Muscle spasms in stomach and rib cage. CLOSED

Oh wow....just found this site and so glad I'm not alone with this pain.  Let me first say Hello! to everyone and tell you my story.

I am a 52yr old female dealing with the very pain you all describe.  It started in October 08 ---a very hard spasm just under my left shoulder blade that seemed like it wanted to "move" around the ribs area. It felt like a charley horse that you get on your calf. It lasted several minutes then left.  And it has been visiting me every day since then!

Now I've had even harder spasms that start from my left ribs and goes under the breast or moves lower to my abdomen. I had it twice today while doing a little yard work. It seems like if I moved a certain way it would 'catch' and the spasms would start. What I did learn by accident one day is when the pain came I coughed real hard and it WENT AWAY. So I was wondering if it could be a lung issue or if its a nerve thing and when I cough and the lungs push against the 'nerve' and it interrupts the spasm (just guessing here).  The only thing I know is now when the pain comes I cough real hard and it stops. Sometimes I have to cough 3-4 times in a row to get it to stop but it always does.  If I let the pain just progress is makes me want to pass out it hurts so bad, and I'm not a wimp.

I have been on nexium but it has done nothing to keep the pains from coming so it has me thinking it's not gerd. I have started taking fish oil, B 6, calcium and magnesium as supplements so we'll see if anything helps.  I checked the IBS symptoms and while the cramping sounds very familiar, I really don't have any other symptoms related to it.  The only thing this pain reminds me of is a charley horse of the leg/calf....you know how it makes you jump out of bed with pain.  It comes on that quickly and severly.  But now that I've found my coughing stops it, I'll be doing that until I find a cause that I can correct.

zcat

Hey All,

New to this forum thing. But man am i glad i found it. Without sounding heartless i am stoked to found people that are experiencing the same problem as me. Honestly feels like i am the only person with it sometimes, but yay for you guys(on that note i fully understand the pain to)!

I had a child nearly 3 years ago and been a single parent i guess stress got the better of me, and then started the unbelievable pain in stomach, with goes along with nausea, the feeling as if somebody is hugging me way to tight and won't let go, also the feeling of pain underneath the breast bone (left side always) then the spasms around my upper rib cage and underneath the breast feels like it takes my breath away, to use what someone else said i burp like a trucker. I have been so many doctors of course stressing thinking it must be something to do with the heart, which i have had all the tests which are clear. I have been diagnosed with reflux and IBS but wasn't sure what the spasms were.I am a fitness freak, and would say except for the odd takeaway night pretty healthy eater. What do you guys recommend to help with the spasms they drive me up the wall...Many a restless night this problem has caused me.. Thank god for this site to know i am not alone..

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I can't believe there are so many people with the same problem I have.  I have the spasms in my stomach every day now and I have had GERDS, Fibromyalgia and IBS for 3 years.  The spasms have gotten so bad that I also get them in my esophogus and throat so I have trouble swallowing.  For the past month I have also started getting them around my eyes and top of my head.  I have had all the the GI tests and they say everything is normal, no H-pylori, no ulcers, no strictures so I have no idea what is causing them.  I have tried all the meds like nexium, prevacid, etc.  they only make my IBS worse and really doesn't help the GERDS.  All the GI specialists want me to go on anti-dressants for my IBS but I refuse after trying it 3 years ago and it didn't do much. 

Does anyone have any of the other symptoms I have- metallic taste in my mouth all the time, white coating on my tongue, normal Bowel movements in the morning and then constipation pains and constipation the rest of the day, no appetite, cold nodule in my thyroid but levels are normal, lots of back pain-neck, mid back and lower back. 

I was wondering if anyone has been to a naturopath or tested for parasites or lyme disease ?  I wondered if candida could be a factor as well.  My chiropractor suggested these things as possibilities for the spasms. 

I am hopeful we will all find relief somehow.

God Bless and Never Give Up!

 

 

 Good Morning  bushwoman,  I made you a thread of your own.  Check click on the link:

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=45&m=1537107&p=1

Thanks,
Kitt

Post Edited By Moderator (stkitt) : 7/18/2009 10:13:15 AM (GMT-6)

Welcome emeraldmoon. Feel free to read all the latest post.

Joy

My symptoms are so much like the others.  Muscle spasms in my sides (under ribs) and in stomach, sometimes in back area.  When I mentioned to my Dr. (had one while in her office), she looked at me as tho I had just got off a turnip truck!  It feels like big knots that are moving under my ribs.  It is worse when I don't get enough rest.  I wake up sometimes and have to COUGH, COUGH, COUGH (as another poster mentioned) to get relief.  Sometimes stretching (or grabbing the roof of the car) helps.  It does not last very long, but it takes my breath away.  Having them in public (church or shopping) just bends me over and I have to hold my breath. 

I read somewhere that cholesterol medications can cause these symptoms (rare).  I remember mine seemed to begin when I started taking medication for my cholesterol.  I mentioned to Dr. and she poo-pooed me (so did my RN daughter).   She did a muscle test and found I did have muscle deterioration (surprise, surprise).  She tried me on four different meds for high cholesterol (lowered dosage too).  Still having same symptoms (sporadically) on just 10 mg of Zocor.  I also take four fish oil caplets per day. 

