Ever since I can remember I used to always get these random chest pains from time to time, out of nowhere.  It wouldn’t happen often, but when it did I was always worried it was something with the heart.  It felt like something was stuck or that a bubble was there that needed to burst.  It was always on my left side hence why I thought the heart.  Deep breathes would be painful and so I would do quick ones and try to expand the area.  Usually after 5 minutes or so it would disappear.

Last night I woke up with the same problem, only this time it was for 30 minutes and still the pain wasn’t going away.  I got up and tried walking around, but I really had pain breathing.  I checked online and found a few articles that seemed to match what I was experiencing.  The possible name is Precordial Catch Syndrome, the symptoms were near exact:

“Do you ever get a piercing pain in your chest, usually on your left side under your rib, which almost feels like a bubble ready to burst?”

“PCS episodes happen most often while sitting or lying down, and being inactive.” 

Anyhow, I decided to do some light movement, like walking on the spot, knees up with proper breathing and sure enough after 1 minute the pain went away.

For more information try these:

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precordial_catch_syndrome
  • http://www.failedsuccess.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/precordial_catch_syndrome_chest_pain/