33 Years Old. On Medicine For Hypertension. Having Body Pain. What Could Be Causing This?

Posted on Fri, 4 Jan 2013

Question: Hi my name is XXXXXXX and im 33 yrs old i am over weight but do not smoke or drink i do have hypertension and take medication for it but I have been having left arm and shoulder pain and a prickly sensation in different places on my chest also when i press on my chest and left arm it hurts really bad!!! i cant stand nobody to poke me at all and all this has been coming and going for over a year now. I have been to several doctor with this i have had EKG, Echocardiogram, chest X-rays and have been 3 times this year to the emergency room with same chest pain and every time they say its not my heart that I didn't have a heart attack cause all blood test came out fine what else could this be

Answered by Dr. Akhilesh Dubey (40 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Thanks for sharing your concern here.

I have gone through your history, and basically you have the following.
1) Hypertension for which you take Norvasc, hope your B.P. is well controlled.
2) Hyper acidity and heart burn and for which you take protonix.
3) Atypical chest pain with normal EKG and hurts when pressed (it is tender)
4) Low vitamin, which one? I presume it is Vitamin D.

Let me explain to you. Please understand that every chest pain is not related to heart. In your case as multiple EKG and other tests are normal, it should not be related to the heart.

Then what it could be? Pain may be arising from muscle, bone and cartilage or Joints in the ribs. Other possibility is hyper-acidity producing acid reflux and causing heart burn and pain. If there is anxiety, it can present as somatic symptoms like pain.

Please let me know if you have done a Stress test (Tread Mill Test).

You should not worry as this pain is not related to heart. Keep your blood pressure to normal levels and take less salt < 2.5 gms/day. You can also take up some yoga and meditation which will help you relax. Please remember not to take a lot of analgesic medications.

Hope this information helps you and let me know if you have any further query, I will be more than happy to answer.

With Regards.
Dr.Akhilesh Dubey M.D.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Mohammed Kappan

Follow up: Dr. Akhilesh Dubey (24 minutes later)

Yes I have low vitamin D and no I haven't had a stress test done yet I went and saw a cardiac doctor and he said that he didn't feel my pain was from my heart so I didn't order a stress test since all my EKG are normal and I had a normal echocardiogram also I do have High inflammation when I had full blood work up cholesterol was 165 so that was good anyway I can lower my inflammation levels?

Answered by Dr. Akhilesh Dubey (20 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Thanks for your input.

You should continue to take vitamin D supplementation. Your chest pain is unlikely to be cardiac in origin. So just relax and as I suggested you may take up meditation and yoga. TMT may be done later on. Your Cholesterol was fine, so just take care of your diet. You can also supplement with Omega 3 Fatty acids by almond and walnut, or fish, if you are comfortable with it.
Inflammation level means CRP. But, it is very non-specific and needs to be correlated clinically.
Hope I have answered your query. If you would like to know anything else, feel free to ask.

With Regards
Dr. Akhilesh Dubey M.D.

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Mohammed Kappan