Heart Disease and Heart Attack Forum - Persistent Chest Discomfort

For about 6 or 7 years now, i've had periods of mild chest discomfort. There have been different types of discomfort that i've experienced:

one is annoying "pinprick" type of feeling (like someone had a single pin and was lightly pricking it in one spot) that almost can feel like an itch. This can range from up and down the sternum, to left and right of center of my chest area.

Another type of discomfort is a pressure, usually in the center up and down the sternum area. This is mild, not painful.

The other is a pressure that will maybe last for a second or two that is a bit more than the other sternum pressure. This can happen anywhere along the sternum, or off to either side.

Since this has started, i've been through 3 family physicians (one practice closed, the other I didn't like, and i've been with the third now for about 5 years). All three have basically gone with acid refulx / gerds as the cause. I've had various prescriptions for ranitidine and then later prilosec - but to be honest, I haven't taken either regularly for a couple years. I guess the prilosec did offer some relief. I do occasionally (once or twice every other month) have a more classic heartburn - a growning burning pain starting low that works its way up the center of my chest. This pain can be very intense and burning, and has always been cured by a glass of water or any other liquid.

At one point, my family Dr. Did an in-office ekg that he said looked fine.

One other time I went to the local er because the pain was starting to feel really different. Blood work was normal (they did not do an ekg). They did have me come back for an ultrasound for maybe a gallbladder issue saying it can cause pressure along the right side up through the shoulder. Results were noraml from that.

About two years ago, I went to a local hospital that was providing a (what they called) very thorough heart examination using (i think) an mri (or maybe a catscan?) and blood work. I paid about $1000 for this out of pocket to try and get some peace-of-mind. Bloodwork was normal - cholesterol was 188. The mri/catscan tech walked me through the images of my heart and arteries. He said that on a scale of 0-10,000 (the scale they use to rate plaque build-up - with 10,000 being really bad), that I was a 0. No plaque at all in my arteries.

I've also had a chest xray by my chiropractor and she said she saw nothing unusal in the lungs, major organs etc.

I'm not sure what other tests can be done to either pin point this as early heart disease or something else - maybe it really is gerds?

About me - I just turned 39, male, could lose some weight. There has been no history of any heart disease / heart attacks in my family. My parents are both alive, and most of my grandparents made it to their mid-80s.