Coping With Pericarditis

My name is Amy and I’m 22. I’m a fit, healthy female for my age and of course was stunned to discover early one morning that I had a crippling pain in my chest. At first I shrugged it off as simply a strained muscle in my chest wall or something similar, but as the day progressed, the pain started spreading to my upper back and up the back of my neck. I also noticed that it hurt considerably more when I breathed in deeply.

I complained to my mum that I wasn’t feeling too well, and she told me to go lie down. As I did this, the pain in my chest exploded and I cried out from the sharp sudden pain. My mum immediately called the 13 HEALTH hotline, and after talking with the operator, he rang an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived and I was treated as a cardiac patient right from their arrival at my house up until I was taken to the ED at the Hospital. After some investigative testing and an ECG the cardiac doctor came and told me that I had Acute Pericarditis Anything to do with my heart of course scared me, but with the right course of treatment I am overcoming this nasty little chest pain!

My message is to anyone out there, no matter how young you are, or how fit (I run 2.4km 3 days a week), you are never too young for even the most minor of heart conditions, and always take a pain in your chest area seriously. After more research on the topic, I have discovered that were I to have simply ignored this little pain, there are a number of complications which CAN become life threatening, but thankfully I listen to my body, and will be well in a matter of days!