Chest pain and major flare

[KatieB]

  I'm feeling so frustrated tonight. Spent half the day in the ER and who knows how much $ to learn that my lungs look (x-ray) and sound good, and that they don't see anything wrong with my heart (EKG, and blood pressure monitoring) Don't get me wrong, that's really good news, but I'm sitting here with my prescription for Hydrocodone/acetaminophen feeling totally discouraged. They don't know why my chest hurts so bad, but at least I now have drugs to knock me out so I won't care. (sigh...)

  I think I must be in a major flare of some sort. Last week I took one of my sons shopping for his first big dinner/dance date. It was fun, but by the middle of the day I was DONE. I have felt that completely drained, have to really concentrate to speak at all intelligently feeling before, but this time I wasn't apparently fooling anyone. When we picked up my husband he said I sounded and seemed like I was drunk. My words were slow and slurred. We went home and I went to bed. The next day I was okay, but I keep dropping things!

  My hands have felt so clumsy for the last couple of weeks. I'm holding something and then suddenly I'm juggling with it. 

  I had to go into the optometrist as my eyes were really bothering me. The more tired I get, the more they blur, and they hurt. We tried steroid drops for the inflammation and they did help. He wants me to try restasis. (hope I spelled that right) It's so expensive though! We don't have insurance right now and things are SO tight. I actually think we could qualify to get some help from Medicaid and I think we're going to have to do it. It's really hard to ask for help, especially for my husband. He works so hard. Our little store does ok, but we're not making much right now, and the employees have to be paid too. He struggles with depression and this is all so hard on him as well.

I'm sorry this is so long, it's just been a hard couple of weeks. I go in to see my rheumy on friday and I'm not sure what to do. He's been great about trying to treat as inexpensively as possible, but I think we may need to try something else...

Any advice out there? Should I ask about a higher dose of plaquenil or something stronger? Does anyone have any ideas on why my chest could be hurting?  I just looked up costochonditus and that could be a definite possibility, they didn't look at or examine my chest at all, just hooked me up to the machines and took blood. Thank you so much for listening and any ideas. Hope everyone has a good night
   
 

[Joe S.]

If the chest pain continues or you have flu like symptoms push for a nuclear echo cardiogram stress test. That was the first test that showed that anything was wrong with my heart. I fought chest pain since 2000 and was told by the doctors that it was just my fibromyalgia. When the angiogram was done I learned that RCA was 100% blocked and LCA was 80% blocked. 3 stints helped me to feel much better. EKG, X-ray, and echo cardiogram do not show Cardiac Artery Disease.

[CMNK12]

Hey KatieB
Sounds like you are having a rough time, Please write down all of your symptoms so you can discuss them with your doc and if they get worse you may need to just go ahead and call. Is your chest pain worse with a deep breath? What makes your symptoms better or worse? I particularly don't like the slurred speech incident,did you have any weakness with that? Please mention that to the doctor too and if that comes back and stays , go to the er.  Please take care. CK 

[KatieB]

  Thanks so much. I am resting at home today and I will keep an eye on the chest pain. My husband stayed home to keep an eye on me too, which was really sweet. He has to work some really long hours right now.

  I have had chest pain since this started, about a year and a half ago, but it just felt like a tightness and was attributed to my asthma. This hurts to breath, and feels crampy, I guess. It feels like I'm breathing very shallowly, and it moves around a bit but is mostly focused on my left side. It also hurts into my shoulder, arm and back. It is painful enough to make getting and staying asleep hard. The pain pills did help me sleep last night.
 
  The slurred voice scared us too, but other then being very tired, I felt okay. It was like my body just kind of shut down out of sheer exhaustion. I hadn't been sleeping very well, which I'm sure contributed. I did call my doctor and that's why I'm going in Friday. His receptionist is very good about getting you in when you're having problems. I've been very lucky to find this rheumy, especially in the small town we live in.

  No weakness, my hands just hurt and seem to be having some trouble holding on to things.

  Thanks so much for responding. I've been doing pretty well coping with my "new normal" and trying to be very zen  , but sometimes things just hit all at once. I'm really glad they didn't find anything seriously wrong but it's so hard to not know for sure what's going on, and I hate scaring my family like that. I have three teenagers and I hate it that they have to worry about me.
 

[CMNK12]

Glad you are resting and hubbie is with you. let us know about your appt okay? Take care and I will be praying for you. CK

[susanep]

Sorry to hear you are going through all of this. I will pray for you.

susanep

[Myshkin]

That was me last winter. Spent two days in the hospital - nothing. I think it was just my lung and airways drying out combined with heartburn. Or what do I know.... It did hurt like heck. But it went away again. Painkillers and antiacids did help a lot. And relaxants - at the end a good deal of anxiety also contributed to it.

Take care! And remember that when they have done their X-rays and EKG there is nothing to be afraid of. So try to get enough drugs to keep the pain away. Then you will relax enough, so that it will stay away - or at least that's what happened to me.

Or... well the chest pain at least. 

It was simply a combination of muscle spasms, dryness, anxiety and heart burn. And that hurts! Rest and take good care of yourself.

[KatieB]

  Thanks so much to everyone who replied. Good wishes and prayers are always so comforting! 

  Just knowing someone is listening and understands what this stuff feels like helps. I am under a lot of stress, due to some issues with the business, etc...  But I really try to stay in the moment and relax. I do better some days then others

  I went into to see the doctor today and he said it was definitely Costochondritus. The places where it is tender exactly follow where the cartilage attaches to my rib cage, he gave me a NSAID gel to use.

  Other then that, he said I need to get more quality sleep. Easier said then done, but he said to call if things weren't improving and he'd prescribe something to help. Basically just having a bad flare. If the neurological symptoms get worse we will do a full work up, but since the feeling, at least, was nothing new, he feels okay waiting. He doesn't believe in steroids unless things are really bad, and since I (thank God) have no major organ involvement, we just continue on.

  Does anyone have any opinion on nuerologists? I have always felt like this was effecting my nervous system, and at my first exam I was slightly hyper reflexive, which also indicates problems in that area. Do I wait and see if things keep getting worse, or ask to be checked out now and possibly waste lots of money? Could you please tell me your experiences? 

  Thank you so much, hope everyone is having a good day.