Right-sided chest pain can be a frightening symptom and makes you discomfortable, but not all right-sided chest pain is serious. Having a pain in right side of the chest can be due to a simple muscle strain or it could be the sign of a life-threatening problem.
The most of the important organs such as the lungs, the left kidney, the spleen, the pancreas, and some portions of the colon are located in the upper right quadrant of your abdomen. So the diseases in those organs may also lead to dull or sharp pain in right side of chest or chest hurts.
By knowing the symptoms of your right side of chest pain you can determine when to seek medical attention. But if chest pain on your right side is severe or worsening, you should seek immediate medical attention.
Causes for the Right Sided Chest Pain
Generally, a pain in the left side of the chest are due to heart-related problems, but the pain in the right side of the chest can have a wide variety of causes.
1. Pulmonary Hypertension
Pain in right side of the chest can be caused by pulmonary hypertension. It is a serious medical condition, it makes a high blood pressure in the arteries (the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to your lungs) of the lungs. This high pressure narrowed or sometimes blocked the arteries of the lungs. So, it makes harder for the heart to supply blood to the lungs via arteries. This leads to pain in the right side of the chest and it can develop heart failure.
The symptoms of pulmonary hypertension include a racing heartbeat, chest pain, decreased appetite, pain on the upper right side of the abdomen, shortness of breath during physical activity and tiredness.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for pulmonary hypertension. But you can reduce the symptoms by doing simple activities such as by avoiding smoking, avoiding the high altitude places, avoiding heavy physical activities, etc.
In medications, blood thinners can reduce the risk of blood clots and Oxygen therapy at your home can help a lot. For a serious problem, Heart-lung transplant is suggested by your doctor.
2. Musculoskeletal or Traumatic
This is a temporary muscle cramp but a doctor’s care is a must to get complete relief. This is most common among runners or those who run for a long time.
Due to improper movement, muscles in the chest wall can be strained. The strained muscles cause chest pain on your right side. The pain may be worsened if you move your body improperly or when you touch the pain area. Usually, after the treatment by your doctor, a complete rest can heal your pain.
3. Pneumonia
It is a medical condition that causes swelling of the tissue in your lungs.
If you have right sided chest pain along with the fever, mucus, difficulty in breathing, and cough, then it should be due to pneumonia. There may be a sharp or stabbing right side chest pain that gets worse when you breathe deeply or climbing steps.
It is usually due to bacterial infection and sometimes due to viral or other microorganisms.
4. Lung cancer
The pain in the upper right chest is also due to the Lung cancer.
Lung cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the lungs. The most common cause for lung cancer is smoking and passive smoking (The nonsmokers who are nearby to the smokers and breathing in tobacco smoke). If you have persistent chest pain along with weight loss, coughing up phlegm or blood and shortness of breath.
As per the American Lung Association, 90 percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 7,300 lung cancer deaths are due to secondhand smoking (passive smoking) for each year in the United States.
The symptoms of lung cancer include left or right sided chest pain that worsens when you breathe deeply, coughing up phlegm or blood, hoarseness, shortness of breath, wheezing, weakness and fatigue, loss of appetite and weight loss.
I won’t prefer any home remedies for lung cancer. It is strictly recommended to consult your doctor. Since it is a life threatening disease, you have to take treatment in its initial stage itself to get complete recovery. If cancer reaches the later stages, it cannot be curable.
5. Gallbladder diseases
The gallbladder diseases cause inflammation of the gallbladder.
There are many types of this diseases such as Cholecystitis, Choledocholithiasis, Acalculous gallbladder disease, Sclerosing Cholangitis, Gallbladder Cancer, Gallbladder Polyps, Gangrene of the Gallbladder, and Abscess of the Gallbladder.
The symptoms include abdominal cramping and bloating, chills, fever, jaundice, loose stools, nausea, pain that spreads to your back or below your right shoulder blade, itching, vomiting and severe abdominal pains that may feel sharp or dull. Most people consider this severe upper abdominal pain as sharp pain in right side of the chest.
Depends on the severity your doctor may decide the medications and sometimes surgery is also needed to remove the gallbladder.
You have to follow a healthy diet and low-fat diet practices. Try to take more proteins, fishes and poultry. Also avoid foods such as fries, whole milk products, high-fat foods, and canned or packaged foods.
6. Heart Problems
Sometimes, the heart attack can also cause chest pain on your right side. Even though the heart is located primarily on the left side of the chest, in rare cases pain may extend up to the right side of the chest.
It is a serious medical emergency in which the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked. Seek immediate medical help if it occurs.
7. Gallstones
Gallstones are hard deposits in your gallbladder. They form hard particles that block the passageway to the gallbladder.
