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Persistent, severe, focal nocturnal thoracic back pain

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Posted 10/17/2014 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
Hello,
I've been having constant, increasingly severe nocturnal thoracic back pain radiating around to the ribs for a few months, with it becoming progressively more severe. The pain goes away during the day, but I can still feel "something" if I bend forward at the waist. I had a thoracic MRI without contrast and there was nothing remarkable. Blood work was ok, normal except for a very low hematocrit and hyponatremia. I have tried chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage. The chiropractor said I had "excellent" posture and I am very active. There is no history of injury.

I'm rapidly approaching the end of my rope- waking up in 10/10 pain every single night after just a couple of hours in bed. NSAIDS and muscle relaxers don't help, nor do antacids (I have had issues with GERD before and it felt NOTHING like this).

Does anyone have any ideas? Will an MRI without contrast miss anything? This is seriously impacting my quality of life- does anyone have any tips for coping?
Posted 10/17/2014 4:32 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Echo & welcome to the chronic pain forum. Sorry to read what you are dealing with. Its always frustrating when we cannot get answers.

Have you seen a specialist, like an orthopedic? If not, you may want to consider getting a consult scheduled with one & be sure that you take the MRI with you for him to review. Sometimes the specialist will catch something on a film/cd that was not seen by the radiologist. Because you are continuing to have problems it is always best to get another opinion.

I doubt seriously that another MRI will be of any benefit since you had the one with contrast. Not only that but your insurance may not approve having another done since it has been recent.

Anyway, that is my 2 cents worth. Take care.
Posted 10/17/2014 5:14 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Susie, thanks for the response :)

I do have an appointment with an orthopedic in mid-November, but I'm starting to feel like I'm going to go nuts before then. The MRI I had was without contrast... I don't know how much that matters. I do know that the radiologist who read it has a less than stellar reputation for being careless. I will definitely send the actual images over to to the surgeon I will be seeing for a second opinion.... I'm on a cancellation list, hopefully something pops up sooner cry
Posted 10/17/2014 5:49 PM (GMT 0)
Hmm. It sounds like you're doing everything by the book in terms of trying to get to the bottom of what's causing this for you.

I'm glad that you have an appointment coming up. November is just around the corner, and I hope you post about your results. It's always a good idea to get a second opinion as well (with the actual image disk).

Welcome to our HW forum!




M.
Posted 10/17/2014 8:53 PM (GMT 0)
Any chance that you have been unknowingly sleeping
NG in a different position? Sometimes when my sinuses act up I will sleep on my side and aggravate an old injury to my thoracic back ribs and spine. My wife tells me that I've been on the wrong side again. Just a thought . . . Q
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