Painful Breath, Pain In Upper Chest, Shoulder, CT Scan, Pulmonary Embolism Ruled Out. Advise.

Posted on Tue, 22 May 2012

Question: i woke up on saturday from a nap and when i took a large breath intake, i felt pain. it has continued since then. my doctor sent me to have a ct scan to rule out pulminary embolism and this morning i was scoped. both tests showed nothing. The pain is in my upper chest near my neck. Much pressure when i breath in or sneeze. in the morning only sore when i breath in but by mid afternoon, my whole chest aches . I feel achy in my shoulder area and chest without even breathing in by end day. I am not a smoker. i exercise every day (cardio sculpt) . Can you advise?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Rakhi Tayal (4 hours later)

Hello.

Thanks for your query.

The pain in the chest after just one XXXXXXX breath might be due to a lung infection where a XXXXXXX breath has caused a ruptured bulla due to excessive air pressure.

Another reason might be that there is some injury in your ribcage which is causing you so much of pain.

For getting a relief-
1. you can inhale steam so that the lung tissue opens up and infection subsides.
2. Take a good OTC pain killer and muscle relaxant. Avoid doing any heavy work like exercise or weight lifting, etc.
3. You can use a chest belt to support your ribs and chest muscles.

Hope I have answered your query. I will be available if you have any further queries.
Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar