Medical Questions » Chest

Question 1:	I keep getting pains in the centre of my chest. I am frightened it may be a heart attack. What else coild it be?
Question 2:	I wake up with a jumping sensation in my upper abdomen and lower chest. It stops when I wake completely. Is this a form of indigestion? Can I take something before going to bed?
Question 3:	My GP has diagnosed my chest pain after a fall down stairs as a sprung rib, and says it is not serious. What is a sprung rib?
Question 4:	I am 47 years old and have pain in the first two left ribs where they meet the sternum. X-rays are normal, and the pain has come and gone at intervals over the last fifteen years. As I am a smoker, I am very worried this may be cancer. I would be thankful for your frank advice.
Question 5:	Can you please tell me what the thymus gland in the chest does? I am a nursing student, and I can' t understand this gland at all.