What Causes Heart Palpitations And Left-sided Stabbing Pain In Chin After Exercise?

Posted on Mon, 6 Apr 2015

Question: Hi. Me again. I have another question. I went hiking today and was climbing up a very steep good sized hill. It was tall too and took a good 15 minutes to climb. Well i will admit i am very out of shape because o have been afraid to work out latley due to palpitations. Well it was a good workout an i expected an elevated heart rate. But it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. Not irregular at all but fast and very hard. I never felt light headed or anything. Just felt like i had to rest because my heart was beating so hard and fast. Probably around 180 if i was guessing. Well when i got to the top it came down somewhat and didnt feel quite as hard of pounding but still pretty fast. And then on the way down i got a stabbing pain to the left side of my chin. More of just one point though rather than wholw jaw line. But the pain felt as if it traveled down the front of my neck down the center of my chest and stabbed through to my back. More of a piercing pain. Nothing like a crushing pain. I have done thia a few times before while walking hard and fast at home. Does this sound like angina? And if so can it be caused from blockage if my bp runs about 115/70 and my cholesterol and triglycerides are normal? And if not what else could cause it? Could it be something related to my pvcs evwn though i havent noticed having any today?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Heart rate elevation secondary to unaccustomed task...

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Irrespective of how much you exercise at home, whenever body is faced with unaccustomed work which is even more physically demanding, body naturally responds with elevated heart rate, sweating and other features. These are results of sympathetic activity or you can call it over activity. If you have history of anxiety or a previous heart ailment, it is quite natural to feel pronounced symptoms as in your case.

I went through your previous discussion with the cardiologist who believes you could rather be suffering with anxiety issues than a serious heart ailment. Not overlooking the problem, it may be possible the pain that followed later may be related to anxiety and not angina. However a general rule, all pain arising from the chest should be considered as angina unless proved otherwise. Therefore if you haven't been investigated for similar pains in the past, I will order for EKG and stress test before calling off angina as the cause. You should contact your cardiologist. As for your question about blockage happening in spite of normal BP and normal values of Cholesterol and triglycerides, yes it can happen. Sometimes there can be spasm of the arteries supplying the heart and this can cause the pain. So you will need the EKGs and stress tests to differentiate it from other pains in chest.

I am not sure, how I will relate PVC's to this chest pain yet. Unless you have been extensively evaluated in the recent past and have had EKG / stress test, I wouldn't overlook this problem.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Pradeep Vitta