Should I go to the hospital? (Update)

If it's bad enough to make you want to cry, i would go. Really chest pain can be a number of things. I bet you'll have to have a lot of tests run, but i'd rather be safe than sorry. Let us know how it goes, and i hope you feel better.

go in, yes do...and if I may place my bet?

Gall Bladder. Sounds JUST like my Mom's issue....feels like chest pain but it's actually gall stones/leak.

As a mostly lurker I thought I'd reply after reading your post.  I would say go to the doctor.  If you have a regular dr. you could call and give your symptoms, and then they could recommend what you do (wait for a regular appt) or go to the hospital.  Any time you have pain that severe it's a good thing to have it checked out.  My husband thought he was having heart issues and went into the hospital and it turned out he was suffering from stress/anxiety from having his mother stay at our house for 2 weeks while she recovered from an accident!  They ran all sorts of tests and in the end nobody made fun of him.  On the flip side, my mom had thought something wasn't quite right for a while and ignored it for months until it became a true emergency.  She's now fine but it was a scary for a while!

 So...even though I HATE doctors...I'd say get it checked out!  Plus, if it turns out to be nothing, you won't have to worry!! 

I hope everything is fine and that you feel better soon!

Laura

I've heard of galll bladder problems causing this too. I've also known people who've had severe gastric reflux and had pain that was so intense they cried (thought it was a heart attack), but I don't think it comes and goes so quickly. If you have doc in the box clinics near you, I'd go to one of those today.

 We do have MedExpress clinics...I wonder if they would be ok to go to??

Please go and go soon.  Heartburn doesn't come and go ... yes, this is one of those times when you need to swallow what you don't *want* to do and go because the bad side of the risk is just too great.

My Mom's attacks with her gall bladder were that bad....she went to the ER for it and they missed it...twice. It would fade by the time they saw her. FINALLY she got an ultrasound and they found it. Hers were food related...after a meal of a certain type, etc. She mentioned it really scaring her because it felt like it was her heart/chest.

She had to get her removed....but it was an easy surgery...laprosomething...small incisions.

OK, so DH is going to take me in.  Hopefully they can give me some answers and they take it seriously.  It always does make me worry that they will miss it just like Gina said.  It doesn't hurt now and it probably won't when I go in (of course), so hopefully they can figure this out.

Thanks!!  I'll keep you updated. 

try to recall the pain and describe it right...STABBING....BURNING....PRESSURE...PUSHING IN....PULSING....those are all words that can help a doc when you are not actually "in" pain right then. Think of the actual location if you can and show them that as well...if it follows a pattern...what you did an hour before it happened (sedentary, walking, running, sleeping) what position you were in (sitting, leaned back, laying on your side...which side) etc.

Just some thoughts!

Have you taken any medications lately?  I only ask because before I was on birth control, I had bad periods and the cramps were so bad only naproxen would help, but eventually that started giving me bad chest pains.  That is why I went on the pill in the first place.  I was sick of having such bad cramps I had to take naproxen for 4 days straight every month, and then that developed into chest pain! 

 Oh no!!! I hope they were able to get it figured out, and that you're feeling better! Keep us posted!!

 When I had my gall bladder issues, it started as heartburn, which I had never had before in my life.  Then I would get nauseas almost every day of the week.  It was so bad that for almost a month, I ate nothing but crackers and water.  I would eat about 10-15 crackers a day and that was all I could keep down.  I also had really bad pains just under my ribs and sometimes chest pain.  I went to the on-campus doctor many times, and the ER a few times, but they never figured anything out.  Finally, I was talking to a family friend who is a nurse and she said "oh, thats your gall bladder" when i pointed to where it hurt.  I went to that doctor the next day and heard "yep, thats your gall bladder."  Scheduled me for an ultrasound and didn't see a whole lot, so I went back for some other test where I had to lay there for 2 hours while a camera too pictures of this tracer stuff they injected.  Yep, gall bladder.  I had to have it taken out.  I still get sick pretty often, but not nearly like I used to.

 If it is Gall Stones, they suck!  I had mine when i was 22.  And it took forever for anyone to believe me in Emerg because I was so young.  I knew what it was but everyone just kept saying Ulcer. 

Pain from Gall Stones is a shooting, heartburn like pain that goes from the middle of your chest to the back  and radiates.  It really can be enough to bring you to your knees and make you cry.  Its typical after eating rich foods, unlike regular heartburn which occures after spicy foods or foods you have a normal intollerance to.  I was on a Jalepeno Popper kick when I had mine so i thought it was the spicy food getting me, turned out it was the cream cheese.  So steer clear of fatty stuff.

Your Gall Bladder is for storing extra bile and once its removed your pancreas stops producing extra bile, so its not a needed organ.  When you eat fatty stuff, your pancreas is triggered to produced more bile.  If you have stones in your gall bladder though, the bile can back up and cause the burning.

OTOH, my attacks were never that short or sporadic.  At least not the ones that landed me in the hospital.  Still, chest pain is never something to mess with.  Good Luck at the Doctors. 

georgie4682

 And what could this be?

Last night I had what I thought was heartburn.  I took some Tums, but they didn't work.  Then it stopped and when it came back it was an absolutely horrible pain right in the center of my chest.  It lasted for maybe a minute and went away.  It then came back a few more times last night before I went to bed.  It hurt so bad I was just hunched over trying not to cry.

It didn't happen at all throug the night, but then this morning it happened once.

I would hate to go to the hospital and then they tell me nothing is wrong.  And if it doesn't happen again, I don't know if it is even worth the trip.  What do you all think this could be and is it serious enough to see a doctor? 

Do by any chance drink the high caffeine energy drinks that seem to be everywhere, like Red Bull or Amp?  Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol can all play a factor in the heartburn.