Chest pain for over a week

[jo]

My mom has been having an aching chest pain for over a week now. Her primary care doctor says it is related to stress and says it should go away in a few weeks. Also, my mom is scared to go to the emergency as they always have young kids as technicians and residents who mess up everything all the time. What could cause the chest pain? The pain is not present all the time but comes and goes several times a day. Please share if you know of anything. Thanks.

[justagirl2325]

My guy had chest pains and shortness of breath really bad in January.  It turned out to be caused by a massive amount of clotting through his non-fistula arm and chest.  An ER doc that ordered an ultrasound found it.  He's been on warfarin for three months now and I hardly ever hear him complain of chest pains.

[hatedialysis2]

If her primary does not know and is guessing stress, I would consult with other doctors (nephrologist, cardiologist)  until you get an answer.   I would do this with urgency!   when you call to make appointments tell them your mom is a dialysis patient, that tends to put her infront of the line so there is less of a waiting period.    Keep copies of all labs, EKGs, Echocardiograms, scans.......... 
also ask her to write down any observations of how she feels when the chest pains occur  (i.e. after she eats?  after dialysis, watching the news, annoying family members....)     

Hope it turns out to be something non serious like heartburn which is annoying but not life threatening.

Please do keep us posted 

[jo]

Thanks guys.

[Charlie B53]

Does anyone NOT have their own blood pressure cuff?    When she has pain have you takekn her pressure and writtten it down?   Is it higher than her normal pressures?

Chest pain is never a good thing and any Dr that passes it off without thoroughly checking it out should have his license revoked.

Chest pain can be caused by a number of things, none good.   Many can be fatal.

Depending on the severity it very well could be well worth a trip to the ER.   ER Dr's are well trained to test for the most common causes of chest pain.  Even the young ones.   If they do find any questionable results there are specialists on-call.   The young ones are not willing to risk making a terribly wrong decision and will call in a specialist for an urgent condition.

I certainly would never tell anyone that it should p[ass within a few weeks.  She could easily be dead far sooner.

I wouldn't wait.