The first thing to know is that you are not having a heart attack. A heart attack is rarely a continuous or progressive affair. Although it would be typically preceded with signs such as chest pains or occasional palpitations, or a variety of other signs and symptoms, but it would rarely be such that you can actually sleep if you are feeling the pain of a heart attack. This would not be a mild pain by any standards, and certainly one you would be able to live with easily in any case. If you are faced with a consistent problem of pain or palpitation on the left side of your chest, chances are that you could be suffering from a variety of problems. It could be as simple as gas, and could get bigger than that as well. The best route for you to follow is to get a medical examination by your general practitioner. This would put your mind at rest and would also eliminate unnecessary worries about whether you are facing an imminent heart attack or not.
Chances are quite high that you are suffering from a case of chronic gas. Sometimes, gas and heartburn symptoms are commonly mistaken for those of a heart attack, and vice versa. Symptoms for both are reasonably similar so confusion would not be unusual. This is the reason you should not delay and go for a medical exam at once. Once you have determined that it is not a heart attack, you can start taking care of the pain by simply increasing the amount of exercise you do on a daily basis. Also, start drinking large quantities of water everyday. These would go a long way towards taking care of general every day aches and pains like the ones you have described here.
answered by G M