burning on back between shoulder blades.

I HAVE A DULL ACHE THAT IS BETWEEN MY BACK SHOULDER BLADES AND A PICKY FEELING THAT FEELS LIKE IT IS IN MY HEART. I HAD FAILED TWO STRESS TESTS TWO YEARS AGO AND THEY DID A HEART CATH AND FOUND NO BLOCKAGE. KINDA JUST DROPPED IT THERE. I HAVE JUST RECENTLY STARTED TAKING ZANTAC TO SEE IF IT IS MAYBE GAS RELATED. I HAVE NEVER HAD HEART BURN, BUT THIS IS NOT AN ACTUAL BURNING FEELING I AM HAVING. PLEASE HELP IF ANYONE HAS HAD THESE SYMPTOMS. I AM A 42 YEAR FEMALE.

I have been experiencing the same symptoms for the better part of this year; have had numerous procedures and diagnosis, but the pain in my upper back, left chest and neck just keep getting worse. Can anybody supply any updates from any previous posts?

I wish I had some answers, but all I have are more questions....I have been experiencing the same symptoms for the better part of this year; have had numerous procedures and diagnosis, but the pain in my upper back, left chest and neck just keeps getting worse. Can anybody supply any updates from any previous posts?

Could all you people experiencing sharp pain between shoulder blades, be suffering from low blood sugar? I have the same pain off and on and today I didn't have it at all until I ate a whole bunch of M & Ms and here it came, also the breathless, can't get enough air in my lungs feeling. I know this feeling as low blood sugar which I have suffered with for years, I now believe that the sharp pain between my shoulder blades is a new symptom. Read an article about it and they pinpointed the exact spot as possible low blood sugar problem. Everyone try to notice if it comes on or gets worse with sugar consumption!!

I have all the symptoms that have been described by others, but have one additional one that is driving me crazy. My stomach is gurgling constantly as though I haven't eaten for several hours even if I just ate. I rarely feel a normal full feeling. The discomfort in my back makes me feel hungry all the time! I hate it. Does anyone else experience this?

I have had this type pain for 19 years. I thought I was dying. I did have clogged artery but that wasn't the cause of the pain. They put in a stent - the burning pain between shoulder blades persisted and still persists today. I have a hiatal hernia. I have noticed one thing that might help everyone - don't eat ketchup or anything with tomato sauces. It's the weirdest thing but hot sauce doesn't cause it, but ketchup does. The 2 things that help me most are Zantac and gas x. When I get the attacks I take them right away and keep taking them for several days.

Hope this helps.

my mother had GERD, and she suffered a fall (while playing softball) after Thanksgiving dinner when her stomach was too full. the fall caused her esophagus to tear, but we didn't know until, months later, she was on a ventilator because her lung capacity was greatly reduced and no one knew why. a biopsy of her lungs showed that stomach acid was burning her lung tissue. she had surgery to repair her esophagus, but she now has scar tissue in her lungs, severe asthma, and COPD even though she never smoked. she is 58 and will likely be on portable oxygen soon. GERD should be taken seriously. and you might want to have your lungs x-rayed to see if the back pain could be related to leaking from your esophagus. just a thought.

I have a burning pain between my shoulder blades very often and a pain uder my ribs. I always have a "bubble" feeing in my throat that makes me burp constantly. I have had ultrasound test for gallstones, stress tests for heart and endoscopy for my esophagus. The only thing the Dr.s say is "acid reflux". I have been sick for months and lost 20 lbs. Has anyone who posted last year come up with any new ideas for a cure? Always taking anticids.

For over a week i have had a very warm centre back, seems to be there all the time, I thought it was angina as i have heart by pass in the past. sometimes it travels around to my chest and up to my neck. I was driving home in the snow yesterday evening in the dark and became anxious.The heat came round my chest and up to my throat. I thought i was having a heart attack. When i got home my neck was red. Was this stress. I aM REALLY QUITE WORRIED.
I find this site very helpful and i am hoping it could just be reflux bought on by stress. I haVE A BAD BACK AND BAD POSTURE, PROBABLY DUE TO BEING A SECRETARY FOR YEARS. hOPE THIS IS ALL IT IS.

I have the burning pain in the shoulder blade area, as well. I have been diagnosed with erosive GERD after an Endoscopy. I also have IBS, Rheumatoid and some other fun stuff. I've never been consciously aware of severe heartburn, although I've tasted stomach acid, but not on an every day basis.

I have experienced weight loss, nausea, hoarseness, a constant need to clear my throat, pressure behind my breastbone, etc. off and on for a few years, but chalked it up to other conditions/meds. The back pain is more recent and seems to be somewhat driven by stress in conjunction with the GERD. The pain is on the left side between my shoulder blade and spine. It is dull,sometimes burning and feels internal versus skeletal/muscular as if it's potentially emanating from my lungs. I was pretty freaked out about the back pain given that I take immunosuppresants for Rheumatoid which can lead to lymphomas which are characterized by the same symptoms described above. Doctors seem to want to look for the easiest explanation, and that's probably cost-effective, but as individuals we have a little more at stake, so I think it's only prudent to rule out the worst case
first.

I feel posture has an impact on the pain, but not from a spinal/skeletal point of reference. GERD is aggravated by being bent over as it apparently opens the valve that blocks the stomach acid. I tend to feel this pain the most at work where I am at a desk and am always somewhat hunched over. The burning tends to start about 90 minutes after I get to work and persists until later in the evening when I am generally in a more prone position.

Diet is a factor, as well. Based on my own physiology, coffee affects it more severely, as the caffeine aggravates the stomach and elevates stress levels. Citrus, especially OJ, and tomato based products also impact the condition. Spicy food, fuggedaboutit!

Stress is obviously a component that is hard to separate as it feeds into everything. There are some stressors in my life that coincided with appearance of the back pain. Of course, worrying about dying from a fatal disease associated with some unknown back pain doesn't reduce stress levels any.

To personally evaluate it, you need to step back and look at when the pain occurs and try to gauge if there are any triggers that are aggravating it. If the pain is intermittent and comes and goes at various times of the day/week, it's probably not cancer as that's generally a persistent condition where pain is constant and/or progressively worse, but again rule out the worst case first. You can live a long time with GERD. Cancer, not so much. Also, you can probably rule out muscle strains or skeletal conditions by determining whether pain is felt during physical exertion or certain movements (i.e. turning your head as far left/right as possible, stretching, etc.).

Cheapest/easiest solution, try antacids (TUMS,etc.) when the burning appears, if the pain abates at all, then GERD is probably the issue. Be careful of some of the prescription meds for this condition, such as Nexium. I had a relatively severe psychological reaction to this drug and other drugs in the same family. I've never experienced anything like it and I've taken a lot of meds in my day for my conditions, so I'm not exactly prone to these types of side effects.

Again, web diagnosis is fine, but don't gamble with your health. Trust but verify, as they say. Anyway, hope this was helpful to someone. I've gotten good advice off of some of these forums, so I thought I would post to return the favor.