New here and have unresolved chronic pain issues, please help!

My problem started about 3 years ago.

It started by me having pain on my right side in my rib cage every so often and it would migrate up to the right side of my neck into my throat and right ear and it would subside after 3-5 minutes and then go away completely. This would happen every 3-6 months with no explanation why.

I started seeing a doctor 2 years ago and explained this problem to him and he sorta blew it off and nothing was ever done.

The pain finally started getting worse and I finally went to the ER and they put me in the hospital overnight to observe me, they found nothing wrong after xrays, blood tests, ekg's.

So then early this year in January the same pain started in my left side but would not go up into my neck or ear but I would have sharp 1 second pains in my left chest area close to my nipple and would shoot outward to my left armpit, left shoulder and into the left side of my back about middle ways down and some pain up the left side of my head.

They put me in the hospital again after I went to the ER AGAIN and did more EKG's, some sort of other scan were they used a handheld thing that they rubbed over my chest area and neck and they also did a stress test. I passed all of them and they said nothing is wrong with my heart.

They said it was muscle spasms in my left chest area but no explanation for my sharp armpit pain.

It all went away for 3 months until May and it has started up again and my doctor says its anxiety and put me on a anti-depressant which I dont take and gave me Naproxen for pain.

This is now a constant, almost everyday issue, some days its not there at all and other days its there but now it switches back and forth to my right side and left side, armpits, right forearm, neck, throat and back and then it can switch to the left side doing pretty much the same thing but now when the pain is happening on my left side it makes my left forearm sort of tingly but not numb.

I went to the ER on Monday scared to death that this is happening and they couldnt find anything wrong with my heart.

It went away for a couple of days and now today (Thursday) its bothering me again and I am sure I having anxiety attacks because I dont know whats wrong and then last night I had a burning sensation in my left forearm and my little finger was aching.

Does anyone here have a clue what this may be? I am getting very depressed about this and cannot concentrate on anything except the worry from this.

I am a 54 year old male, 6'3, 210lbs by the way.

Any help and direction I can take would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome JT to the CP forum at HW. Sorry your having such a time and undiagnosed pain is frustrating at its best. I can think of a few things that possibly could cause paīn in the areas your having it but only a few that would cause the arm tingling and numbness and my first guess is going to be some spinal issues with nerve involvement. However we are not Drs and cannot replace a solid diagnosis.

I would start by trying to get a MRI of cervical and possibly thoracic areas and find a board certified neurologist.

Others may have something different to add but wanted to say hi and give you my guess and welcome you.

Hi Jim & welcome to the forum. Sorry to read about the difficulties you are having trying to find out what is causing your medical issues.

It is strange how these symptoms come & go like they do. At least the good news is your heart has been checked out & there are no problems in that area.Do you remember if you had been doing any kind of activities right before they would happen? My thinking is if these new tests fail to show anything then consider going to a teaching hospital & be evaluated. Sometimes when people keep coming up with no results they end getting a diagnosis at a teaching hospital. They have much better technology than our main stream drs.. That would at least be something to consider.

Hang in there, hopefully something will show up in these new tests. Take care.

St Pete, Tampa, and several in Miami.

Hi Jim..

Just thought I would add my 2 cents.
The side pain sharp , shoulder & back rings a bell in my experience.
I was showing those symptoms so severe I ended up in ER several times. Same tests EKG .. Blood tests showed nothing. Given pain meds I later found I was severely allergic to.

To make a long story short. It was a gastroenterologist who found I had gallstones stuck in the bile duct. The pain mimics heart attacks. I was in my 20's so gallstones were unusual for some one that young.. Come to think of it so would have a heart attack..

Anyway food for thought...
Hope u get this figured out soon.