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Crushing Chest, Neck & Jaw Spasms Non-Cardiac

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Posted 2/1/2010 1:42 PM (GMT 0)

Hello,

Does anyone have crushing, excruitiating, breath taking, feeling like you are having a heart attack, PAINFUL SPASMS in your Mainly Chest, Neck, Jaw and sometimes your Shoulder, through to your Back and Arms.  Sometimes they start in my Chest and move up to the Neck and Jaw, sometimes they start in my Neck, sometimes they start in my Jaw, you get my drift???  Like I say below I have muscle spasms in everypart of my body.  I take two - 10 mg Baclofen four times a day and when the chest spasms hit, which are every day of my life, sometimes numerous times a day, I take one - 10 mg Diazepam also and after a while it takes effect and also puts me to sleep as well but when I wake up I still feel my muscles tight and very sore. Been to ER more times than can count, always the same, heart workup, normal, enzymes normal, lung workup normal, everything normal, they say Non-Cardiac muscle spasms, give me a shot, knock me out and send me home to sleep.  I have had 4 heart caths since 1999 last one in December 2009 all fine.  Docs baffled don't know, just say severe muscle spasms, well my heart is a muscle I quit going to ER a couple of years ago, because I can knock my own self out, without a shot and thousands of dollars on my insurance and pocketbook.

Does anyone have this problem, if so do you have diagnosis and even more important anything to keep this from happening?

I am new to this forum and website I was officially diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2000, The Drs flip flopped between SLE Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis from 2000 until 2004 when I was officially diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and took Copaxone injections for 2 years but quit on my own, now place left on body to inject due to knots under skin, but I have suffered from the symptoms since I was a child.  My old MS Dr left and the new MS Dr now tells me she DOES not think I have MS so here we go with whole battery of tests all over again and the mention that it could be SLE Lupus again, (GIVE ME A BREAK).  The symptoms have gotten stedily worse but in 1994, I developed the very disturbing symptoms I described above among so many other symptoms that have totally disabled me, my life and taken it's toll on my family and their lives.mad  I feel like my Doctors have left me high and dry, like they have abondoned me. 

When I try to go to a new Neurologist they see my record and act like they are gut shot and want no part of me, they shun me.  There are days I feel like I am litterally going to die!  I live in Pain, Fatigue, Heat Intolerant where even going into a hot kitchen or bathroom leaves  me sweating profusely and all my symptoms so bad that I have to wipe of cool shower and then I usually an so exhausted I have to lay down and rest (or sleep) for a few

hours.  On the oposite side I can go outside in 30 degree weather in a t-shirt and don't feel cold until I've been outside for quite some time.   I have too many symptoms to possibly list here and some I don't know quite how to explain. BUT I AM DESPERATE AND IN NEED OF HELP!!!!!! 

 

Can anyone HELP??????  Please Let Me Know!!!!   gagirl63, Abandoned, Alone, Scared and Dying in Middle Georgia

Post Edited (gagirl63) : 2/1/2010 6:52:28 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/1/2010 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, gagirl, and welcome!  Have you been checked for Lyme disease?  It has many of the same symptoms as what you are experiencing.  We are usually checked for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS, and Lyme before a diagnosis of fibro is given.  We do have an excellent Lyme forum here on HealingWell. 

 

Be sure to check out the Fibro 101 thread...the second thread on the forum.  There are links to good information about fibro, including a list of symptoms. 

 

I sure can understand your concern over that bed chest pain.  I get chest pain from costochondritis but it doesn't radiate into my neck and down my arms.  I do get neck and shoulder pain and sometimes pain in my arms but not like you are describing.  Perhaps someone on the forum has that problem though and will respond.

 

I'm so glad you found us and joined in.  I hope you get some answers to this pain and I hope to hear more from you soon.

 

Sherrine

Posted 2/1/2010 3:32 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Gagirl and welcome. I do not have your severe symptoms. Mine are more like twinges of pain that keep you guessing whether it is from fibro or something that should be checked out. I'm going to my rheumy today and have a list of questions I would like to have answered. For my piece of mind I would rather go through unneccessary test than to worry about it. My body doesn't deal well with stress anymore and that only causes more pain and weird feelings.

 

Have you been checked for reflux??? I have had it feel like I'm having a heart attack and the pain can radiate clear through to the back and up to jaw. I have had surgery for it but still have symptoms when I eat certain foods and after taking Rolaids or Maalox it goes away.

 

I do hope you find the answers soon cause stress is a fibromites worse enemy.

 

I have a DIL with fibro and she asked me one time if it could affect the heart since it is a muscle, I don't know.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Posted 2/1/2010 6:55 PM (GMT 0)
Hello All,

Thanks for the quick replies. I have been checked for lymes, costocondritus, hiv, rheumatoid arthritis, and everything else. My ANA levels are at 20:640, not enough for the hosts of Rheumies I've seen to give me a Lupus diagnosis. I just don't know, I'm about to just throw up my hands and quit.

