Pectus Excavatum/Chest Discomfort
 

Background:
I am slim and skinny build and grew up with pectus excavatum, which means my chest area is sunken in mildly. Aside from cosmetic body appearance which makes my chest area look a bit strange, I haven't deal with much issues.

Now:
2 months ago, I started having some chest discomfort and I figured the sunken area ribs is pushing against my heart creating the discomfort. For a few weeks, it was on and off with pain, nothing like painful, 1-2 out of 10 for discomfort. I went to see my doctor after a few weeks and he told me to take advil for a week straight, which I experienced no pain that week and the following week. Now I am back with some discomfort....

I am scheduled to see a cardiologist specialist mid January 2017, but the worries of heart issues and not chest cavity issues bothers me a lot. My doctor tells me to not worry, but it's easier said than done when the discomfort is on the left side....He'll just tell me to take advil...

I've done blood test, cholesterol test, ECG, urine test, all normal.

Anyone have gone through similar experience or know anyone that has?

I have a similar symptom in my heart area too.

I am an athletic build, workout 3-5 days a week, no smoking, no coffee, very infrequent drinking, very healthy (get sick once every 1.5-3yrs).

My blood pressure is on the high side, did a cholesterol test and nothing extraordinary. However, occasionally I feel my chest beating irregularly feels maybe like a valve doesn't close properly or something, and it doesn't hurt but it's just discomfort.

Went to see the doctor about it and he listened to my heart beat and didn't hear anything irregular. I'm planning to go back to ask for a heart scan to make sure everything is ok.

I find I get these discomforts after I consume something high in fat. Specifically animal fats, like butter and high in cholesterol like crab. It goes away after a bit and now I include a run on my rest days from the gym to strengthen my heart. I have to say it does help, however the problem is a reoccurring thing.

My advice is to exercise more and ease up on the animal fats and high cholesterol foods, eat more foods high in fiber and take some omega-3 fish oil supplements. That's what I'm doing at the moment.

go see another doctor. Getting a second opinion is a good thing. I had a rare sickness and it took me 4 doctors and 7 visits before it being properly diagnosed.

I'd go see another doctor. Maybe get your lung capacity checked and regularly check your blood pressure.

What a coincidence, I was just watching Nuss procedure videos the other day.

I am on the opposite in terms of eating "health". I eat out only twice a week and those are usually healthy meals and the rest I cook at home. My home cooked meals are typically not greasy, usually chicken breast (which are typically dry already lol), veggies with some carbs with salt/pepper and nothing crazy. It's definitely not correlated to what I eat as I minimize/rarely eat too much fatty food.

One thing that makes an impact is my job is sitting posture, I know over the years I slouch a lot which doesn't help. Past two months, I've put more emphasis on sitting up straight, sleeping flat on my back, walking with chest up.

I'm definitely going to reduce my work hours to get more exercise in to my lifestyle, something which I lack for sure.

It's tough spot because I trust my family doctor. He's been my doctor since I was born. He's been a doctor since age 24, which is a lot earlier than most doctors that start practice.

Goodness, I didn't know what Nuss procedure till I googled it.... Why were you watching that lol?

I'm surprised, it's never been mentioned to you, given your condition (regardless of degree)

I've always found surgeries pretty fascinating. I saw it on an episode of Botched and it piqued my curiosity.

My doctor briefly mentioned about surgery only for like extreme severe cases, but he said I'm not in that range. Didn't go into detail what surgery entails...

Even did x-ray and CT scan, said I am okay and that the pectus excavatum isn't severe.

Bumping this after 5 years.

This past week I started to get some sharp pain on my heart side, under my rib cage. It happens once a day and I would need to get up from bed immediately or stand up to "walk it off". When these bouts happen, I can't breath fast, need to "slowly" breath as it creates a sharp dull pain.

A quick google search shows Pericarditis could be the underlying issue. Called my doctor to make an appointment for pre-caution. I borrowed my dad's blood pressure monitor to test and my blood pressure levels are fine 106/60.

The only thing that has changed in my life this week is, I moved to my new apartment and sleeping on a new softer bed. I've always slept on a hard as rock flat bed, I'm not sure if this affects my posture creating the discomfort, I've never had this sharp pain previously as consistent as this past week (normally it happens once in a blue moon prior).

The bed you have can definitely make a difference - since you have pectus excavatum, it's likely your posture isn't neutral to begin with, so if you have a bed that is on the softer side (not supportive of your natural spinal curvatures), it can reinforce (and even exacerbate) bad postures that you had to begin with.

Bad posture can lead to muscle aches and strains, and worse yet, a pinched nerve (which can cause the sharp pain you experience).

However, I think it's a good idea to see a doctor to screen for more serious medical conditions (heart conditions, malignancy, etc). Anything to do with sharp pains in the chest area should not be taken lightly.

-my 2 cents as a past physiotherapist