Symptoms | Left side chest pain

Symptoms

Depending on the cause, chest pain has a different pain character and there may be additional accompanying symptoms. and pain under the chest

  • Contusion of the ribs, rib fracture: They cause superficial pain, which is intensified when touching and pressing the affected area. Deep breathing is often not possible due to the severe pain.

  • Heart attack, coronary heart disease: This often causes a feeling of tightness in the chest. The pain is described as oppressive or oppressive and sometimes patients feel a pain of destruction. In many cases, the pain radiates into the left shoulder and left arm, sometimes even into the jaw, upper abdomen and back.

In addition there are often symptoms such as shortness of breath, sweating and nausea. This pain is called angina pectoris (see: Angina pectoris symptoms). and diagnosis of coronary heart disease

  • And diagnosis of coronary heart disease
  • Cardiac arrhythmia: There may be a feeling of tightness in the chest with additional symptoms such as circulatory problems, drop in blood pressure and an irregular pulse, indicating heart disease

  • Inflammation of the pericardium (pericarditis): The pain is more likely to be felt as stabbing.
  • Injury to the aorta: In most cases, the pain manifests itself as pain of destruction and can radiate to between the shoulder blades. – Diseases of the lungs: The pain that occurs here is usually respiratory. Typical indications are shortness of breath and coughing.

If there is a bloody cough, pulmonary embolism is suspected and a doctor should be consulted immediately. –

  • Pneumothorax: The pain is mostly stabbing and the movement of the thorax during breathing is asymmetrical. –
  • Diseases of the oesophagus: The pain is usually located centrally in the chest, but can also radiate to the left.

Often the pain radiates from the abdominal cavity into the thorax and is burning. –

  • And diagnosis of coronary heart disease

Breast pain on the outer left side of the breast can occur in women in the period before menstruation. In most cases, however, both breasts are affected.

The female breast can also react with pain as a side effect of using the pill as a contraceptive. This can manifest itself as pain that increases when touched. But a tumour in the breast can also cause pain in the outer breast.

Especially if the pain is one-sided, this possibility should be considered. The breast itself can be palpated in order to feel possible lumps. Often, however, these can only be detected with the examination methods of a gynaecologist.

Bilateral breast pain often occurs in women. They are the expression of a so-called mastodynia. This is a harmless cycle-dependent breast pain.

Stabbing pains in the chest on the left side can have various causes. Basically, breast pain is perceived differently by all patients. However, stabbing pain can usually indicate a heart attack or angina pectoris.

The pain often radiates into the left arm, jaw, upper abdomen and back. If the chest pain is increased or only occurs during inhalation or when there is a severe cough, this can either indicate that there is an injury to the ribs (e.g. rib contusion, broken ribs), or it is a lung disease. A possible cause of the pain is an inflammation of the pleura.

Since this is stretched depending on the breath, pain is increased when breathing in and also when coughing. If back pain and left chest pain occur in combination, they are usually due to tension caused by poor posture. Only in very rare cases is it a heart attack.

If it is a heart attack, there is usually a feeling of tightness in the chest and nausea. The tension in the chest and back muscles can usually be relieved by stretching or physiotherapeutic exercises, which should result in a significant improvement in pain. The shortness of breath is an indication of a so-called ventilation problem.

This means that a problem with the lungs is probably responsible for the shortness of breath. The person affected is not able to breathe in as much or as deeply as he or she would like. This increases the breathing rate and causes shortness of breath.

Several scenarios are conceivable that could cause such a combination of increased breathing rate and chest pain. For example, a broken rib could have led to “piercing” of the lungs. Another possibility would be a spontaneous collapse of a lung wing, a so-called pneumothorax. In both cases, it would then be chest pain that would have started acutely. The method of choice for clarifying the cause of pain in this context is an x-ray, on which both broken ribs and a collapsed lung can be seen.