Thanks again.......... gagirl63
Posted 2/1/2010 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
Have you had your thyroid checked?  Hypothyroidism can cause chest pain , I believe.  Many with fibro do have thyroid problems. 

 

Sherrine

Posted 2/1/2010 9:16 PM (GMT 0)

I am always checking in here to see what you ladies are saying and I always leave with some wise information from you ladies. Usually I am at work and I cannot always post, I just sneak a peek. (sorry for not posting!) But I thank God for you guys, you have helped me physically and mentally many times. 

I have an appointment with my rheumy today, and I have also had some chest pains recently, and have in that past had it so badly I too went to the ER GaGirl and it’s always negative. I will see what my doctor tells me today. I have been very achy lately, as I was running out of my Lyrica (I take 300 mgs a day) so I only took half for the past week and that my have something to do with it. As much as I hate taking Lyrica, (feet and hands swell, gained weight) if I cut down on it, the pain comes back and I have to work, still full time and I am 57 now.

I knew a girl years ago who had Fibro, (it was the first time I had ever heard of it) and she told me she would get chest pains so bad she too would end up in the ER. How can I explain this illness when I don’t even know what will happen next? Lol!

Posted 2/1/2010 11:26 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,

I have severe pains in my chest fairly often....the first time it happened I was at work (2008); they thought I was having a heart attack and rushed me to the hospital. I was in for 3 days, they ran every test imaginable related to the heart and all was fine!

So they told me to go home.

I said, "But what's causing my pain??" The doctors didn't seem to care as long as it wasn't my heart, but one theory put forward was that I was experiencing esophageal spasms.

Over the past couple of years I've decided that esophageal spasms probably ARE the cause of the chest pains.....they frequently happen about a half hour after I take my prednisone, and prednisone is known to be a GI irritant, and it causes GERD. Acid reflux can trigger esophageal spasms according to my gastroenterologist.

This is just a suggestion, because I am not a physician......I hope you find some answers and some relief from the pain soon!

JoAnn

P.S. I also have general tonic muscle spasms at times (mostly in hands, feet and legs), and have also been tested for MS. They've ruled out MS but don't seem to be able to explain all of my symptoms. I've recently been diagnosed with Lyme disease (Sherrine mentioned Lyme) and am wondering if some of my "unexplained" symptoms are from Lyme. But I just don't know. It's really hard to disentangle things and figure out which disease is causing what symptom! Plus some symptoms could even be due to my long list of meds!!
Posted 2/2/2010 2:59 AM (GMT 0)
Do you still have your gallbladder? Many of the symptoms you describe are what I went thru and after tons of tests, drugs, etc. it finally went away when my gallbladder was removed.

Just a thought, but worth checking into.

I wish you luck and I hope you find answers soon.

Pam
Posted 2/2/2010 3:11 AM (GMT 0)
I can't offer any advice but I'm sending prayers for some relief. Please don't feel alone. We all know what it's like to have pain that no one else can see. Even if we can't help we feel your pain.
Posted 2/3/2010 11:42 PM (GMT 0)

I have been living with the same symptoms since the first week in October.  In fact, I posted on this site and no one had an answer.  I have found the answer to my problem.  After researching on internet, I have found that I have trigger points in my scalene muscles.  I ordered the Trigger Point Therapy Worbook by Clair Davies. I immediately found my pain symptoms.  The workbook tells you how to massage the muscles to cause them to release.  I was not able to massage them deeply enough, so I went to a new chriopractor in our town.  He uses electricl impulses on the muscles as well as laser and ultrasound therapy.  I told him what I thought it was and he concurred.  I feel we have to do our homework before we go to see a doctor so that we won't get the wrong treatment.  Many people have surgery and injections that don't help when the problem comes from trigger points in the muscles.  My symptoms radiated from the right shoulder blade, into the right arm, down the arm stopping at the wrist on the thumb side of my hand, then it spread into the right half of my chest, up the right side of neck and into my jaw.  Pain is sometimes so bad, my mouth would run hot water.  These symptoms occured with walking a distance and then sometimes if I slept on my right side to long at night.  It is like the muscles are going into a spasm.  Anyway, after two visits I am better.  I have had some instances but they have been much milder than before.  Chriopractor also does the "press and release" technique on some of the trigger points~applying pressure for so many seconds and then releasing for so many seconds.  He said all the muscles in my neck are very tight and therefore causing my right side to be higher than the left.  This is causing my problems.  Also during these episodes my heart runs away.  I found that I have a trigger point which I can feel, feels like a marble in the muscle, at end of breastbone and one inch to the right of it.  When my heart starts running away, I now press it a couple of times and it stops.  Before going to the chro, went to cardiologist and had all the heart tests, nothing wrong with heart...........so, I hope this has helped you.  Try to find a chro that does the laser and see if this could be your problem.  With fibro you know we hurt anywhere you touch, but these trigger points are in muscles we cannot reach. 