This gall bladder is responsible for storing bile (a digestive fluid produced by the liver). As per the Harvard health school, the 80% of gallstones are made of cholesterol.
The most common symptom is the pain in the right upper quadrant of your stomach (upper right chest pain) and stomach hurts after eating. After proper diagnosis, the gallstones can be easily dissolved by your doctor.
8. Pancreatitis
It is one of the serious medical conditions where the pancreas becomes swollen over a short period of time. The pancreas is an abdominal gland located behind the stomach in your upper abdomen. This illness may cause stomach discomfort after eating.
The symptoms include diarrhea, upset stomach after eating, right side chest pain, burning sensation in right side of the chest, weakness and suddenly getting severe pain in the upper abdomen.
The possible causes of this illness are Alcohol consumption, smoking, exposure to certain chemicals, Gallstones, High triglyceride levels, stomach injury, upper right chest pain, Cystic fibrosis, Pancreatic cancer, and surgery. This illness needs an immediate medical help to cure it completely.
Pain in right side of the chest that gets worse when you lie down often originates in the pancreas.
9. Hepatitis
Hepatitis is commonly referred as liver inflammation. The primary cause for the liver inflammation is virus infection and the secondary causes are the result of certain medications, toxins, drugs, and alcohol.
The liver is located in the right upper quadrant of your abdomen. So the liver inflammation causes pain on the right side of your chest.
There are many types of hepatitis such as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. The treatment depends on the type of hepatitis and what caused the infection.
Note: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 4.4 million Americans currently living with chronic hepatitis.
10. Fatty Liver
It is a fat accumulation in the liver. Usually, your liver is build up with some fat. But is the total weight of your liver consists of 5-10 percentage or more of fat, then it could be a fatty liver disease.
The common causes of fatty liver are consuming excess alcohol, taking high-fat diet, hyperlipidemia, and obesity.
The symptoms include poor appetite, weight loss, pain in the upper-right abdomen (chest pain at your right side), abdominal pain, weakness, and confusion.
This is not a serious condition. Just follow the below methods to remove the excess fat on your liver.
- Lose your weight
- Control the blood sugar level.
- Control the cholesterol
- Finally, avoid alcohol consumption.
11. Pleurisy
Pleurisy is the medical condition where it causes inflammation of pleura (a thin layer of tissue that covers the inner side of the chest cavity and a layer of tissue that surrounds the lungs). Usually, when you breathe, pleura can rub together. If the rubbing causes inflammation or swelling of pleura, it is termed as pleurisy.
The symptoms include sharp stabbing chest pain when breathing, coughing, bending down or lying down, on the right side of the upper chest and shortness of breath.
After identifying the cause of the inflammation, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics, painkillers, and anti-inflammatory drugs. Get plenty of rest to heal faster.
12. Pneumothorax
A collapsed lung can cause right-side chest pain and worsen it. A collapsed lung is medically called as Pneumothorax. It occurs when air leaks into the space between your chest wall and lung. This trapped air pushes on the outside of your lung and makes it collapse.
The causes of collapsed lung are lung disease, sports injury (diving, mountain climbing, etc), trauma, hard hit to the chest, and sometimes unknown.
The symptoms of collapsed lung include a steady ache in the chest, right lung pain, breaking out in a cold sweat, a fast heart rate, shortness of breath, sharp pain in right side of chest and tightness in the chest.
The treatment depends on the severity of the disease. A diagnosis includes an upright posteroanterior chest radiograph, lung sonography, a CT scan and a thoracic ultrasound.
Both surgical and nonsurgical treatments are available to cure collapsed lung.
13. Anxiety
Anxiety or stress can be well known for its mental symptoms, but over stress may sometimes lead to physical symptoms such as chest pain. One of the most alarming symptoms of stress is sharp right side chest pain.
14. Tietze’s Syndrome
It is an inflammation of the cartilage in the rib cage. This condition is also known as Costochondritis or chest wall pain.
Usually, this condition affects the cartilage where the upper ribs connected to the breastbone, an area called as the costosternal joint. The pain in the chest caused by costochondritis can range from mild to severe.
People with costochondritis often experience chest pain in the upper and middle rib area on either side of the breastbone. The pain due to Costochondritis often goes away within a few weeks, but some cases may require treatment
In a Nutshell,
Right-sided chest pain can be a frightening symptom and discomfortable, but not all right-sided chest pain is serious. Having a pain in right side of the chest can be due to a simple muscle strain or it could be the sign of a life-threatening problem.
I listed the possible causes for the right side chest hurts. But if chest pain on your right side is severe or worsening, you should seek immediate medical attention.
