Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
so i'm going to the new rheumy on tuesday but over the last couple of days i've had an interesting and very painful complication. i don't know if it could be RD related and was looking for insight.
over the past few months, once in a while i get a funny, slightly painful spasm-like thing on my right side, like towards my back, around my ribcage. it usually lasts only a second or two and passes, but would sometimes be painful enough to take my breath away. i never really thought anything about it, figuring it was like a diaphragm spasm and just something new. i want to stress that it feels like it happens between my bones and my skin.
this feeling has now taken over almost my entire middle and upper back. and it is nearly constant. i think i felt it a little on friday night but wasn't too bothered by it. when i woke up yesterday morning, it was horrible. it was pretty bad most of the day until i ate and got some advil in me, so i'm not sure if it eased up after three-ish hours or if the advil helped. it was very sporadic throughout the day and did not really interfere with my day.
overnight i was woken from a sleep three times with this spasm/pain. i was trying to describe it to my husband and it kind of feels like if a mat was laid between my bones and my skin across my entire middle back, from like my waist to my armpits, that is occasionally electrified and becomes very painful. as i'm sitting here writing, i feel a general achy pain across the entire area with sharp, sudden pains across either the whole area or specific areas, but not always the same specific spots. i do not believe it has anything to do with my actual diaphragm or lungs because i can take deep breaths, it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't seem to trigger or affect the back pain.
does anyone have any idea what the hell is going on?
over the past few months, once in a while i get a funny, slightly painful spasm-like thing on my right side, like towards my back, around my ribcage. it usually lasts only a second or two and passes, but would sometimes be painful enough to take my breath away. i never really thought anything about it, figuring it was like a diaphragm spasm and just something new. i want to stress that it feels like it happens between my bones and my skin.
this feeling has now taken over almost my entire middle and upper back. and it is nearly constant. i think i felt it a little on friday night but wasn't too bothered by it. when i woke up yesterday morning, it was horrible. it was pretty bad most of the day until i ate and got some advil in me, so i'm not sure if it eased up after three-ish hours or if the advil helped. it was very sporadic throughout the day and did not really interfere with my day.
overnight i was woken from a sleep three times with this spasm/pain. i was trying to describe it to my husband and it kind of feels like if a mat was laid between my bones and my skin across my entire middle back, from like my waist to my armpits, that is occasionally electrified and becomes very painful. as i'm sitting here writing, i feel a general achy pain across the entire area with sharp, sudden pains across either the whole area or specific areas, but not always the same specific spots. i do not believe it has anything to do with my actual diaphragm or lungs because i can take deep breaths, it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't seem to trigger or affect the back pain.
does anyone have any idea what the hell is going on?
Hope you feel better today while you are waiting.
I was hospitalized once for costochondritis on this RA journey about 7 years ago.
try some google reads on it. it was wicked painful and nsaids helped a little as did warm heat and rest.
I did not do anything to bring it on - but sometimes folks do. are you practicing any lifting in the gym lately?
"Pain or tenderness to palpation usually occurs on the sides of the sternum, affects multiple ribs, and is often worsened with coughing, deep breathing, or physical activity" wiki
Depot
At every single level of the spine, a pair of nerves splits off the cord and goes out to the body and the areas of the affected skin are totally predictable. Google a Dermatome Map and that will show you what areas go with which vertebrae. Ra can cause arthritis in the facet joints at the back of the vertebrae and bone spurs from that arthritis can be the cause of the irritation.
Depotblue mentioned costochondritis but that tends ot affect the cartilages between the ribs and sternum in the front of the chest but it can spread and I since I have it all the way around, I don't find it causes that "electrical" pain but more of a deep ache.
Pleurisy can be another problem but again, not electrical but deep aching pain that stops a deep breath.
So see your doc and ask about it being a spine problem. One thing to try is try stretching your arms out the sides and see if it makes the affected side much worse...kind of a test. But don't assume it's Ra but it could be connected.
hugs...........Jen
jen, how would a doctor look for those bone spurs - just X-ray?