verity
New member
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2014
- Messages
- 2
- Reason
- Other
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- US
- State
- NC
I hope you will read my story and give me your opinion. I am at the end of my rope. I am an almost 40 year old female.
In the past 4 years, I have been diagnosed with IBS-D, TMJ, and anxiety problems (GAD and panic attacks).
7 months ago, I started having lots of pain under my ribs. It would start on one side, the next day it would be on the other side. It would range from a pinching feeling to severe pain. I was concerned about pancreas/gallbladder issues, and went to my GI. I had CT scans, abdominal u/s, endoscopy, and tons of blood work. All came back fine.
As this was going on (b/c all of this took several months to happen), my anxiety got worse and I wound up in the ER several times thinking I was having a heart attack - just panic attacks. At one ER visit, they actually admitted me for observation and did a stress test with scans, a resting stress with scans, and monitored my heart and heart-related blood numbers. All was fine.
I was still having the pain, only now it was sort of roving pain - it might start in my ribs and then move to lower back. It might be under my shoulder blades. It might be in my neck. It might be in my thumb joints. Sometimes it's in both sides of my body, sometimes only one side. I started having shooting pains occasionally down my legs. The pain under my ribs seems to actually be between my ribs, if that makes any sense - pressing between my ribs is very painful, front and back. I feel a spot in my right back ribs where if I sit in a weird way, or sit in my car too long, I get incredibly bad pain like I have compressed something. Sometimes pain feels like muscle pain or spasms, sometimes it's like a zap of pain, quick, down my arm or leg or in my ribs.
I have had 3 abdominal CT scans, numerous xrays (chest, wrists, pelvic), the stress tests, a million blood tests, a full thyroid workup, etc. Nothing is out of the ordinary. But I am still in pain. Not every day - sometimes I have a good day. Usually I have tolerable days. Sometimes I have horrible days. It's been like this for 7 months. It's really hard to go day to day not knowing how I will feel. I'm nervous to plan anything - what if it's a bad pain day? I feel like I am not living my life.
I get minor relief from a few things. Hot, long showers relieve the rib pain for a while. Icy Hot or similar reduces the rib pain to a manageable pain. Tylenol doesn't do anything. Ibuprofen seems to help a bit but with a history of ulcer, my doctors are wary of having me on it very much. Muscle relaxants (skelaxin?) help to a small degree. My GI doctor put me on a small dose (25mg) of amiltriptilyne (sp) which has helped with my IBS immensely and seems to have had a small effect on pain? I see a chiropractor weekly and feel slightly better after those visits. Sometimes I can reduce pain in my back shoulder blade area or lower back by using a tennis ball against a wall to rub on those areas.
Any advice? I see my GP tomorrow for the (what feels like) 90 millionth time this year, and I want to press her for something that will result in some answers. What do I do? Who should I be referred to? What is wrong with me? I really need an answer. Because without an answer, I am left with what-ifs, and even though I've had so many tests, I still have a voice in the back of my mind that says "what if it's cancer, what if it's a heart attack, what if what if?"
In the past 4 years, I have been diagnosed with IBS-D, TMJ, and anxiety problems (GAD and panic attacks).
7 months ago, I started having lots of pain under my ribs. It would start on one side, the next day it would be on the other side. It would range from a pinching feeling to severe pain. I was concerned about pancreas/gallbladder issues, and went to my GI. I had CT scans, abdominal u/s, endoscopy, and tons of blood work. All came back fine.
As this was going on (b/c all of this took several months to happen), my anxiety got worse and I wound up in the ER several times thinking I was having a heart attack - just panic attacks. At one ER visit, they actually admitted me for observation and did a stress test with scans, a resting stress with scans, and monitored my heart and heart-related blood numbers. All was fine.
I was still having the pain, only now it was sort of roving pain - it might start in my ribs and then move to lower back. It might be under my shoulder blades. It might be in my neck. It might be in my thumb joints. Sometimes it's in both sides of my body, sometimes only one side. I started having shooting pains occasionally down my legs. The pain under my ribs seems to actually be between my ribs, if that makes any sense - pressing between my ribs is very painful, front and back. I feel a spot in my right back ribs where if I sit in a weird way, or sit in my car too long, I get incredibly bad pain like I have compressed something. Sometimes pain feels like muscle pain or spasms, sometimes it's like a zap of pain, quick, down my arm or leg or in my ribs.
I have had 3 abdominal CT scans, numerous xrays (chest, wrists, pelvic), the stress tests, a million blood tests, a full thyroid workup, etc. Nothing is out of the ordinary. But I am still in pain. Not every day - sometimes I have a good day. Usually I have tolerable days. Sometimes I have horrible days. It's been like this for 7 months. It's really hard to go day to day not knowing how I will feel. I'm nervous to plan anything - what if it's a bad pain day? I feel like I am not living my life.
I get minor relief from a few things. Hot, long showers relieve the rib pain for a while. Icy Hot or similar reduces the rib pain to a manageable pain. Tylenol doesn't do anything. Ibuprofen seems to help a bit but with a history of ulcer, my doctors are wary of having me on it very much. Muscle relaxants (skelaxin?) help to a small degree. My GI doctor put me on a small dose (25mg) of amiltriptilyne (sp) which has helped with my IBS immensely and seems to have had a small effect on pain? I see a chiropractor weekly and feel slightly better after those visits. Sometimes I can reduce pain in my back shoulder blade area or lower back by using a tennis ball against a wall to rub on those areas.
Any advice? I see my GP tomorrow for the (what feels like) 90 millionth time this year, and I want to press her for something that will result in some answers. What do I do? Who should I be referred to? What is wrong with me? I really need an answer. Because without an answer, I am left with what-ifs, and even though I've had so many tests, I still have a voice in the back of my mind that says "what if it's cancer, what if it's a heart attack, what if what if?"
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