Pain And Pots

[Pat]

Does anyone else get pain? I mean I have had a deep pain located kind of like where your bra would go. It isn't constant but when it hurts it is severe and hurts to lay or lean back to sit. I would appreciate any comments. Thanks Pat

[firewatcher]

Hi Pat! Welcome to the forum.

For some as yet unexplained reason, many of us here have had or currently have gallbladder problems. It can present with pain in the area you describe. Mine felt like a grapefruit sized something was wedged between my spine and breastbone. I had that pain for over 20 years, it would occur first when I ate fatty foods, then towards the end, when I ate anything. As it turned out, my gallbladder had barely ever worked at all...so out it went, no more pain.

There are many other pains and oddities that come with POTS. If you describe yours with more detail, we might be more helpful.

[EarthMother]

When I have a POTS flaire I will often experience "coat-hanger" pain. An intense pain along my upper-back, shoulders and back of my neck. It amazes me how sudden and severe the pain is. But once the flaire passes it completely goes away.

[mjan]

YESSSS that is where my pain orginated from...still does..years later. Its my WORST pain issue!!

When they thought I had MS..they did think it could be the MS HUG..but since they ruled it out..no.

Its NOT my gallbladder either..ruled out.

Its an inflammation..and horrible spasms that squeezes sooo hard it take my breath away !!!

I used RX Methocarbam 750 mg which is a musle relaxant that does not make you drowsy. Laying on my side can start it up.

OR it just starts up with a quick spasm that locks my whole rib cage. Like I said.. its my worse kind of pain.

Take care

Jan

[janiedelite]

When I have a POTS flaire I will often experience "coat-hanger" pain. An intense pain along my upper-back, shoulders and back of my neck. It amazes me how sudden and severe the pain is. But once the flaire passes it completely goes away.

I have this coathanger pain also, but when I was being evaluated by a physical therapist she found that my thoracic spine is very stuck/tight all the time. She explained that the sympathetic nerves run right behind the thoracic spine, and when she worked to relax it I noticed a decrease in symptoms (especially the burning skin pain, chest pain, and other adrenaline issues). This relief only last for a few hours, though. But I already have mild degeneration of my thoracic spine from recent scans. Mostly, I really need to stay hydrated, avoid stress, and this seems to keep the worst of my upper back/body pains away.

[pat57]

Chest Pain: Is it Costochondritis?

Medical Author: Melissa Conrad St?ppler, MD

Medical Editor: Jay W. Marks, MD

Could costochondritis be causing your chest and shoulder pain?Pain in the chest wall around the breastbone (or sternum) is the most characteristic feature of the condition known as costochondritis. Medically, the term chondritis refers to inflammation of any cartilage in the body. Costochondritis refers specifically to inflammation of the cartilage that joins the ribs to the breastbone (called costal cartilages). The chest pain of costochondritis sometimes is severe.

Costochondritis usually, but not always, involves one side of the breastbone. Sometimes the pain can extend to the shoulder or arm on the involved side. When costochondritis is accompanied by swelling of the areas surrounding the cartilage, the condition is called Tietze syndrome. In Tietze syndrome, the swollen area of the inflamed cartilage may be tender to the touch, and the skin overlying the cartilage may be reddened.

Costochondritis is most common in people between 20 and 40 years of age. In most cases, doctors do not know why the condition develops. Trauma to the chest wall may lead to costochondritis, and it also is believed that viral infections, particularly upper respiratory infections, may cause costochondritis. The condition also can occur as a feature of more generalized diseases of inflammation such as certain forms of arthritis, fibromyalgia, and inflammatory bowel disease.

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Medical+Condition...Farticle_em.htm

[MightyMouse]

Hi Pat, I had dysfunction of my gallbladder that did NOT show up on a gah-zillion tests. It finally showed itself during a cck-hida scan, which revealed that my gallbladder had lost all tone and wasn't moving bile out (less than 30% of the bile moved on).

However, even after having my gallbladder out, I've had a variety of recurring pains that are likely GI related--my motility varies from overactive to inactive, and sometimes the pains are just because stuff is lingering in my body, and other times, it's because my guts are in spasms. In order to ensure that it was, in fact, my motility issues causing pain for me, I had a whole bunch of GI studies done.

Recurrent pain which is of unknown origin should not be ignored--for me, I know where mine comes from now, which is at least some degree of relief that something horrible isn't happening and I have some solace in that I know it will eventually pass.

Nina

[Guest brianala]

I have several types of issues with pain.

I think I experience what others here are referring to as "coathanger pain" but I can't be completely sure, because I've always attributed it to an old injury. Many years ago when I was in high school I broke my collarbone. It was a severe break, one that probably should have been set surgically but at the time that was not the way it was handled and it never healed appropriately. I had to have it re-broken by hand and re-set. After several months it healed but it was still very wonky.

Since then I've had a lot of problems with pain in my neck/shoulders/upper back. I have a winged scapula and bursitis under the shoulder blade. I have issues with pain and numbness in my arms. For a long time I considered that I may have experienced nerve damage to the thoracic nerve as a result of the injury. I've been dealing with this kind of pain for over 15 years now.

More recently, I've been experiencing intermittent pain in my knees, elbows, and hands. I've been tested for rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid problems, and lyme disease. All normal. No inflammation indicators either so my doc has no idea what's causing it. My knees are the biggest issue as they get hot to the touch and very achey and sore. Sometimes it feels as if my knees will pop out of joint if I walk too much so when they flare up I try to spend as much time not moving as possible.

For a period of a couple months I had problems with a specific joint in one finger. Every morning when I woke up it was extremely painful, to the point I would swear it was broken. The pain would dissipate in a few hours though, only to come back the next morning. I never did figure out what was going on with that.