What causes left sided chest pain?
Patient: I have pain in the left side of my chest below the breast but near the ribs.  It hurts if I try to take a deep breath or cough or If i strain to go to the bathroom.  it also hurts when I move into a lying down position or when getting up.  I feel it when walking.  It feels  like the burning sensation you get when you've had surgery but I haven"t.  It  started 8 days ago and has not gotten any better.  My back is starting to hurt now from compensating for the pain.  I was in the ER on day 4 because my doctor wanted me to go there for obvious reasons - to rule out any heart-related issues (which  was ruled out).  They also checked for a blood clot in the lung which was ruled out.  The ER doc said it was viral pleurisy but I don't have a cough, etc. It feels more like some kind of trauma-related pain / condition.  I do not believe it's pleurisy but what else can cause this kind of pain?  It feels more like some kind of tear or something? Doctor: HI,Welcome  to HCM.Based on the facts of your query,you  seems to suffer from-Pleurisy which is a neuralgic mimicking pain.Other cause could be nerve entrapment due to positional adjustment  of the rib cage,with aging.This would explain the trauma-related pain you experience.Chest X-ray would show confulence of ribs with the aging/and disease changes/or adjustments.Hope this reply would help you to plan further treatments with your doctor.Welcome for any further query in this regard.Will appreciate writing your feedback review comments,to help the needy patients like you at HCM.Good Day!!     Dr.Savaskar,Senior Surgical SpecialistM.S.Genl-CVTS