Chest pain

[NitroFish]

Hello all, unfortunatley my first post is of a medical nature but I have a qustion i would love to hear some feedback on.
July 5th
I was recently certified and did my first OW dives in 30'-70' of water. The day after my second dive to 70' I experienced minor chest pain located at my sternum and fairly localized. The dive only lasted 15 minutes and was without incident except for the ascent which could have been slower. The Pain was not severe and I thought that I may have pulled a muscle or something of that nature with the new gear and activity. However a week later the pain intensified and seemed to spread out over a larger portion of my chest. I contacted dan and was instructed to visit my family docter. I did (they are not familiar with scuba) and they xrayed my chest, measured my blood oxygen level and said everything looks normal.
DAN felt I probably just strained my lungs and time would be needed to heal them.
July 19th
The pain is very faint at this point so I decided to try it again. This time more conservatively, 20-30' deep for 30minutes. Everything went smooth with the dive however after a couple of days the pain returned again.
Aug 12th
My chest now feels 95% better any thoughts on what this may be and is it safe to try to dive again? I will gladly post anymore needed/helpful information.

 

[bleeb]

DAN felt I probably just strained my lungs and time would be needed to heal them.

"Strained my lungs?" Could any of our house medicos offer possible translations? I'm wondering what they might have been referring, especially since the wording faintly suggests that it's not "go to emergency right now" serious. Thanks.

 

[fisherdvm]

That's a toughie to guess on the internet. Running through my mind includes gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, cardiac, pulmonary .... It would be helpful to know your age, physical fitness, the difficulty of your entry/exit, what gears did you lug up and down to the dive site. And nothing can replace a good musculoskeletal exam, physical exam, auscultation, and palpation of the area affected. I would get a second opinion from a sports medicine physician, or someone with background in diving medicine.

 

[NitroFish]

I am a 34 year old male, very physically fit, never had any medical conditions in my life.

I was ready at one point to make it an emergency, but since it was about a week after the dive that The pain got the worst, DAN seemed to think it was not that serious.

I guess my question is if it was an expansion injury will it heal completely on it's own and will diving again put me at futher risk to reinjury?

(It was difficult getting back in the boat as the ladder was broken)

 

[fisherdvm]

I would hold off from diving. Perhaps TSM can comment. As I understand, spontanous pneumothorax can occur in some people http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000100.htm. If the interval from your first symptom until the chest xray was one week, the pneumothorax might have resolved - and was not detected on the CXR. And you did not have a repeat chest xray after the second incident.

An interesting experiment would be to carry all your gears, don it and go into the water without diving, and go back out, and unpack. If the pain reoccur without your actually scuba diving - perhaps the trigger of the pain might be from how you carry or lift your gears?? It just seems too scary for me to say every thing is A OK based on the recurrent of the symptom after the second dive.

 

[ArcticDiver]

I am a 34 year old male, very physically fit, never had any medical conditions in my life.

I was ready at one point to make it an emergency, but since it was about a week after the dive that The pain got the worst, DAN seemed to think it was not that serious.

I guess my question is if it was an expansion injury will it heal completely on it's own and will diving again put me at futher risk to reinjury?

(It was difficult getting back in the boat as the ladder was broken)

Have you been seen by your medical provider? If not that should be your next step.

Even the most experienced would be guessing. Check the signature blocks. None of the posters so far claim responsibility. Why not spend a few bucks and let someone get some first hand knowledge and give some recommendations for which they are responsible? After all it is only your life and future.