YSK about precordial catch syndrome: a recurring sharp, stabbing chest pain that worsens when you take a breath and only lasts a minute

Ahh, this is fun. Every time I'm like "Is this it? Is this the one?"

But no, it never is.

Oh nice post. I totally have this.

Treatment: Reasurance

Its okay. You're not dying. Calm down.

The pain is agitated by expansion and contraction of the chest. Taking a deep breath and allowing the rib cage to fully expand can relieve the pain, however it will feel unpleasant initially. At the point of full expansion, it can feel like a rubber band snap in the chest, after which the initial pain subsides.

Oh I gotta try this.

Holy fuck it has a name.

Of course it has a name ..... Of course I'm not the only one this happens to.

I had no idea they had a name!

I've had it as long as I can remember, though not very often. It would only be a few times a year I'd say...

I see legs and a dick in that drawing, not lungs.

For me, the way to deal with this was to raise my arms above my head in a stretch. Made it stop every time.

Thought I was having a heart attack the first couple of times it happened.

As an adult, I still have them from time to time, but not anywhere as frequently, though still without any warning.

My god it has a name... and so many people here seem to have it? I thought i was a freak for having this. Nobody else ever said anything about having similar pains.

The first time it happened to me I was sleeping and the pain woke me up. I drank some whiskey and went back to bed to try to die in my sleep. Unfortunately I did not die peacefully.

Oh yeah that happens to me since I'm a kid. I was told it was harmless but never had source.

Well thanks for sharing this. I've been getting this since forever. Now that I think about it though I don't think it's happened in a while.

Anyway, much appreciated!

I've had this since before I was a teenager...decades ago. Still happens from time to time. I've always considered it somewhat like a cramp in my diaphragm and so always breathe just deeply enough that it starts to hurt then relax and next breath try a bit deeper and keep that up until I "work through it."

Ah so it is a known thing and has a name, yay! Thanks for sharing.

See, I am unfortunate in that I know exactly where my chest pain comes from and it is from 6 of my ribs being broken and fused together from falling off a cruise ship and breaking them on a railing on the way down.

The interesting part is I didnt know I broke them until years later when I was hit by a car and the hospital doctor was just like "oh yeah you just hurt your broken ribs again, put some frozen peas on it and wait for the pain to go down"

Anyways, dont break your ribs unless you want to know when the weather is changing by pain.

I'd take this over proctalgia.

It's a spasm of the anal sphincter and it feels like someone jamming a hot knife into your asshole without warning.

back in the day everyone told me it was in my head

As I got older those random pains have me worried "is this a cardiac event?!" despite showing no other symptoms for one.

I have experienced this many times in my life. Was always terrifying and painful til someone posted something just like this years ago. Now it's just painful. Still scares the crap out of my wife every time she sees it happen to me to though.

Oh good so it’s not just been me dealing with this random pain for the last 20 years…

So it's not a tiny London man coming to check if I got my stabbing license in order?

Oh, good, I’m not dying.

Yet.

The best way to get rid of it when it happens is to fill your lungs as much as you can, and then bear down lightly like you are pooping. After that it’s gone.

Happens to me about 3x/yr and always has.

Thanks ! Didn't know that was harmless. And people call me mad..

Oh hey.. I used to get those all the time as a kid!

Eventually I worked out that it could be made to instantly go away if I stopped breathing and just stretched my shoulders back and twisted in the same direction that the cramp was on

It always felt like a stabby, stabby muscle twinge right under my rib bones.

Jesus. Thanks for posting this.

Yeah man, I’ve had this shit since I was a kid. Doctors never told me about this, couldn’t ever figure it out.

I don’t really get these anymore like I used to, but man they suck. As an adult it might hit me once a year and I’ll just be like oh yeah forgot about this. It’s just this crazy sharp pain in your chest, you can’t take deep breaths, just gotta pause and breathe shallowly till it passes.

My favorite time was when I was climbing a ladder up a roof, like really? Now?

Does anyone know the name for the sensation where you stretch and suddenly your innards feel all wrong, almost like being on the verge of a cramp but not and you suspect that if you don't return relatively quickly but gently to an unstretched position that something may go badly wrong inside?

I was sure the image was of buttcheeks and hanging dong

So it doesn't mean I'm low key having a heart attack?

Thank god.

There's also pleuritic chest pain, which cen resemble precordial catch but is more severe, can cause the pain to radiate to.your arm or jaw, and gets worse when you inhale. It can happen when you've got the flu or some other lung infection and feels an awful lot like a heart attack. In young/healthy people it may not be cause for concern, especially if it only happens once while you're recovering. But it can also be a sign of severe pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, aortic dissection, lung cancer, and pericarditis. I meant for this to be a fun fact but now I'm realizing it's more existential horror and health anxiety than educational. Get your chest pain checked out folks

Wtf! I literally had this happen to me right before I scroll down to this post.

