Hello all,

Before Christmas I came down with a virus that at first gave me symptoms of cramping around the ribs and shoulders, then a terrible pain in my lower left abdomin which settled down to an ache. After a couple of days I had moberate chest pain that ran from the centre of my chest up to my left shoulder and down my left arm, I also had a feeling that something was stuck in my throat and a sore throat at times, pins and needles in hands and feet, also had nausea and aching joints (shoulders and hips) and IBS symptoms. I went to ER and had all the heart tests done and blood tests which all came back normal so they thought I was having gerd and put me on PPI's.

I was having trouble sleeping, I would get off to sleep ok but wake up at 3am-4am and could not get back off.

I have recently had an endoscopy done which came back normal, i still have aching joints and sharp pin and needle type pains in my fingers and arms but the chest pain has eased off a little.

I have thought all the way through that it was gerd/ibs but maybe now after the endoscopy I am staring to think it maybe something else and was wondering if this may be Fibromyalgia.

Does anyone else have these sort of symptoms.

Thanks

hi, i have fibro, i get shooting pains xx

Hello damians,

Welcome to a wonderful group of people who will take time to be there for you and support you in any way they can.

I was curious as to the symptoms you had when you had your viral infection. The things you mention sure sound pleurisy-like to me. It's an old friend of mine, and I know the pain it can cause. Just an idea for you to look into.

I obviously can't give you a diagnosis of any type, but some of the things you speak of yes "could" be fibro related or could be the lingering symptoms of your viral infection. It could also be some type of arthritis. The only person who will be able to help you in this is a doctor, preferably a rheumatologist.

If you have had gastro tests and so on and they have discounted this as being the cause, then a doctor would be able to tell you if in fact you are having the intense muscle problems that can occur with fibro that would cause such tenderness.

Take care and hope to hear from you again soon.

goldenwings :angel:

hello fellow fibros, hi damiens. you will not know for certain damiens until you see a rheumatologist. see your doctor and ask them if they will refer you to a consultant rheumatologist, meanwhile, as you wait, ask your gp to take some blood samples, ask for anti dna and autoimmune blood profiles. there is often a cross over of symptoms with fibro and other diseases. i call fibro a disease not a syndrome, you can have fibro and other problems which arent picked up on because fibros become used to all the pain and symptoms, and dont bother their docs with new or old symptoms which may be other related. fibro is different for everyone as ms is different for everyone, and we are all at differing stages of it. good luck friend. :)

I'm new here too, but just wanted to say that I have all the same symptoms as you & I also have fibro. I think that some of the said symptoms for me are directly related to GERD (reflux,) & others to the fibro.

Hi damians,
It's really difficult to diagnois from multiple symptoms. I have fibro and just had my thyroid removed. SO many of the thyroid people have CFS &/or Fibro! You must insist on getting these tests to rule out or confirm any thyroid problems:

Free T4
Free T3
Thyroid antibodies tests for Graves and Hashimotos (autoimmune diseases)
TSH
DO NOT let them just tdo he TSH. When you get those tests results, post them on the thyroid board. They have to give you a copy of the results if you ask for it (some require a small fee). You MUST post the results with the RANGES or they can't help you. If the docs just say they are normal, get the results anyway and post them.

Hope you get to feeling better and solve this mystery!

Thanks everyone for replying you have been a great help.

I spoke to my doctor yesterday again, and he did say I can have symptoms of gerd even though there is no damage, it's called non-erosive GERD. He has told me to keep taking my PPI's for another month and if there is no improvement then he will carry out more tests.

So this is the way I will go for now and hope things improve.

Thanks for all your comments it has been very helpful and I hope you all see improvements soon.

Damian

I am a healthy female 42, and had sharp pain/cramp in rt. shoulder that took my breath away, then pain under the sternum, then had hot flash (never had them before)then cold sweats. Whole thing lasted for 2 minutes or so, then was gone except for the residual soreness in the rt shoulder and under sternum from the cramping. Had similar but less severe episode 5 days before with cramp that came up under my sternum. After the second episode, I went to ER thinking I was having mild heart attacks, even though I am not 'typical' (low blood pressure, non-smoker, type - B personality, etc.) for a heart attack candidate. They did all the tests, bloodwork for cardio, EKG, BP, xray, and even Catscan. No clots, no heart attack, no nothing. Thank God. But what is it? They sent me home and chalked it up to 'stress'. Then this morning my daughter (10) had the same cramping in the same spot on her right shoulder. I started thinking back on the other strange type of 'coincidental' symptoms we have had at around the same times...strange cramps between the ribs that took our breath away, sometime before christmas 2006. Then the knot in the lower neck by shoulder prior to that, summer/fall 2006. The symptoms seem to be getting worse with each episode as it is now possibly affecting the heart muscle considering the sternum pains that symptoms that mirror a heart attack. The school nurse said there have been no other reports, as did the pediatrician. Can a virus be circulating in the bloodstream and have a specific attack pattern in these muscles(neck, ribs, then shoulder) for this long (>6mos)? And mirrored in both mother and 10 year old child? My next test will probably be Lyme's disease, just in case. I am still thinking that it was viral, and still may be running its course. Can anyone tell me if/when it stops?