• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Intense stabbing pain in chest and back

virtual

Traveller
Messages
26
Location
Germany
I often experience a very intense stabbing pain in my chest and back. At the same time, it is difficult to breathe and it is like there is a corset pulled closer and closer. This is that intense that it brings me down to the floor and I am not able to move further. It is also breathtaking. There are no problems with my heart and also there is no evidence for a beginning MS. I searched around and found the description of the so-called "MS hug", which describes the type of pain very clear:

https://www.mstrust.org.uk/a-z/ms-hug

As I know, that I have an imbalanced nervous system, where is the sympathetic part strong over-pronounced - and I guess this may be involved in this pain. The following document of the ME Association in the UK describes very well what happens there in case of pain:

https://www.meassociation.org.uk/wp...eview-Dysfunctional-ANS-in-MECFS-24.01.18.pdf



My question is, if there are some of you also experience this pain and what are you coping with that?
 

Wolfcub

Senior Member
Messages
7,089
Location
SW UK
I am so sorry you have this pain @virtual . It sounds just awful when it happens, and all I can say is I really hope it goes away for you. I have no real useful suggestions and hope someone else might....

But something similar has happened to me. About 2 months ago I had the most awful pain in my chest and upper back. It didn't just come on suddenly, it lingered all afternoon, then worsened in the evening, then suddenly went away! And I slept well afterwards, and it hasn't recurred. It was not any kind of muscle strain as far as I could guess.

I was almost at the point of trying to drive myself to the A&E. I wondered if it was a heart attack, then (probably wrongly) imagined the A&E people would say it was an "anxiety attack" and send me home, and I'd have to drive back 25 miles in the night .
It wasn't an anxiety attack, but what the heck it was I suppose I will never know.

I wasn't scared of it. It didn't even cause any "scared" or restless feelings. I just rested, lay on the floor. Made my peace with God (lol)
 

Rlman

Senior Member
Messages
389
Location
Toronto, Canada
aortic dissections can cause intense chest pains i think i read, but not sure if a person could wait days afterwards without further deterioration
 

Heartl

Senior Member
Messages
160
I often experience a very intense stabbing pain in my chest and back. At the same time, it is difficult to breathe and it is like there is a corset pulled closer and closer. This is that intense that it brings me down to the floor and I am not able to move further. It is also breathtaking. There are no problems with my heart and also there is no evidence for a beginning MS. I searched around and found the description of the so-called "MS hug", which describes the type of pain very clear:

https://www.mstrust.org.uk/a-z/ms-hug

As I know, that I have an imbalanced nervous system, where is the sympathetic part strong over-pronounced - and I guess this may be involved in this pain. The following document of the ME Association in the UK describes very well what happens there in case of pain:

https://www.meassociation.org.uk/wp...eview-Dysfunctional-ANS-in-MECFS-24.01.18.pdf



My question is, if there are some of you also experience this pain and what are you coping with that?

I have experienced this exact same thing. It has happened at least a dozen times where it takes my breath away and is very scary. I have had 2 cat scans, one mri, and ultrasound of my heart and everything came back clear. I have Epstein Barr and I suspect other herpes viruses that have really taken its toll on my nervous system. I have spent thousands on testing and have given up on trying to figure out.
 

Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,429
Location
UK
@virtual, I don't know if this is relevant, but waaaay back in the '80s there was a lot of discussion about ME and Syndrome X, which was the label given to the rather intense unexplained chest pain people with ME can experience. Now it is known to be microvascular angina. It doesn't show up on scans as it involves just the tiniest of the blood vessels. Could this be related to the rigidity of our red blood cells, or the damage to their endothelium lining as published by Spence et al? Who knows, but it may be the cause of your pain.
 

virtual

Traveller
Messages
26
Location
Germany
@virtual, I don't know if this is relevant, but waaaay back in the '80s there was a lot of discussion about ME and Syndrome X, which was the label given to the rather intense unexplained chest pain people with ME can experience. Now it is known to be microvascular angina. It doesn't show up on scans as it involves just the tiniest of the blood vessels. Could this be related to the rigidity of our red blood cells or the damage to their endothelium lining as published by Spence et al? Who knows, but it may be the cause of your pain.

This gave me an interesting read at Wikipedia. Thank you, Countrygirl. Yes, an Internist diagnosed me with Polymyalgia Rheumatica, which is a vascular disease as well. Putting the parts together this leads again to the latest research of Dr. Davis "Erythrocyte Deformability As a Potential Biomarker for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" - Blood 2018 132:4874; doi: https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2018-99-117260. I am itching to grab a microscope and view this on my own.