse with movement or certain positions? Is your sternum painful to the touch? One possibility for your symptoms is a condition called costochondritis. This would be worse with movement, reproducible when you push on your chest, and the treatment is rest and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as Ibuprofen.
Another possible cause of your chest pain is something called Prinztmetals angina, which is essentially a spasm of the coronary arteries. It usually occurs at rest, may come in clusters, and can be treated with nitrates or calcium channel blockers.
Another cause of intermittent chest pain is anxiety. From what you said, it sounds like you are having periods of anxiety and irritability. Do you notice you have chest pain during these moments? Do you also have tingling or numbness in your hands? This may be something to talk with your physician more about.
I recommend you see your physician to talk about these and other possibilities to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan.
Ringing in your ears, or tinnitus, is a common problem. It is often a result of hearing loss, but can also be caused by earwax, medications (such as aspirin or antibiotics), drinking alcohol or caffeine, high blood pressure, or dental issues. Your physician can help you identify and eliminate the cause, but there often isn’t much treatment he/she can offer.
What makes you worried about Lyme disease? The symptoms you describe are not consistent with Lyme disease. Did you recently have a tick bite or is Lyme very prevalent in your area? If you are really concerned you could request your doctor check a blood test, but I think we have other explanations for the symptoms you describe. Good luck!
I need to know more about your medical history, your physical exam, and look at your lab results, but I will go through a few additional possibilities. Some important questions regarding your chest pain include: is your pain with exertion, at rest, or random? Is it worse with movement or certain positions? Is your sternum painful to the touch? One possibility for your symptoms is a condition called costochondritis. This would be worse with movement, reproducible when you push on your chest, and the treatment is rest and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as Ibuprofen.
Another possible cause of your chest pain is something called Prinztmetals angina, which is essentially a spasm of the coronary arteries. It usually occurs at rest, may come in clusters, and can be treated with nitrates or calcium channel blockers.
Another cause of intermittent chest pain is anxiety. From what you said, it sounds like you are having periods of anxiety and irritability. Do you notice you have chest pain during these moments? Do you also have tingling or numbness in your hands? This may be something to talk with your physician more about.
I recommend you see your physician to talk about these and other possibilities to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan.
Ringing in your ears, or tinnitus, is a common problem. It is often a result of hearing loss, but can also be caused by earwax, medications (such as aspirin or antibiotics), drinking alcohol or caffeine, high blood pressure, or dental issues. Your physician can help you identify and eliminate the cause, but there often isn’t much treatment he/she can offer.
What makes you worried about Lyme disease? The symptoms you describe are not consistent with Lyme disease. Did you recently have a tick bite or is Lyme very prevalent in your area? If you are really concerned you could request your doctor check a blood test, but I think we have other explanations for the symptoms you describe. Good luck!
Its all depend upon our mind... what we think we feel that. if docter examine you and said you are fine then its mean you are fine.
Its all depend upon our mind... what we think we feel that. if docter examine you and said you are fine then its mean you are fine.
one other thing...I actually do have some tingling in my fingers from time to time. Why do you ask?
Thank you for the detailed response Christina. I live in CT where there is a high occurrence of Lyme. I actually had it once before, approx 10 years ago, (although that time I had a bulls eye and very different symptoms). I did pull a tick off my leg about 6-8 weeks ago, but it was the garden variety brown tick. I didn't think they carried the disease, but someone recently told me otherwise.
I guess I just thought of Lyme because it was the easiest explanation. Being relatively young and in good shape, it seemed like a logical explanation. I didn't mention it earlier, but I have some general joint pain as well. The reason I didn't mention it is because now that I'm in my 40's that's pretty common anyways so it could be completely unrelated. I also have dry/sore eyes.
The bottom line is I'm probably imagining half of this but I'm seeing the doc tomorrow for some blood work. Originally I just assumed it was stress when my chest started hurting, but the second symptom (tinnitus) made me assume it was something more. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they are both stress related. My chest does not hurt any more during rest than activity. It's completely random and quite tolerable and only lasts a few seconds. It does not hurt when applying pressure.
I guess I just thought of Lyme because it was the easiest explanation. Being relatively young and in good shape, it seemed like a logical explanation. I didn't mention it earlier, but I have some general joint pain as well. The reason I didn't mention it is because now that I'm in my 40's that's pretty common anyways so it could be completely unrelated. I also have dry/sore eyes.
The bottom line is I'm probably imagining half of this but I'm seeing the doc tomorrow for some blood work. Originally I just assumed it was stress when my chest started hurting, but the second symptom (tinnitus) made me assume it was something more. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they are both stress related. My chest does not hurt any more during rest than activity. It's completely random and quite tolerable and only lasts a few seconds. It does not hurt when applying pressure.
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