I have had this chest symptom that I want to describe to find out what it is, and see if anyone else had it.
Yesterday I came home from work and took a 3 hour nap. When I awoke from my nap, I had a sharp, stabbing, piercing pain in the left side of my chest for about a half hour; and then it went away. This has happened continually throughout the course of my illness; probably 5 or 6 times. It's always after taking a nap or going to sleep upon waking, and then it subsides shortly after I wake up. What the heck is this?
*Note: my condition is definitely improving, but little things like this let me know that the LD is still in me.
Posted by painted turtle (Member # 7801) on :
Hi Clint,
I have this. It changes in intensity and has changed over time.
There have been times I couldn't move at all til it passed, and during these times I couldn't breathe in either (without crazy pain).
I think it is a combination of chostochondritis mixed with the nerve issues.
Posted by Clint31 (Member # 16420) on :
So it isn't lyme? It has to be...
Posted by NanaDubo (Member # 14794) on :
I would love to hear more about this. Mine is on the right side or more the sternum area.
It sent me to the ER a few days ago as I couldn't breath! They checked me for a heart attack, chest x-ray, CT scan and test to make sure there wasn't a blood clot in my lungs. Everything was fine?
The one test I begged them to do was mycoplasma pneumonia which they did not do.
I feel like nerves must be involved somehow as it goes across my chest and down my arm. Posted by tickssuck (Member # 15388) on :
Hi Clint,
I think it's from the Lyme...I have this too, off and on.
I randomly get a very sharp pain, feels like it's right around my heart. It can last for a minute off and on or for maybe 30 minutes. Then goes away and shows up days to weeks later.
I think it's the bugs...I have co-infections too...don't know which one is causing it. I've had an echo and stress, both normal. My EKG is packed with PVC's/PAC's (I believe Lyme related - my heart is #*#*ssed off I think).
They have suggested I also have a cardiac MRI...haven't decided yet. This is to just rule out some obscure, unlikely condition...but they want to err on the safe side....Lyme, Lyme, Lyme...that's what I think. TS
Posted by Clint31 (Member # 16420) on :
I'd say the pain I'm having is probably not the heart. It's too sharp of a pain and its been too frequent that if it was the heart I'd already be dead.
This is more like a muscle in the chest... I don't know if I'm irritating it from laying on it or what... but its not the heart even if it feels like it is and is in the area of the heart. I've had multiple EKG's and blood clot tests, blood pressure checks, everything normal
Posted by nyjohn (Member # 15361) on :
it is supposedly from lyme and/or babesia... they like the connective tissues around the ribcage and also tend to irritate the vagus nerve, which regulates autonomic nervous system, incl heart rate.
Posted by Clint31 (Member # 16420) on :
quote:Originally posted by nyjohn: it is supposedly from lyme and/or babesia... they like the connective tissues around the ribcage and also tend to irritate the vagus nerve, which regulates autonomic nervous system, incl heart rate.
does this make it life threatening to a 25 year old or no way
Posted by painted turtle (Member # 7801) on :
Hey Clint....YES it is from the lyme!
(forgot to mention that)
It's not life threatening as far as I know, although it sometimes feels like it is.
Posted by painted turtle (Member # 7801) on :
ps. I was 28 when this chest pain aspect of the lyme started and they called it chostochondritis at the time, that was 14 years ago, but I did not get diagnosed until 2005 after the encephalopathy went raging on and on for a few years.
Posted by Clint31 (Member # 16420) on :
I definitely know what Costochondritis is. I self diagnosed myself as having it BEFORE I knew that I had lymes. I told myself thats why my chest and ribs HURT so bad like a heart attack and sore to the touch. Well thats gone away amazingly with treatment and now the only chest symptoms I have are the ones described above.
Posted by tickbites (Member # 15647) on :
Clint, I get the same thing. It feels like I am being stabbed. I was told by my LLMD
that it is the lyme and co-infections in the heart and that it makes the one
valve in the heart not shut completely, and then you have pain. I got a echo
on my heart and it showed the one valve not doing exactly what the other two valves were doing, and not shutting a 100%.
Posted by Clint31 (Member # 16420) on :
quote:Originally posted by tickbites: Clint, I get the same thing. It feels like I am being stabbed. I was told by my LLMD
that it is the lyme and co-infections in the heart and that it makes the one
valve in the heart not shut completely, and then you have pain. I got a echo
on my heart and it showed the one valve not doing exactly what the other two valves were doing, and not shutting a 100%.
ew, this sounds very worrisome. I sincerely hope that isn't what is happening to me.
I don't understand the correlation with sleeping and having the chest pain though if it is the heart...
overall my chest pain and irregular beats have gone away with treatment. Its back to near normal. Can't lyme (rather than co-infection) make the heart do weird stuff, just lyme disease by itself? sometimes I feel the board overall is too co-infection happy. Not everyone has co-infection.
Posted by Clint31 (Member # 16420) on :
oh great now i can go back to being worried constantly about my heart being messed up at age 25
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
Could be mitral valve prolapse. Is that what some of you are describing?
I know mitral valve prolapse can be associated with dysautonomia, Clint. There is a whole cluster of symptoms surrounding dysautonomia and/or mitral valve prolapse,, including chest pain, anxiety, dizziness, etc.
It is my personal belief that while MVP can be serious, but it is usually not. I was diagnosed with it after becoming ill with Lyme, but doctors didn't seem to be concerned about it, hinting it was common.
While chest symptoms can be scary and annoying and interfere with our lives, I really don't think it is anything to be too concerned about.
I know Lyme can cause dysautonomia, which is related to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). POTS is related to MVP, which could be causing your heart symptoms.
I know I threw around a lot of different problems and medical terms here, but if you search some of this on Wikipedia, I think you will see what I'm talking about.
I'm not saying you fit the criteria for any of these disorders, but just that maybe your Lyme (if you notice they say these syndromes can be aggrevated by infections) has brought about some sort of issue that is manifesting itself in your chest.
I think as your body gets stronger, any dysautonomia/POTS issues will fade, if you have them, and then maybe the MVP (mitral valve prolapse) would get better.
That is all speculation. It may not be MVP at all.....
I think you basically hit the nail on the head when you said that this pain makes you realize you still have Lyme; what it boils down to is that no matter WHAT is going on in your chest, if you treat the Lyme it will go away.
Don't worry about having a heart attack though. If you want my honest opinion, these are just scary inconvienences that might hint at a bigger problem (Lyme).
Sorry for so much jabbering, but maybe some of this made sense. I really believe these symptoms will go away with more treatment. I used to have chest symptoms, and they went away.
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