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Unexplained chest pain radiating to left arm
My friend started hiking up mountains in the past one year and she's found that after a certain time while walking uphill she would get chest pain that radiates to her left arm. Not spasms that go away soon on it's own, but persistent pain that would lessen only if she reduced the exertion. Treadmill stress test was done and maybe it's because she wasn't able to reproduce the pain in a clinical setting, but nothing seemed out of normal. An echo and CT angiography was also done and both are again normal. She does have bloating issues and back pain so she is able to differentiate between heartburn and pain due to spinal issues so she's sure this pain isn't related to either - what could be the problem?
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What altitude was she walking at when she experienced pain and how long did it take "after a certain time" was she experiencing it? Even on a treadmill they would have to reduce O2 to reproduce walking at higher altitudes. That was something they could not reproduce in the clinic unless the put a mask on here and reduce O2 content of the same altitude of the mountain. Was she carrying a back pack?
Has anybody checked her for Thoracic outlet syndrome which can cause this kind of pain? This may not be cardiac. Look at the mechanism of action that causes it to happen.
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2 ReactionsHi thank you for your comment. We don't think it's TOS because it's not a numbing kind of pain that persists for the whole day but radiating pain that stays for 15min after she stops all exertion. And we were able to reproduce the pain yesterday at her request - she walked on am inclined treadmill at constant speed instead of accelerating and slowing in cycles and within 12min she got the same chest pain and left arm pain with vision blacking out as well. But ECG is again normal...
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