Hi guys, I have a question for you all. Does anyone experience waking up in the morning with chest pain, chest tightness, pressure, etc.? This happens to me daily and doesn't go away until I've been up for a few hours. I'm wondering if this is a Sjogren's thing, or costochondritis which I guess would be from the Sjogren's. Does anyone else experience this problem? Thanks guys!
Costochondritis usually relates to your ribs. Where is your chest pain?
Joe, It's between the breasts/pecs...that little bally bone in the middle...it spreads down to below the left and right breast, above the left and right breast (sorry, don't know the proper term for males lol) and pretty much encompasses my whole mid section. The pain stops above the belly button. It doesn't go that low and doesn't go as high as the collar bone. Hope that helps? It's about where a woman would be covered wearing a tube top...
Yes..am having significant lung issues. :(
I bought a very high quality humidifier that has significantly helped keep my lungs, trachea etc. moist. I am having a lot less pain.
Also, after my hospitalization in June, my doc ordered a nebulizer/meds so I can do my breathing treatments at home. They help also...they just don't last very long.
Hope you start to feel better.
SjoDry
SjoDry, thank you. The weird thing is, we have these problems and they are real but they never show up on testing. Lungs appear clear and free of fluid etc, but the problem is real. I used a humidifier once but before being DX. Do you use a warm or cool mist? I might invest in one again and see if it helps things. I also have a ton of gas/reflux issues when I get up and along with the chest pain, I really feel like crap for the first few hours. A lot of times just talking induces the chest pain. It's horrible. Thanks for your response.
Have. You ruled out cardiac and gastro causes?
There are many times over the years I would wake up with a tightness in my chest. I would almost feel bruised if that is any help as far as descriptive terms goes. I learned long ago that I am having bronchial spasms and that it helps to use my inhalers.
Have you seen a doctor for this. Do you have any problems with your lungs??? IT is very common to have lung issues with sjogrens and they can become severe so need to be addressed early on. Just more ideas for you to think about. Good luck. IRish
Nancy, I have not. I had an abnormal EKG recently but I've had the whole cardiac workup a year or so ago with very invasive testing that showed nothing. I do have a mitral and tricuspid valve prolapse or "leak" but the cardiologist claims it's not a big enough leak to cause symptoms. I have an echo of my heart on September 24th so we'll see.
Irish, I don't have any problems with my lungs CLINICALLY. I am a smoker but just had a chest x-ray and everything was normal. I have asthma too but when I take the inhaler to see if it helps, it doesn't. I only have an asthma attack upon wakening maybe 1-2 times per month if that. So it's not bad asthma. I could try it next time but I'm sure it's Costochondritis, a lung issue or something else. I do have very bad GERD and acid reflux, gas etc. The best way I can describe the pain is like someone whacked me in the chest with a hammer and crushed in my chest wall bone :(
Just curious what kind of treatment are you on for asthma? Are you only using a rescue inhaler or do you use a corticosteroid inhaler? You should check into having your breathing meds adjusted.
As for costochondritis I unfortunately suffer from the chronic variety or as my rheum says that happens sometimes as it is supposed to go away on its own. It does not show on x ray. It is best not to guess about this because chest pain is a potentially serious issue. Go for a check up for peace of mind.
Dear Illndontwantapill-sorry to hear you are having chest pains. I have suffered from them off and on as well. Had a complete cardiac workup a year ago with no significant abnormalities. I am going to have another one soon just to be safe. Chest pain is scary and can be something serious, so better to be safe than sorry. Glad to hear you are going to have a workup again.
I have heard about costocondritis and think I have had a few bouts of that as well.
Get it checked out if you continue to have symptoms.
Sending healing thoughts and prayers your way.
Ill,
I use the warm mist, but my humidifier has both options. I wasn't really sure if it would help or not, nor was I sure at first if it was working. But my husband & I had to go out of town for a few days and I did not take the humidifier. Oh my goodness, I could tell a huge difference! And even my husband ( who has only Afib issues ), could tell a difference in how he felt in terms of dryness. As with everything else...I also researched humidifiers. I bought one that is called ultra-sonic. They are very quiet when running. Also, the higher end machines require a less fequent replacement of parts.
