I have left sided back and chest pain that is aggrevated by movement

Posted by bakugan @aykut, Feb 6, 2023

Hey there!
I am Aykut and I am a 20-year-old medical student. For about one year I have been suffering from left sided back and chest pain that is aggrevated by certain type of movements like flexion of the spine (in other words forward-bending) etc. When I increase my abdominal pressure (engage my core) and contract my back muscles the pain gets even worse. I think I also should add that the pain usually radiates from my back to the chest.

Other than these occasions, I also noticed that I get left sided chest pain (on the area where the heart should be just below to) during running. For your information I do not exercise frequently but when I do the chest pain shows itself within the first minute of fast-running. But during last summer, when I actually was able to exercise regularly for a whole month, activity related chest pain went away and at the end of the month I was able to run fastly for 10-20 minutes without any sort of noticeable/serious chest pain. That's why I thought exercise related chest pain was caused by me being out of shape and I spent no further time thinking about it.

As a medical student, my first approach to this condition was about the probability of myself having pericarditis following the third (booster) jab of Covid-19 vaccine which was sold under the brand name of Pfizer/Biontech. That's why I got checked by two cardiology specialists nearly a year apart. My ECG and Echocardiography results were normal in general. Don't really think it's related to the pain I have but I guess I should add that both cardiologists identified a very small vegatation on my mitral valve which they thought was a remnant of acute rheumatic fever I had back then when I was a child. They both told me that it was nothing serious and that I should pay no mind. So overall I was told there was nothing important with my heart for twice BUT none of the two informed me sufficiently about pericarditis.

Right now I am kinda lost and don't really know who to talk or who to consult. I might see my family physician soon but I wanted to get some help from here before reaching out to him.

I hope you can help me out with this and I really do hope there is nothing important.

Thank you for your attention, take care!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Chronic Pain Support Group.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Feb 6, 2023

@aykut, it sounds like you would like a medical consult with Mayo Clinic experts. To request an appointment, please start here: http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63

bakugan | @aykut | Feb 11, 2023

In reply to @colleenyoung "@aykut, it sounds like you would like a medical consult with Mayo Clinic experts. To request..." + (show)

Thank you for the advice, Colleen! Unfortunately this is not possible at the moment since I don't reside in the US.

Rachel, Volunteer Mentor | @rwinney | Feb 11, 2023

@aykut Hello there. Thank you for joining Connect and sharing your concerns. Consulting your primary care physician about how you are feeling is a good idea. Your cardiology records should be on file with your PCP and you can discuss the results plus pericarditis.

As a medical student, I would imagine you are pretty in tuned with your body and knowledge. I think you may find this video by Mayo Clinic's Dr. Sletten interesting. It's about Central Sensitization Syndrome (CSS).

Central Sensitization Syndrome - Dr. Christopher Sletten: