Long Lasting Precordial Catch Syndrome

lyndamarch · Nov 9, 2011, 04:30 PM

i am a 53 year old woman and have self diagnosed myself with this condition,like your self i have had severe chest pain that radiates into my left arm up my neck and chin and in my back and neck i was taken to a&e as i thought at first i was having a heart attack or blood clot on the lung, docs were baffled as to what was wrong as all tests were negative. The pain i suffered was so severe it put me on my knees but because my 'sat' readings were normal i think the Drs thought i was putting it on. i was told to go home without an explanation as to what i had suffered. My daughter found this condition on the net and as she was reading the symptoms out i can honestly say that this is what i have got. i think its shocking that none of the drs in a&e knew of this condition, if only to put my mind at rest and to give some explanation to what i had experianced. I have only had this happen to me three times during the one day and hope never to experience it again, even though i understand (from self diagnosis) it is not life threatning or anything major it is a very unpleasant thing to have happen. I very much sympathise with you and wish you well in the future.

blabla72 · Nov 30, 2011, 07:55 PM

hmm I think you should see a doctor. pain in other areas beside the chest could be something more serious like a heart condition or something. i really wish doctors would do more research on this syndrome.

Bradguin121 · Jan 4, 2012, 03:12 PM

@lyndamarch - You should never ever diagnose yourself, you should go and see your doctor as you maybe wrong and could have something more serious, like a heart condition. Anyway I too have this condition and have had it for the last 3 - 4 weeks im really worried it wont go away! Could it be something more serious?

Freyyyaevelyn · Apr 15, 2012, 01:17 PM

I am an 18 year old girl who ALSO has precordial catch syndrome [made an account just to post this]. I first noticed it in the first grade and it happens to me normally once every few months. I have been keeping track of this thing for years. My mom thought it was heartburn or some but its most definitely not. I went to the doctor and i'm "perfectly fine" but this sharp pain is a killer. I got a feather tattooed on my ribs when i was 15. I would gladly get another tattoo like that instead of deal with this thing. It is incredibly painful and sharp much like a knife twisting into my ribs..

Last year i spent the year abroad in New Zealand and it happened only twice. I drank a lot less coffee and soda which by the way, the pain seems to occur when i do drink soda, or coffee or when i am in active i.e falling asleep, sitting down, etc.

My pain happens so suddenly and i just go into short breaths (on the verge of hyperventilating sorta) and it works. I am far too much of a coward to "take a breath" and have it "pop" so instead i just wait it out by continuing small in and out breaths and drinking cup after cup of water. Burping also seems to helps whilst i kinda of keep a fist to the affected area on my chest/ribs.

I am confused why everyone says the attacks last minutes? Mine normally last an hour to hours. unfortunately.

blueslady · Jul 8, 2012, 06:51 PM

I have had the same thing and episodes seem to be getting longer and more severe. In April I woke up with the pain in the left chest and when I tried to stand up the pain was so bad I passed out very briefly. Then last week I had it happen again in the night and it lasted all night. Ended up in ER in the morning and they did a cardio workup and abdominal ultrasound but found nothing. Ended up giving me Motrin in IV and sent me home with the suggestion that I do stretches or maybe yoga. I have previously had full cardio tests and no problems found so the only thing that matches the pain and symptoms is this pre-cordial catch. I wonder if doctors are missing something if others are also experiencing these symptoms for many hours. It is very scary when the pain is so bad I can only sit very still in one position and take shallow breaths. I'm wondering if it is linked to pleural cavity since I have had some breathing issues recently that made me have to use an inhaler. However they took a chest xray at the hospital and that didn't show anything.

blondie3485 · Jul 30, 2012, 08:56 PM

I'm 21 and have really been experiencing PCS since I was a little child. I get it every few weeks and it lasts for only a couple of minutes. I never thought anything was really wrong with me. In fact, I have never even heard of the condition until today. I typed into Google something about "breath catching" and PCS came up. When I read about the symptoms, I felt like this is EXACTLY what I have been dealing with for years. I use to describe the "pop" as a little pocket, a hiccup of the chest. Also, the pains always occur in the same spot on the left of my body, more specifically around the area of my breast/heart. I am no doctor, so that is my best guesstimate for the region. I have definitely found that taking long deep breaths helps the pain go away faster. At first, I use to be scared, but then I quickly got over it because I found out this was the best and quickest way for the pain to go away.

I am truly thankful I stumbled across this. If anything, it gives me a piece of mind. I now know how I can describe this to my doctor. It can be really hard to verse into words without the doctor thinking I have a major heart problem.

billybobjoebob · Aug 10, 2012, 10:48 AM

To the woman whose pain radiates to her arm, my doctor diagnosed me with Precordial Catch Syndrome and told me that I would be fine. She warned that if the pain was radiating anywhere, it was most likely truly heart-related.

Precordial Catch Syndrome has to do with the muscles between your ribs and your sternum so it definitely sounds as though you have it. My doctor (I am 17) recommended Moltrin but otherwise it's just something us special people have to deal with

sassra34 · Aug 13, 2012, 03:38 PM

hi there male 37 none smoker only have a few pints at weeknds played semi pro football for 20 just last year when stopping sports i started to suffer nasty sharp stabbing sometimes crushing pain in left side of chest seen many ea doctors and cariolgist all say is muskel skellton pains due for a 2nd visit to cardiolgist soon all troping test negative and all blood test fine chest xray clear and 13 ecg reading say no problems i have slight brad cady sinus due to beta blockers for mirgrain ive had this problem for a year now can anyone help plz

anonymous010 · Aug 27, 2012, 07:29 PM

I'm 26 with hypertension diagnosed at age 20 (genetic "essential" hypertension). Recently, thought I had PCS for about a year. After a while I thought about this along with some light-headedness I experienced that seemed worse than it should be when getting up from a seated position. I talked to my doctor and she was unconcerned. I tracked my blood pressure from age 20 to 26 with a home unit I purchased (I also bought a manual one since even Omron read high when I used them). I'm on blood pressure medication and it had been 320/25 mg Diovan for a little while. I realized my blood pressure was a tad low and I decided to go back to my old dose (160/12.5 mg Diovan) by cutting the pills as I did previously. The symptoms went away completely. I told my doctor later and she was actually not mad that I didn't tell her first, but accepted my new dosage. Consult your doctor, but consider that your blood pressure medication may be too much and give you similar symptoms.

Long Lasting Precordial Catch Syndrome

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