Chest pain has always been one of my scariest symtoms. It has settled down a lot in the last two months, but today I had a really bad one and I'm still having smaller ones now.
It scared me so much that I wanted to run right to the Dr. to be checked out but I held back. I've had a halter monitor, EKG's,a stress test, and finally a heart cath.
Everything came back OK for which I feel so blessed, but as much as I tell myself it's OK, it's just the Lyme, I'm really scared.
Has anyone else had these sharp, stabbing, radiating pains that went away for awhile and then came back?
Posted by henson2 (Member # 463) on :
Yes.
My LLMD explained that the Lyme bacteria hang out in the nerve roots in the spine, and inflame the nerve(s) that wrap around the rib cage. The nerve-endings, which get particularly inflamed, lie on either side of the sternum.
When it's on the left side, it makes one think it's a heart attack, because it radiates, it's sharp, and can be extremely painful. It can come in episodes.
Do of course continue to be checked out for any cardiac involvement, but it sounds like you've done that.
A personal note of caution: be careful of getting nerve block injections to help that pain. A major Pain Center did nerve blocks to aid in relieving the pain, but instead it worsened the pain severely. Talk to your LLMD before any treatment like that.
I haven't kept up on the Boards recently. Have you been checked out for co-infections, and do you have an LLMD?
Warmest wishes for feeling better very soon!
Posted by OptiMisTick (Member # 399) on :
[ 25. February 2008, 03:45 AM: Message edited by: OptiMisTick ]
Posted by motownlyme (Member # 11485) on :
Thanks guys. The pain is still there today, not quite as bad. I really appreciate the info.Your explainations really help. For the first time the pains make a little sense.Why can't the Dr.s explain it like that. In plain simple English?
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
"Why can't the Dr.s explain it like that. In plain simple English"
because some are just after our money unfortunately!
then there are those who truly CARE and go the extra mile for us. Posted by henson2 (Member # 463) on :
The only Drs who understood this chest pain -- and to whom it was familiar -- were LLMDs. (Drs knowledgeable about Lyme and Tick Borne Diseases).
After an LLMD took it seriously, then my PCP did.
It is a common symptom among Lyme patients. I nearly fell of my chair when the first LLMD started telling me what I was feeling even before I could finish saying it. He KNEW! He had seen it before!! Not one of the other specialists I had been to for the previous 5 years knew anything about it.
The other Drs and specialists (non LLMDs) can't explain it because, sadly, they don't know anything about it.
Hope you're feeling better very sooon!
Posted by henson2 (Member # 463) on :
A word about costo-chondritis.
I befriended a physician socially who worked on costo-chondritis, and told me that it is generally self limiting.
I've thus been under the impression that the pain caused by the Lyme is not costo-chondritis.
But I am not a Dr., so I cannot dispute that one way or another.
I have found that anti-inflammatories do nothing for this pain. And my understanding is that were it costo-chondritis, NSAIDs would help. (Again, not a Dr.!)
When the nerve is inflamed in the rib cage (as Lyme can do), then surrounding soft tissue and cartilage is affected also. It can hurt to press on ribs and breastbone.
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