My sister is sick

My sister is 37 and for the last year and a half has had the following symptoms:

Chest pain under her ribs (if she leans forward, it eases a little)
Stabbing pain in her chest
Constant pressure on her chest (like something is sitting on her)
Fast Pulse
High blood pressure (recent development, as in the last 3-4 months)
Extreme Fatigue - is getting worse as this progresses
Is extremely affected by altitude changes


They originally diagnosed her with Pleuritis (not sure about the spelling), and more recently with possible RA in her chest. There have been many possibles in between. They have done x-rays and MRIs of her chest. Her lungs are clear, no fluid. The doctors can hear a "scratching" sound with a stethoscope.

Everything is a "possible" diagnosis as any and all blood tests come back with only showing that there is inflammation in her body somewhere (we presume in her chest cavity), white blood count is a little high.

She has seen the family doctor, several emergency room doctors (when her breathing has restricted to the point of not being able to catch her breath. This is caused by an increase in chest pressure occassionaly), a neurologist, a heart and lung specialist, and a few others. The RA specialist didn't want to see her as he said that all the tests that he would run have already been done, but "felt that RA could be a possibility."

We are out of answers. The worst thing has just come up this week. There was someone else in our community, in his 50's who we were told by his family members died 2 weeks ago, after living with these same symptoms for 3 years. He also had the "guessing" diagnosis, as no one could figure out what was wrong. He died from suffocation.

I am not willing to let this go without giving it all I can. I figure that if there was one other person out there with this, there has to be others. Please, please, please help me find some answers if you can.

She is currently working 3 days a week, and more often than not falls asleep while sitting at her desk. She has fallen asleep while driving. She does not have sleep apnea, that has been ruled out. She is just exhausted. She is sleeping a total of 11 hours a night, then at least 6 hours a day on her days off.

Current medications
Tramadol/Nortptyline
Naproxen
Metoprolol
Ambien (because the pain is so bad at night)

Thank you. All prayers are most welcomed and needed.

That has not ever been mentioned. She has a doctor's appointment on Thursday tho, and I will be sure to give her this information to take to him. Thank you SO much. Any suggestions are a big help since everyone seems to be at the end of the road at this point.

Again, thank you!

That was the second diagnosis that she received. I had forgotten all about it until I read your post. They had her try three different meds for acid reflux in the very beginning of all this, but they didn't help at all. Thanks for the post tho and thanks for caring.