I am so releaved that I may have found my answer!  Hope you do too. 

Posted 2/4/2010 7:31 AM (GMT 0)
Hi and Welcome to the family!

I sure can understand why you are frustrated and even frightened. I sure would be. After all of those test and no answers I'd get myself to a university/teaching hospital. All states have them, some have more than one. In fact they are located all over the globe. We have a link to them in the Fibro 101 thread but here's the link so you can check it out now.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_university_hospitals

Teaching hospitals are most often linked to a major university and because of that they are on the leading edge of technology and research. You just might make a good research candidate for them and in the mean time they might just find what's causing your pain. Give the closest one a call...sure can't hurt.

But fibro also gives us pain for no apparent reason. That's one of the reasons that it's so darn hard to find the cause and then a cure....all of the good science done just is inconclusive...although the scientific community is leaning mighty heavily toward a central nervous system disorder as the cause of Fibromyalgia. In the mean time please look for your nearest teaching hospital and give them a call. Even if it's a long drive it just may begin to give you some of your life back.

Keep in touch...
Chutz
Posted 7/28/2011 3:08 PM (GMT 0)
Hi

This is old. I wonder what happend.

But you sound so much like me.

If you are here. I was going to recommend to look at " stiff person syndrome"

There is a blood test for it called anti-gad. They should also do an Emg and ncv
Plus a lot ignitions show negative on this but still have it and high dose of Valium is what works for it.
Posted 8/6/2011 10:49 AM (GMT 0)
I didn't read all of the posts above, but what you are describing may be costochondritis; an inflammation of the rib cartilage. It's quite common in people with fibromyalgia, approximately 65% will have this at some point.

Check out:
http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org/fibromyalgia_chest
Posted 8/6/2011 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
Looks like you've had a bunch of good answers that need to be checked out.

JoAnn had a good answer, GERD. I have had chest pain with this. A large hiatal hernia can also feel like a heart attack, as you describe. I had that after a wreck that shoved my stomach partly into my chest. Test is a barium swallow - easy, not invasive.

You can also have IBS or just a bunch of gas in colon that hurts right under the heart and feels like a heart attack. The answer to this could be probiotics. I have to take two a day plus eat loads of yogurt when I'm on antibiotics or I can get chest pain from gas.

Since the gut is connected to the esophagus, stomach and heart by the vagus nerve, it is also possible that esophageal spasms are being triggered by the gut. I had an attack from my gut so bad I got tachycardia and had to get heart converted in ER. I couldn't eat, stomach was unhappy from this too.
Posted 4/5/2017 6:18 PM (GMT 0)
I have the horrible muscle spasms in my jaw and chest also. My Rheumatologist said it is just muscle spasms and nothing to worry about, but it is horribly painful and I just believe there has to be a cause for it.

Someone mentioned Costochondritis, which I also have, but this is different from that. My Costochonditis is just pain in the center of the front of my chest. These muscle spasms goes all the way around my body just under my breasts and both sides of the front of my chest and up into my jaws.

I also had Lyme Disease several years ago and was treated for that.

Had my thyroid checked twice. Nothing.

I also have Ankylosing Spondylitis, but Rheumy said it wouldn't cause muscle spasms.

Anyone out there get a diagnosis yet?
Posted 4/5/2017 7:59 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Sunshine, and welcome! You might want to have your vitamin D and calcium levels checked. Deficiencies in these can cause muscle cramping and spasms. Also a deficiency in magnesium can do this also. I do take all three to help me. I also have ankylosing spondylitis and a muscle relaxer called Robaxin was given to me by my rheumy when I received my diagnoses and it has made a significant difference in my pain.

Be sure to read Fibro 101... the first thread on the forum. There is a lot more good info there and also links about vitamin D3 and magnesium malate and how these work in the body to help us.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. Don't hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Sherrine
Posted 12/12/2018 7:47 PM (GMT 0)
This has happened to me many times, but not for a long time until last night!
It went on for hours.
No real Dx besides Fibro. No real treatment !
Posted 12/12/2018 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, FibroDX, and welcome! I’m sorry you are having this problem too but read through this thread and you will see many good suggestions as to what might be going on with you.

Possibly these are bad muscle spasms and the stress of the season caused this to rear it’s ugly head with you. Try deep breathing exercises and see if that helps. Breath in as deeply as you can and then blow out slowly like you are blowing through a straw. You just might feel the tension lessen.

Be sure to read Fibro 101...the first thread on the forum. There are links to good info about fibro and you might learn a few new things there. I’ve had fibro for decades but am still learning more things.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. Don’t hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Sherrine
Posted 12/13/2018 12:08 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for your reply.
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