Chest Pain Left Side

Chest pain left side is a symptom of a more severe ailment characterized by either a stabbing pain or a dull ache at the left area of your chest which is often times followed by palpitations, shortness of breathing, and random aches in the left or right part of the arms.

When someone is experiencing chest pain left side, doctors often times seek for other evidences of heart ailments by performing electrocardiogram, chest radiogram and blood tests on you. It is because cardiac arrest is the most life threatening among all possible scenarios relating to the pain on the left side of your chest. Some of the most common cardiac causes of chest pain are ischemia or the blockage of the coronary artery; pericarditis or the inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart; myocardiatis or the inflammation of the heart itself; and  cardiomyopathy or heart failure.

Once a possible heart ailment is ruled out, other causes might be deduced by your internists. Another possible reason for chest pain left side are gastrointestinal diseases which includes reflux wherein the acids in the stomach goes back to your esophagus causing you frequent vomiting; gallstones, strictures and tumors in the esophagus and other gastrointestinal ailments that are less common than these.

However, lung diseases might also be the one causing you chest pain left side. In most cases, pneumonia is the common pulmonary cause. If not, musculoskeletal problems such as back and spine problems can also cause the pain that you are having. You might also consider some psychological and behavioral causes such as panic attacks and anxiety.

See Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder for more details if you suspect a panic or anxiety attacks.

More information about Anxiety Treatment | Back to Anxiety Test and Diagnosis.