chesthurts

Thank you for the comments. I feel more reassured. With my family & smoking history, it's very easy to let my anxiety get the best of me. I did call my doctor and he agreed to order a CT if it would reassure me. I'm to call him back tomorrow if I want him to schedule it. Incidentally, I spoke with my aunt today (my mother's sister) and she said that she had identical chest pain 3-4 times a year, that she has had since her child was 2 years old. (He is 17 now.) She said that she had a bunch of tests and they couldn't find anything. I found that very interesting.

I went and checked dates over the last few months, and it looks like it flares up about every 6 weeks for a week or two. What an odd pattern of pain.

costochondritis was the prevailing diagnoses for a long time, but my doctor is concerned with the long duration of pain and says that's not very common in costochondritis. I've read that costochondritis can be caused by trauma to the chest and I did have a bad car accident in 1997, and the pain is directly underneath where my seat belt was lying across my chest. in 1998, I had breast reduction surgery. But even so, my doctor isn't convinced it's costo. He's aware of my family history. Thank you for your comments.

thank you for your comments. I appreciate the help. I haven't, just my GP. I did have a negative EKG maybe 2 years ago, but no further cardiac testing. my doctor said that if the PT didn't help, he was sending me for a CT. I'm sure he would be willing to order one now, without waiting to see what effect the PT has. I was mostly curious about how likely it would be for LC to cause sporadic pain for such a long duration and still not show on an xray.

Hello, I am a 29 year old female with chronic chest pain since 2002. I was raised in a household with 2 smokers, so was exposed to second hand smoke for my entire life, and have a personal smoking history of 12 years. My mother died at age 53 of NSCLC. So, obviously, I have serious risk factors for the development of LC in spite of my relatively young age. My pain is all on the right side, starting about 1 inch to the right of my breastbone. It travels all the way down my ribs to my right flank, although the spot to the right of my breastbone is the most painful. I have a corresponding knot in the muscles of my back in the exact same spot. I do have chronic diarrhea and it has been mentioned that this pain could possibly be my gall bladder. The pain is NOT constant. It comes and goes frequently, although I cannot tie it to any specific activity. Sometimes it will not hurt for weeks at a time. Other times it hurts for weeks at a time. NSAID's as well as heat/ice do seem to help. I have had multiple negative chest xrays. I have no cough, mucous, fatique, or any other apparent symptoms aside from the pain. I have spent thousands on testing to try and determine the cause of my pain, but remain undiagnosed. My doctor's current supposition is that it is postural and he has sent me to physical therapy. I do have very, very poor posture and spend 8+ hours a day sitting at a computer. Despite the negative xrays, I remain anxious that it is lung cancer. Can lung cancer cause long term, sporadic chest pain with no other symptoms, while still remaining small enough to be undetected by chest xray? Thank you.