Back and shoulder pain

[Inanna]

Hi all,

I am feeling freaked out about my upper back. I have had a sore shoulder/upper arm for a month or two. I put it down to frozen shoulder as liftin my arm makes me wince. However, on Friday night I woke up in the middle of the night in agony. My upper back was giving me so much pain, I could not move (between shoulder blades). I lay there for a long time, eventually I did get back to sleep. The next day, the excruciating pain had gone, but just a bit sore and achy, which has subsided over the next couple of days.

I cant understand why I was just lying in bed, and this horrific pain came over me.

It doesn't help that I read about a lady who could not get a GP appointment about her sore neck, shoulder and back for ages, and when she did they refused her an MRI, telling her that it was likely RSI. She eventually went private, to discover that she had cancer in those three places, and has been given 2-3 months to live. :-(


I dont know whether I should be seeking help, or hiding away

Inanna xx

[Kuraimoar]

There is no harm in getting checked out for your own peace of mind. But I have had back/shoulder pain for years. I have an old injury that didn't heal right that causes the shoulder pain and the rest I put down to anxiety related tension. Do you find that you carry a lot of tension in these areas?

[Inanna]

Hi kuraimoar

sorry not to have replied earlier, I’ve not been in a very good place.

in answer to your question, yes, I do carry an awful amount of tension in my shoulders. I constantly have to tell myself to relax my shoulders, I hunch them up all of the time.

The pain has not gone away, and now my mind has been telling me I have heart disease, which has given rise to all of the symptoms.

The trigger was when I rang to get a referral to a phsyio and explained my symptoms, they immediately started asking about breathlesssness, chest pain or any heat conditions! And so I started freaking about. Added to that, I have just come back from a walking weekend, where I was doing some coastal walking. This involved quite a few steep climms, and on one of them I kept getting a twinge between my breast and my armpit. I was very breathless too, but the ascents were steep as I say.

I keep trying to talk myself down. Just under two years ago I had an ecg, and echo and a running ecg, which all came back fine apart from a benign right bundle branch block. But could heart disease progress in two years to put me at serious risk? I am in my fifties, but I do excercise, don’t smoke, rarely drink, and go to the gym. I am about 7lbs overweight though, and I have anxiety..

maybe I should pay for a new set of tests? It’s not cheap, but it’s so hard to live like this ����

Inanna xx

[LF87]

I'm having the exact same worry at the moment. I've had had worst pain in my left shoulder blade and back of ribs for over a week. Its only made worse by certain postural positions which sounds the same as yours? I've also gone to possible cancer/spread of cancer, but i don't think it would be aggrevated by specific movements if it was sinister like that, I think it would be a constant ache or pain that doesn't go away. That's how I'm rationalising. I also have a huge amount of tension in my neck and shoulders. Don't know if it's an exasperation of that tension or whether I've pulled something and not noticed at the time? X

[pulisa]

Hi kuraimoar

sorry not to have replied earlier, I’ve not been in a very good place.

in answer to your question, yes, I do carry an awful amount of tension in my shoulders. I constantly have to tell myself to relax my shoulders, I hunch them up all of the time.

The pain has not gone away, and now my mind has been telling me I have heart disease, which has given rise to all of the symptoms.

The trigger was when I rang to get a referral to a phsyio and explained my symptoms, they immediately started asking about breathlesssness, chest pain or any heat conditions! And so I started freaking about. Added to that, I have just come back from a walking weekend, where I was doing some coastal walking. This involved quite a few steep climms, and on one of them I kept getting a twinge between my breast and my armpit. I was very breathless too, but the ascents were steep as I say.

I keep trying to talk myself down. Just under two years ago I had an ecg, and echo and a running ecg, which all came back fine apart from a benign right bundle branch block. But could heart disease progress in two years to put me at serious risk? I am in my fifties, but I do excercise, don’t smoke, rarely drink, and go to the gym. I am about 7lbs overweight though, and I have anxiety..

maybe I should pay for a new set of tests? It’s not cheap, but it’s so hard to live like this ����

Inanna xx

The physio's questions are part of a routine health screen prior to starting any treatment. Did she suggest going to A&E or to your GP before asking for physio? My guess is no. So did you make a physio appointment?

Have you been told that you have "heart disease" by a cardiologist?

Maybe you need to think about whether there is a actual clinical need for further heart tests and only a medical professional could tell you this, not your HA.

[unsure_about_this]

I been to my gp about my shoulder hurting, he told me it was either apull muscle or inflammation, my mind as I have bad health anxiety thinks this is cancer (bone cancer, non hodgkins, leukemia, lymphoma etc as i get arm pain as well, i did see someone in the chemist and he said it was a trap nerve.

I have done the crime of reading articles about this on line that people who had shoulder pain, neck pain etc

arthritis does run in my family

[Inanna]

Hi

thanks for the replies.

yes, I did make an appointment for the physio and had m first session on Friday. The physio told me that she thinks the problem is on my neck. She said my posture was not goo, and I stick my chin forward, and cause strain on my neck. I cannot turn my head to the left very far without it hurting. She also said the the nerves are those which run down the arm. I have been given some excercises to see if they help, and I have another session next week.


I started to feel more positive about things until today. I was driving along the motorway and I suddenly got a horrendous pain in the middle of my chest. It came and went three times in the space of about a minute. . It was so bad it made me go “ohhhh”, even though my mum was in the car. I thought I was going to have to pull onto the hard shoulder. Anyway, made it home, and only slight feeling of pressure in chest. BUT, I also have a dull ache in my left jaw.


im so scared, I don’t know what to do. Now I am convinced I habpve something wrong with my heart, and I am about to drop down dead.

I feel so afraid, but also low that I am living like this. I feel isolated and alone. Part of me thinks I should just end things now, as this is no life, and I could be on my way out anyway..


I just feel hopeless

sorry to be so weak

Inanna xx

[Inanna]

And this week was the anniversary of my sisters death, so already feeling low xx