I have a flash of chest pain across my upper chest (going from right side to left side) that has been happening daily. what could this mean?

Chest pain: Assuming this is a "sharp" kind of pain, pain across the chest is usually due to muscle strain/sprain related to your pectoral and intercostal muscles. This will calm down over a week. Heart pain is felt as a squeezing or pressure right under the sternum, so your pain does not sound like cardiac pain.

Causes of chest pain: There are many causes for chest pain that range from muscular or skeletal (costochondritis) to esophageal spasm or gastoesophageal reflu (gerd). More serious issues like angina are also possible causes of pain. Your doctor should be notified to get to the bottom of the problem and speed your road to recovery.