Have any of you women experienced pain in between your shoulder blades for no reason? Heart problem maybe?

My father has heart disease, three open heart surgeries and numerous angioplasties performed. He had his first heart attack in his late 30's. My mother had to have her main heart valve replaced a couple years ago. I have chest pain from time to time that has been chalked up to anxiety, so i take Xanax. None of my fathers heart problems have ever shown up on an EKG, even when he was having a heart attack. So any time i have gone into the ER for chest pain they do an EKG, which comes out normal and tell me i have anxiety and to go home and chill. For the last two days i have had constant pain between my shoulder blades directly behind my heart. Of course if i thought they would do anything about it i would go to the ER, or if it got worse. I have no insurance until Dec 1st. Could i be trying to have a heart attack? No other syptoms besides occasional chest pain and anxiety. What do you think?

I can assure you it's NOT gas...i am a gassy person and i know what that feels like..lol.
I know you can get gas pain anywhere, but i assure you this is not gas.

I think you are having panic attacks...as for the pain between your shoulders, panic, anxiety and stress all run together, you are probably having spasms in those muscles. Like stress headaches, but instead of stress headaches, its affecting your shoulders, or the muscles there, even behind your neck.

it could be something as simple as gas...if you take a xanax and it helps it...then it probably is anxiety

I had the same problems, and chaulked it up to my smoking.,and heart disease does run in my family. The doctor I had been seeing did nothing. I got a new doctor and the first thing she did was sent me to the hospital for stress tests. And let me tell you, she saved my life. The day I went for my stress test, they looked at me and told me I had to go to the hospital right away. If I had waited another month, I would've had a heart attack. I ended up getting a quadruple heart bypass. You need to see a doctor right away and ask for the whole stress tests. If it turns out to be nothing, at least you had the tests done. And if you can't pay, just talk to someone at the hospital to see if you qualify for free care. I wish you the best of luck!!!!

go to a walk in clinic or your primary and have then run a set of cardiac enzymes, don't let them tell you no. these enzymes are specific to heart muscle and are released during a cardiac event. they are ran off of a simple blood draw. tell them about your father. another thought, it could actually be your gallbladder alot of women exp. pain between their shoulder blades, it is called referred pain since it is not at the location of the actual problem.

I would say that luvinpur is right on the mark. I have known about a couple of women who have been in their twenties, exhibited similar symptoms and ended up being rushed into bypass surgery to save their lives.

One young woman was a college student, and was found passed out/unconscious in her dorm room by one of her dorm-mates and almost didn't survive to get to the hospital.

Both had history of high blood pressure and heart conditions in their immediate families. Anxiety can cause severe heart problems, your entire body reacts to stress, and while you are trying to hold yourself together on the outside, your entire circulatory system is straining and your heart muscle can be damaged.

Have any of the doctors talked about having you take a stress test? A lot of problems will show up there that may not show up on an EKG.

Many people walk around with silent heart disease, as I have head some doctors refer to it, pain that they think is something else, gas, a pulled muscle, lifting something incorrectly.

If I were you, I would be ignoring the insurance issue and demanding a stress test, keep bugging the doctors, and keep getting checked out by different heart specialists until you find out exactly what is going on. You would not want any problem you may be having get worse over the next week, endangering your health, while you are waiting for insurance to take effect.

Hospitals and doctors cannot refuse to treat you if you have no insurance......

Your health is first and foremost, and as your parents both have had major heart problems; you don't need to be sick and having them stressed worrying about you...it is a vicious cycle.

Have you tried to lessen your anxiety with improving your diet or exercising? Meditation, yoga and even just finding the time to go for a walk or sit outside on a sunny day can do wonders for anxiety. You could also be going to a counselor just to have someone else to talk to and alleviate some of the stress.

Is the pain your are experiencing between your shoulder blades a new pain? This needs to be brought to your doctors attention.

Have you had any relief of your anxiety symptoms with the Xanax? Be very careful of having meds given to you that are not working, that would be another indicator that you have something else beyond anxiety going on.

I have high blood pressure in my family, both of my parents were on medication for it, and my Dad had angina and suffered a couple of blackouts because of it. Others in the family, aunts and uncles had heart attacks, and one died in his early forties from his heart problems.

I learned to take care of my heart health in my twenties and thirties, and the older I get the more aware of good health and good heart health I become more determined to lead a healthy lifestyle and not have to be on medication like my parents and other family members have had to.

I force myself to eat healthy, stay away from a lot of salt and preservatives...chemicals do not help the body or the heart, and if I cannot pronounce it or translate it, I won't eat it.

I am not saying I don't ever have junk food, chips or cookies or ice cream and whatever else is supposedly a no-no; I just have a reasonable amount, not the huge servings that most people have become accustomed to.

Sometimes it isn't easy, but my doctor is astonished that I have lowered my blood pressure considerably by self-education. He has commented that I am basically "disgustingly healthy," and I kid him right back that he only says that because he can't make any money on the medications I don't need.

Please get some help, you have a long life ahead of you and you want to be as healthy as possible.

My family and I will say a prayer for you and your parents.