I've tried alka seltzers.  They seem to help a little.  I've been living with this for about 3-4 years.  I thank God they don't last very long.  I mentioned to my Dr. that the heart is a muscle (isn't it?) and if I ever got one of these in my heart, I'd be dead in a second! She assured me that wasn't possible!  They are just like charley horses, only they happen in my midriff and sides.  Go figure! 

This website has been a welcome relief!  It's so good to hear from others who are experiencing (unfortunately) some of these same symptoms!  At least I know I'm not imagining this. 

I planned to go to church this a.m, but had these charley horses in my ribs.  Thanks for all the help I find here. 

Joy,

I am not exactly sure how to start a new thread?  I found this one when searching (googling) for muscle spasms.  I am so glad I did! 

Hi all. I am amazed - and pleased - to have finally found this site, with so many stories that sound exactly like mine.

My pain tends to begin first thing in the morning with a feeling as if my stomach is empty or a tingling sensation. As soon as I feel this, I know what's coming. For the rest of the day the pain will build and build. Late at night the pain will usually reach the point where I can't sit still (I would rate it as a 7+), with my upper abdomen completely rigid for minutes at a time with just a few seconds of relief between each "contraction". The pain occasionally spreads across my back too. The pain continues to get worse and worse, eventually hitting a 10 (if it's not a 10, I would hate to feel pain that is 10!) with almost continuous muscle spasm and swelling of my upper abdomen - it looks like I have a balloon in there. It will stay this way for up to 6 hours, but by then I have eventually gone to A&E (I live in the UK) and been dosed up with IV morphine and IV buscopan. I cannot find the words to describe how severe this pain is. Morphine only just touches it and I have even begged the A&E nurses for an anaesthetic to knock me out so I can no longer feel it.

The pain used to come every couple of months since I was around 17 years old. I'm now 32 and am having an attack at least once per week, with after-effects of transient pain for several days. Needless to say I have visited numerous doctors, had multiple tests (ultrasound, CT, barium meal, gastroscopy, oesophageal function and pH, blood tests, bone mineral scans, etc.) with no abnormalities found, and have tried many different med's. I currently take baclofen (an inhibitor of skeletal muscle contraction), tramadol, and diazepam. A very high dose of diazepam with tramadol really helps to keep the pain at a just bearable level and I haven't needed to visit A&E for quite a while. But I am taking more and more medication to control the pain and I still haven't had a diagnosis - my gastroenterologist currently thinks it's severe muscle spasms of unknown origin.

I've never been able to find a trigger for the attacks. I have tried keeping food and daily diaries, but could find nothing specific that causes the pain. The only thing I have found that sets it off is tiredness and stress - I started my own company last year and since then the attacks have become much more frequent. I had to go to a conference in Barcelona last week and got up at 3am to get my flight. As such, I was tired and stressed about being at this important meeting on my own, and the pain was with me for the whole time I was away. Luckily, I could manage it with a few tramadol during the day as it built, but I had to miss dinner in the evening when it got really bad and I had to take all my med's.

The huge problem for me is that it is obvious that the doc's are getting frustrated and bored with seeing me. It feels as if they don't believe what I am telling them is true and that I am wasting their time or am just after pain-killers. The last time I vistied my GP to increase my dose of pain med's he recognised me and said "Oh...what is it THIS time?". They will never be able to understand how it feels to have this almost constant pain, to lose a couple of night's sleep every week due to pain, and spend the next day feeling with too drugged-up or sick to work (bearing in mind I own my own business, I work hard and long hours, and have a family to support). It also significnatly affects my quality of life - if I have pain I can't eat so miss out on a meal with my wife, I rarely feel like going out with friends, I've given up alcohol in case it's a trigger (we used to enjoy a glass or two of wine together), and whenever we go anywhere I need to make sure I have enough med's just in case of an attack. I suppose that the stress of worrying about attacks could, in fact, set them off.

Put simply, I've had enough of living like this. And I've got no idea what I can do about it.

I would really appreciate any suggestions that anyone can share!

Thanks for listening and it's nice to meet you all.

seek2find - thanks for your reply. Are you a sufferer of similar symptoms?

Re. diagnostic procedures, I've had abdominal/chest X-rays, bloods, and ECG during attacks - all negative. I've also had abdominal ultrasound, barium meal and follow-through, upper GI gastroscopy, oesophageal function tests, and stomach pH tests when not in acute pain - all negative, except for the endoscopy which, apart from setting off an attack later, showed minor pathological features of Coeliac's. These were not considered serious enough to cause any issues. Last February I had one abdominal CT using iodine contrast and no abnormalities were found, except for a tortuous sigmoid colon.

Would love to hear your ideas! I have a bit of a medical background in that I have a degree in biomedical sciences, a PhD in molecular biology and oncology, and have worked for the past 10 years as a medical writer, so I'm not exactly a layman. I am sure that a second opinion from an immunologist or neurologist would be useful, but my GP disagrees and won't refer me. I also have a feeling that a dose of corticosteroids might help. Again, the doc won't prescribe as I have no proven illness that requires them.

On Kitt's suggestion I have started a new thread named 'Severe upper abdominal cramping and pain'.

Hopefully hear from you soon.