Question: Over 3 weeks or so I have been experiencing pains in my chest, on the left side as well as my left arm. I first noticed my heart started skipping a beat when I was going for a run. Since my heart rate was up, my heart was pounding which made the skipping feeling much more intense. I mostly feel the pain in my armpit and on the side of my chest right underneath my shoulder area. A few days ago I experienced some major pain when I took XXXXXXX breaths. The pain focused mostly around the middle of my chest as apposed to my left side like usual and the pain was much more intense. This sensation lasted for about 1 hour. Since then I still have a lot of discomfort in my arm and chest. Sometimes I will get sharp pains in my chest but it mostly has a dull and achy feel, but one that is different than being sore from working out. The pain in my arm comes and goes and I seem to feel it the most from my flexor all the way into my fingers. The thing that worries me the most is that I have felt short of breath, some numbness and tingling in my left arm, heaviness in the chest,some slight dizziness, more than usual indigestion and gas and sometimes some slight discomfort in my left leg. I find that the discomfort in my arm and chest gets worse when I lay on my sides and am worried that this could be some form of heart problem. I have had a very stressful school year and am very bad in dealing with stress but am wondering if this could be something entirely different. The only other symptom I have noticed is a knot in my neck that has lasted a while but this could be entirely unrelated.

I am a 20 year old Male, in relatively good shape but do not eat very healthy (although I have been changing that recently). I try to do cardio everyday but also have a family history of heart problems (my grandfather has had 3 heart attacks in his life, surviving them all)

Hi Doctor,

How can I be sure that it is not a heart condition? What types of signs can I look for or what tests could be done?

What do you think it could be considering the pain as well as shortness of breath and dizziness?

I have also noticed that it feels like there is something stuck in my ribs and I feel it on my left side only, on my chest, side rib area and on my back a bit as well.