I've always heard it referred to as "wind pain"

I even went to the doctor once because I had it a few times a week some years ago.

Thanks for this revelation. It has a name! All my siblings got these and they told me "it's a gas in your lung" which i ran with for years, haha. Once, still as a kid, i got it for 6 hours so we called a doctor. She diagnosed it as intercostal neuritis triggered by high and unusual physical excertion the previous day. Prescribed nothing

SO THAT'S WHAT IT IS?!

harmless

Crashed on a bicycle because of it. Broke nothing, but a few scars on my face still there

are you fucking kidding me

I wonder if it's genetic, or just very common. All five of my siblings and I have had this.

What the fuck?? I had this as a teenager. Nobody could ever find out what the fuck it was.

Sounds kinda similar to costochondritis, it is central chest pain. I thought it was a heart attack when I had it and went to the ER. Fortunately it was just costochondritis.

This thing haunts me every few months since always. You can usually stop it by exhaling deeply and relaxing muscles in affected areas.

Concerns about the condition may result in anxiety, with sufferers often fearing that the pain is a sign of a more serious condition. Similar anxieties in those who experience the syndrome on a regular basis may manifest as a worry of the syndrome itself happening, with patients feeling scared to take fuller breaths in fear of triggering a spell.

damn anxiety a sunuvabitch

I had that several times some years ago and eventually it went away. It's very anxiety inducing. Just above that thing when you get a cramp in your toes and they get stuck together for what feels like eternity.

Hey, I know this one. I've had it since I was a small child but didn't quite know the name.

I had it when I was a teenager. When I stopped playing Trumpet it seemed to go away. Maybe the larger lung capacity caused it?

Oh so there is a proper name for this ! I have had those once in a while since I was a kid, and still get them well into my forties.

I do still remember the anxiety the first time it happened.

I have this, randomly and only when sleeping on the back. one time it was more longer lasting them before.

Oh wow I'm glad I'm not alone in this. I turned 30 and it happens from time to time and I couldn't figure out what it was. Granted I was a little too worried to look into it

I just figured it was related to my digestive system pressure because it would go away after releasing some gas.

Now look up Proctalgia Fugax

Oh, same, never had it since about 30.

Yep, always fix by slowly breathing in as soon as I feel resistance I stop and hold my breath for a bit then try to add more air to my lungs. Eventually it would go away.

Know anything about a kinda dull pain in the sternum that comes and goes, which lasts a week or month, then is gone for a few weeks or months before it comes back. Has been going on for a few years at this point. Got all kinds of scans and tests done the first year but everything showed normal. I at least don't think I'm gonna die anymore but it sucks.

Now, teach us about the precordial thump. (No longer used). Bummer 😉

I get these, I thought it was the front and back of my lung touching and behaving like universal velcro, which explained why breathing in hurt, but also why taking a full breath made it go away (fully separated.) I guess not?

Huh. I always thought this was part of my asthma since exercise-induced asthma is a thing and I usually get this after an intense cardio-heavy session.

Description is pretty spot on, but it's on the opposite side for me. Are my innards flipped?

right near the xyphoid process?

Crazy this just popped io as I just started experiencing something like this just this week.

We moved our living took around and the way the couch is positioned I tend to lay on my left side and propr myself up on my elbow.

Recently when I do this and breathe in I get a sharp pain right where the arrow is in the picture.

I have to stand up and breathe through it for it to stop. After a few occurrences, I noticed that if I press in the area it's mildly soar. I have to really feel for it to find it.

I have no other breathing problems so it really scared me that I had a broken rib. Although I haven't done anything that could have broken my rib.

Ah fuck I just assumed I had random muscle cramps in my chest from a fight I had in highschool. Always third rib from the bottom,on the left, about 45 degrees off center

I have one where my lung diaphragm gets pinched between my lung and ribs, it's really not fun, and you have to bend backwards + inhale before it gets better

I'm not sure if it's the same thing or not, but I have a condition where sometimes my chest hurts because of a bone in a strange place. I've been to the hospital a few times thinking I might have heart problems. Then I get prescribed painkillers.

I think we call this a “stitch” in the UK

I've had something like this. Mostly as a teenager. Like once a week or left I'd feel a sharp pain and it would be so bad I couldn't operate but it'd restrict my operation for like a week.

I wonder if that's what my producer and I have, considering that we have this type of pain too.