Am I about to have a heart attack or am I paranoid? Shoulder pain

[jdub1194]

I started having sharp pain in my left shoulder yesterday while laying in bed and I would feel the pain every time I took a breath in so I started having shortness of breath to reduce the pain. The pain was located in the front of my shoulder and not on my back. At first I thought it was something related to a tendon or a nerve being pinched because I had lifted some curtains the previous day and did other house work. However, when I woke up today, I had severe sharp pain in my shoulder and it seemed to be moving toward my back, but still mostly on my front side. It started to become more dull of a pain after moving around and going to class. When I came back from class, I ate a burger and had a soda and the pain was excruciating and very severe that I could barely move my arm. When I started burping, it's the only thing that gave me some pain relief, making me suspect that gas is playing a role in the pain. Eventually, it became a dull pain that I only notice when I take a breath and it doesn't bother me unless I eat or try to lay down. I never been diagnosed with any conditions such as GERD, but I currently have a diet with a lot of fast food (almost a year eating like this because of moving to a different city for school - not trying to make excuses for my eating habits though) and I do have a high triglyceride level (200-215 typically), otherwise everything else about me is normal (might be overweight, I weigh 205lbs at 6'1 ft tall). There's family history of diabetes and heart disease (I have neither, but dad has both). I'm not taking any medication and haven't been prescribed any except for allergy to dust mites. What might be the problem, or what steps should I take to narrow down the possibilities? I plan to visit a PCP sometime soon, but would like to know whether I can find a way to treat it in the meantime, or if I should be worried and immediately go to a ER. This is the first time I've experienced these symptoms. Right now I'm thinking it could be - tendon/muscle strain or tear, heart related, or GERD, but not sure what it is. I'll probably post this in the GERD community as well if anyone is interested. Let me know if you need more info from me.

[ayl291]

In terms of cardiac conditions that come to mind ... I think of paricarditis.  The outermembrane of your heart being inflamed.  Could also be gerd.  The tendon theory is a bit doubtful in my opinion.

Get in with cardio and PCP.

If you need to always go to your emergency department.