My cat scans have showed problems and they also found something called a pericardial cyst behind my heart. 1 in 100,000 people get these cysts ( some more of my Sjoggie luck ). Typically they are very benign, but when they do exhibit symptoms, they are the symptoms that I am also having. ( chest pain, shortness of breath, dry cough, cough up blood, etc. )...oops, I'm sorry...I have digressed.
I would definitely recommend giving the humidifier another chance.
I hope you get some relief soon!
SjoDry
Cassie, just a rescue inhaler as needed which is only about 1-2 times per month.
SjoDry, thank you. I think I'll invest in one and see if it helps. First I'm going to try restarting my Plaquenil and see if that helps as I'm not treating the SS right now.
finallyadx, thank you! Definitely not something to mess around with especially since my EKG was abnormal. Sending thoughts and prayers your way as well.
Hiatal hernia?
Velcro: I'll have to look up those Symptoms and see if they fit. I don't know how you would diagnose that, but I've had a chest x-ray, CT scan with contrast and barium etc.? Wouldn't that have caught it?
I'm not sure about those tests, if they would show it. They diagnosed mine with an upper endoscopy. It causes me chest pains (in the area you are describing), feels like I can't breathe, although I can and upper abdominal pains. I thought I was having a heart attack when it first started years ago. They found the tear and that my esophagus was going into spasm due to the backup of acid/gas.
And the pain is a squeezing pressure feeling like you described as well.
At this point we're not doing an endoscopy, we are just starting with a flexible sigmoidoscopy tomorrow? And then the upper G.I. series on September 10th. Sorry I'm a bit preoccupied as someone just ran into the back of my car while I was sitting in the parking lot
Oh no! I'm sorry. I'm not very knowledgeable on gastric tests and things. I had that test when I was 20 (25 years ago!) because of the chest pains and they were ruling things out. I did just Google and it says a barium swallow should show a hiatal hernia as well....so that's probably not it then.
I'm pretty sure the barium will only catch reflux. I could be wrong, of course. They made me get a scope as well when they checked for more serious stomach and breathing issues and only found the acid reflux.
Do you have birds by any chance? My pulmonolgist recently told me that I could have this rare lung allergy to birds. It wouldn't show up in regular allergy testing.
Do you smoke a lot at night? I smoke and hate everything about it, save for the feeling of it filling my lungs. So, if you're like me, you sit on the porch, smoking at night and researching your new illnesses and symptoms. When that stresses you out, you basically chain smoke.
Could just be me, but I know I'll wake up with chest pain after a night with a new illness.
Hope that helps.
~Andrea
Velcro, it's okay! Thanks for your help. It's actually not a barium swallow. That's different. I've had that done twice for dysphagia and it showed nothing. I drink 2-3 bottles of barium at the place and the radiologist watches it travel through the small intestines (maybe as I swallow as well) to look for any obstructions and to see if I have another small bowel intussusception (telescoping of the intestines into other intestines.) If I have it again, I have to have a bowel resection surgery. I had my sigmoid today, showed nothing but internal hemm and external hemm and I went under anesthesia and they wasted my time for that s@#$ lol. Pun intended! Was under for 5 minutes with the MJ anesthesia Propofol?? sp?? to wake up and hear that. This gastro doctor LOVES to attribute everything to hemorrhoids! Of course you're going to have hemorrhoids when you s@#$ your guts out in preparation for a test. Duh!! :)
Ripvanann, thanks for your feedback as well. The CT with barium showed the small bowel intussusception. He checked my large intestines today via sigmoidoscopy, and he's doing the Upper GI series with small bowel to check the small bowel. I wish he would have done a full-on colonoscopy and it would have been one time vs. 2 appointments and drinking 2 nasty drinks. I just drank barium for the CT a week and a half ago! God that stuff is nasty. I am a smoker, I do smoke a lot at night but I don't know if I'd classify myself as a chain smoker. The most I'll ever do in a row is 3...yes, sometimes before bed while looking up illnesses lol. But generally, 2 cigarettes back to back is my max. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated. Thank you all.