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Heart Or Other Issue?

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aer0 | 04:48 Thu 24th Jun 2021 | Body & Soul
4 Answers
For starters, I am a 22 year old female who was going to aviation school at the time.
After running on 2 hours of sleep I had an unintentionally long day back in November 2020. As I was trying to fall asleep that night, I was woken up by a sharp pain in my chest that physically made me flinch. It was strong, but only happened one time, and I was so groggy and in denial of anything going wrong that I went back to sleep.

Ever since then, I've had strange pains that mostly radiate from my upper left chest and left arm. The weeks after that long day were awful; all I wanted to do was sleep and everything felt off. The pain slowly subsided in the new year, but came and continues to come back after letting my sleep schedule loosen up for even one day now. I felt fatigued after not sleeping properly, but never pain or a dull ache like I am currently. Sometimes it is coupled with a burning headache and/or lightheadedness.

I've gone to the doctors, but they were unconvinced that it was heart related, the tests that they chose to do came back normal. The doc had asked if I was experimenting with cocaine, and I wish that I had my pilot's license to show him what I was up to at the time, haha...

I'm just really frustrated so I'm throwing this out there in case anyone has any clue. Is it a pinched nerve? Did I ruin something else in my upper left chest by staying awake for 17 hours on 2 hours of sleep?
Ever since I broke my collarbone as a kid, there's always been pain while exercising, but this new pain happens and doesn't go away even if I am lying down.

Thank you for reading my rant. :'o)
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//Heart Or Other Issue?// Definitely "other issues." Your pain has none of the characteristics that one sees in heart disease. It is not heart related. It has all the features of what is known as Cervical Radiculopathy, although you do not mention pins and needles down your left arm or weakness in the muscles. It is due to damage of the neck bones and I would...
05:29 Thu 24th Jun 2021
//Heart Or Other Issue?//

Definitely "other issues."

Your pain has none of the characteristics that one sees in heart disease. It is not heart related.
It has all the features of what is known as Cervical Radiculopathy, although you do not mention pins and needles down your left arm or weakness in the muscles. It is due to damage of the neck bones and I would suggest that you Google Cervical Radiculopathy.
Thank you for your concise and relevant description.
Question Author
Oh man, that was one thing that I did have as well during the first few weeks after that initial sharp pain. Thanks for the quick answer! The more I think on it, the more my symptoms match CR. I'll ask another doctor about it next time I'm in !
I feel that the 17-hour stint on 2 hours sleep before this event was just coincidence - I've worked far longer hours than that on little sleep in the past (as indeed have millions of people).

Good luck with the Cervical Radiculopathy route.
Question Author
Thank you Canary42 for your confirmation! for some reason it was difficult to explain these troubles clear enough to a doctor in the moment, but it's nice to hear some relevant explanations for this fun stuff I've been going through. Thanks again for the reassurance.

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