chest pains

[dannyday5821]

hmm...ive had a wierd pain on the right side of my chest for about 3 days now - im convinced its just a pulled muscle...should i go and get it checked anyways? im only 23! im sure someone once told me that right sided chest pains arent as worrying as left sided...but i cant remember why...

[pidget]

Just a thought, are you asthmatic-this has happened to me before and that is what the doctor has put it down to and just had to increase my inhaler. May not be tho and if worried you should probably see doctor.

[daffy654]

Are you male,tall,slim and athletic by any chance? The reason I ask is that if you answer yes to those things you are at risk from a spontaneous pneumothorax. This is commonly felt as a pain in the chest(one sided) and possible breathlessness.
It isn't very likely that it is this but any chest pain should be checked out by a GP.
It won't be heart pain(left sided) because if it was that it wouldn't go on for 3 days,it would either go or you would be dead from a heart attack.
As I said before you need to see a doctor if only to have him or her tell you it is a pulled muscle as you suspect..........better to be safe than sorry!

[dannyday5821]

lol :P im not asthmatic, im avergae height, slim but under weight (not good i know about that...) and not athletic either...

see, it doesnt cause any other problems, just pain. No breathlessness or anything, and i am a smoker. It doesnt hurt more smoking, but it does hurt taking breaths in, but not a lot, and only with deep breaths taking in deliberatley. im sure its the muscles cuz it feels all tense round where it hurts.

[daffy654]

I said in my other post that those things put you at risk from a spontaneous pneumothorax but that doesn't mean you have to be all of those things.In fact I am female and had my first spontaneous pneumothorax when I was 29 years old.My right lung had completely collapsed and I wasn't even breathless,just in pain.I spent 9 days in hospital with a chest drain in while they tried to reinflate my lung.My second pneumo was a partial on the same side as the first and was much less painfull,in fact after a week in hospital they sent me home with it still collapsed and took me back in 3 days later for surgery to prevent it happening again.
I definitely think you need to get it checked out,it is easily diagnosed,the GP will listen for breath sounds on both sides of your chest with a stethoscope,if the right side sounds different they will send you for a chest x-ray.You are probably fine and just have a muscle strain but it needs to be confirmed by a doctor.I hope you feel better soon.

[DoctorSaul]

Sounds more like intercostal muscle pain (muscles found between the ribs). Heat seems to help relieve the pain if intercostal muscle strain, but not much help if pneumothorax.