I have been having chest pains for the past 6 years or so. It started out as a sharp pain that I could control by stopping breathing for a minute. It became so regular that I stopped breathing without thinking about it. There would be times I would get the pains while sleeping and would just stop breathing while sleeping to get the pain to go away. Over the years, the pain progressed. It would radiate throughout the back, ribs, and full chest. The pains would not always be on a certain side of the body. I can no longer stop the pains. The pains have gotten so bad that they paralyze me anywhere from a few seconds to 20 minutes (the pain is so bad that I can't move). Recently, I have noticed that if I lay down on my left side, I immediately get a pain in my upper left chest as if it were in the heart. I am 21 years old and do not smoke.