I feel like an elephant sat on my chest in the night?

Question

What does that mean?

Answer 1

It could be a few things (some of ehich have already been mentioned) but theres no substitute for professional medical advice...see your doctor;

Answer 2

several things can cause this heaviness in the chest

do you have asthma?
under more stress than usual?
have you been sick?
do you have allergies?

stress can cause anxiety attacks which can lead to shortness of breath and chest heaviness.

asthma is common for making people feel like a ton of bricks are sitting on their chest. allergies can trigger this as well

some people suffer from sleep apnea that will cause this too. sleep apnea is when a person holds their breath while sleeping. but if you had this-the episodes would occur often.

if this is happening on a regular basis or is happening enough to keep you up at night or wake you up-have it checked by your dr.

Answer 3

A pain as intense as how you describe it, for me would be suggestive of a heart condition called myocardial infarct, to laymen: heart attack. I would suggest you go see an MD asap to for check up. They would ask you how long the pain lasted, what precipitated the pain, how was it relieved, where specifically was the pain. People with some type of anginal attack, or transient heart attack may describe their chest pain just like what you said " an elephant on their chest" , usually last for 5 mins, relieved by rest. Of course MDs would rule out heart burn, lung problems or anxiety but patients with these problems usually dont describe their pain as intense as yours unless its heart-related. So go see a doctor, they would run series of tests such as EKG, stress test or just schedule you for a cardiac cath where they see if any of the arteries in your heart are blocked. Only then can they rule-out if you really had a heart attack or not.

Answer 4

you could have pulled a muscle in ur neck,shoulder ,or chest wall! never assume i have had same stuff happen for almost a year accept my symtoms never go away at all and it was like i had to make them run test on me blood test ekg and all that then i got an MRI of my head and so happens that i have something on my brain that is sittin on the nerves causein this pain..so if i were u id go to ur doctor and have them do blood work and also see a neurologist...

Answer 5

Tightening of the chest can be anything from something you ate, to anxiety to a heart attack. If it was the latter you would not be on here asking questions. So I would guess it could have been what you ate that evening. You could have an allergy to something so see if you ate something you haven't had in a while.

Answer 6

Are there any living plants in your bedroom?
Because although they'll use the carbon monoxide from our breaths during the day in order to produce the oxygen, this process reverses when it gets dark, so our friendly household plants end up slowly poisoning their owners with the CO emissions...

In any case, I would agree that you need to make that doctor's appointment ASAP, then take it from there.
Good luck.

Answer 7

You might have asthma. Trouble breathing? History of allergies? Does it seem to happen more when the weather changes from warm to cold? More in the fall and winter? Go to your doctor for a breathing test.

Answer 8

you have checked i presume. Is there an elephant sat on your chest?

Answer 9

I had the same thing 2 years ago and the doctor reckoned it was "acid reflux" or as it is sometimes known, gastric reflux.

He gave me some stuff called OPREMAZOLE if I remember the name correctly. It stopped this from happening.

Answer 10

That kind of chest pain needs immediate medical attention. Even if it turns out to be nothing...you wont be sorry you went.
Go to the ER...now.
http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/cstp