"Heartache"

I never believed in "heartaches" until I started having 'em mid-teenage years. It's like the veins near your sternum constricts, like the feeling you get when you're about to have diarrhea. I'm not sure if medical sciences have found out the reason for this discomfort (or whether its all in your mind) but it's not a "figure of speech"

Disclaimer: I have them when I "cringe" in general (seeing a puppy run over by a truck, seeing a girl get raped in movies, this). It's not the same as heartburns either (that's a stomach issue)