Chronic Abdominal and Chest Pain

My name is Paul, I'm from London England, I've just turned 60 and I 'm a chronic pain sufferer, the latest "episode" started in February of this year. This is my first post on Inspire.

Throughout my life I have suffered three previous "episodes" of Chronic pain....first in 1998, Abdominal pain which lasted about 2 years before resolving completely probably on its own, I then suffered chronic pain from a bad tooth extraction in 2006 which also lasted approx. 2 years before I had more dental work in 2008 and the pain went away over a couple of months. Again chronic acute Abdominal pain occurred in 2010 before again I become 95% pain free in 2012.

In February of this year I literally just woke up one morning and the abdominal pain had returned....this was one day before I flew out to Thailand for a tour (I am a musician, Drums) so my GP is of course saying the pain is stress related....but I didn't feel stressed at the time in fact looking forward to the experience !! Furthermore, as a added complication I also developed chronic upper chest pain in late February 2015 which my Doctor believes is Costochondritis. The pain is there all the time either from my chest or abdomen, it's relentless, debilitating and disabling....the pain always worsens during the day and most days reaches 8 or 9 on a pain scale of 1 to 10. Since the pain started in mid February I have been taking numerous supplements, Vit D and E, magnesium, turmeric, probotics, digestive enzymes etc....none of which to date have helped in any way. I have used a tens machine on and off for the abdominal pain ( I used one a lot in the last episode in 2010/12 and it really helped) but I have now stopped using it as I'm not convinced the machine is not making the pain worse and maybe even started the chest pain. My only pain management aid is Ice packs ( its Summer in the UK presently and it's to hot to use heat packs) I only use the ice on my abdomen as again when I used ice on my chest I'm not sure the usage made the pain worse. My GP says the pain is all stress related/ in my head...and the only medication she has prescribed is a low daily dose of amitriptyline which again has not given me any relief. The only treatment that I'm currently undertaking is neurofeedback which I took during the last chronic pain episode and I think it helped. I am going back to see my GP next week to ask for a referral to a pain clinic...my GP does not want to prescribe me any medication for the actual pain as yet...although I have asked. I have had two Chest X-rays, two ECG's and a Ultra sound scan all of which have come back as normal..also blood tests which again proved normal. I have too have 4 or 5 BMs a day as if I don't go to the loo when I have the urge the abdo pain goes off the pain scale....the BM's are usually loose possibly due to the supplements I'm taking.

Could this pain be related to some Vitamin / Hormone, Enzyme deficiency ??

I would be very grateful for members input into the above, any ideas treatment options, medications etc. would be most appreciated as I am like I'm sure many members are, going through a waking nightmare

My apologies for the very long post....and I wish everyone a good and pain free day.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Best wishes,



Paul

Welcome Paul to the forum and sorry for the issues and how it's effecting your life. Sad to have to say that all of us here understand just what you mean by the statement!!

GPs are awesome for maintaining your health but when it comes to long-term complications not so great. Costa is a difficult diagnosis simply because its usually a matter of ruling out everything else and thats what's left,difficult more to treat pain wise simply because bone pain is like nerve pain,can be projected elsewhere along the nerve pathways and where you think the pains originating is nowhere near the actual pain site. I'm inclined wholeheartedly to agree with Susie and a work up by a gastroenterologist is the first way I would go. The two areas of pain could actually be intestinal related. More so since tens isn't successful,your bowel habits are out of the ordinary,and that your GP is relating much of your pain to stress. Not saying he's entirely correct but being in pain all the time is darn stressful and stress is darn hard on our body.

You asked about missing enzymes,out of whack chemistry and you take many supplements and I have to ask why? Have you tried gluten free diet? You travel outside the country? Is there a possibility you picked up a strange or foreign parasite,was there a trip about the time or prior to the time this all started? Just throwing out ideas you may not have thought of here and maybe places to search answers,most regular labs are not going to detect unusual parasites and bacteria so if no answers from GI and he's likely to find anything unusual because he's going to be looking since your a traveler,I would go infectious diseases. Better to pinpoint if possible a cause before pain management as they have qualms about treating aggressively with out a diagnosis onboard.

One more thing and I know you have likely been touring for sometime and stress isn't always related to bad things but our body's experience stress with excitement and good things as well and normally under healthy conditions that's not a issue but with conditions like ibs,crohns,and UC,that stress can do as much harm and cause as many problems. I imagine when your on the road your diet frequently changes as well and certainly the types of foods and inconsistency of meals as well and all of these types of things effect us far more as we age and our health becomes precarious due to aging can have untoward effects especially if there's an underlying cause that's not being treated. Important stuff,staying on the Dr to get you to the right places for the right answers.

Amitrp isn't a favorite of mine and there's much better meds available in the class,narcotics can actually do more harm than good with gastrointestinal issues so again,finding the answers are your best bets.


I wish you luck in your search,safety in your travels and relief from your pain.

This is just a thought. You mentioned you're a drummer. Is it possible that your pain is muscular? The reason I ask is because I've had recurring abdominal/chest pain while doing cross fit (after a hiatal hernia repair). The pain would come and go. Sometimes my belly would literally swell, and I would have to ice it down. I had so many tests I thought I'd glow in the dark. Ultimately, it was determined to be severe muscular strain/pain & costro.
I would think that your core & chest muscles are used considerably when u play. Perhaps even to the point to where your stomach could be tweaked with the twisting & turning. I agree that it would help to rule things out if u consulted with a GI doc. Again, just a thought. Hope you get some relief.