Understanding Non-Cardiac Chest Pain: Causes & Relief

Question
i went to emergency to the hospital last night for what i was sure was a vice like feeling in my lower left chest. the attending doctor hooked me up to a heart machine ( lots of wires and nodes ) and had chest x-rays done. both came back negative. no obvious heart related condition and nothing physical in the lungs. yet I continue to have pain when i lie down or move side to side in bed or other types of movement that triggers this very acute pain right under my left nipple and is also painful to the touch. I am lightheaded and have very little strength. i am also coughing up some pretty heavy phleme. the cough is not constant just when i spit up. the pain was so bad that night i had to go to hospital. its still there now but not as much still not good.

I have been working the last month at this savagely physical job called drillers helper where i assist the driller in wrestling 120 lb steel rod sections into and out of the ground for a diamond drilling operation. down 3000 feet and looking for coal. in -32 weather.

what could this be? lungs? a blockage or cyst in the lungs? or just a type of flu affecting the lungs.......?

Answer
coughing up phlegm makes me think of pneumonia or bronchitis.... even with a normal chest xray.  ALso, if you are horsing around equipment, it is easy to strain the chest muscles.  I would have treated you for both---antibiotics and some rest and pain medicine.