breastbone pain through to middle of back shoulderblades

Hi! Ok, i know EXACTLY where a lot of you guys are coming from. I have had BAD pains in my chest for around 2 years. At first I thought that it was a heart attack. Thank goodness it wasnt! (3 trips to emergency room later)...
I got diagnosed with "gas" or "acid reflux", depression, Tietzes syndrome, fibromyalgia and panic disorder - yes, PANIC DISORDER.
HOWEVER... I got brachial neuritis 10 years ago which has never healed.
After seeing a specialist neurologist for this recently, he has told me that my muscles in my RIGHT shoulder have basically given up, which is causing the pain in my chest. IE compensation and distribution in muscle stress.
Kinda makes the doctors look a little silly now does'nt it?
If only the doctors would LISTEN in the first place and take on board what you are trying to tell them, then most of this anguish would be avoided.
My heart goes out to you all :-)
Harry.

Soundssimilar to my problem, I'm 23 next month, was working a night shift when suddenly i started experiencing major chest pains! Was unbearable, I was then taken to hospital ECG and blood tests came back fine, my heart rate was a little unsteady due to the pain. I was then asked to see my gp who diagnosed me with inflammation of the muschest near my chest cavity wall, I was prescribed the inflammatory tablets 'neproxen' which were useless! After a month I was still getting pains radiating through to my back, paracetamol can dim down the pain a little, but for the past 8 month I've been taking co codamol 300mg the strong type three times a day, not only do I feel like I am completely drugged up, I sleep through the day rather then nights, but they do take the pain off, I shouldn't be experiencing this type of c**p at my age. I just don't know what to do and my life is basically on stop because I'm always sleeping due to the pain killers :( 

So Harry, did the doctor reckon there was anything you could do to get your muscles working properly again or do you just have to put up with the pain? my husband is getting the same symptoms and has a physical job - I had been wondering if it could be muscular. I got a biopsy done once where they had to pierce my diaphragm and I was sore in all sorts of places so realize that in the upper chest area pain can radiate everywhere. Anne

I had similar symptoms as to what has been described here.  The scan for gallstones proved negative, an upper GI scope did not show anything remarkable and the reflux medicine did nothing to reduce the pain.  HOWEVER, my sugeon, in spite of the scan showing NO GALLSTONES, ordered a billiary scan of the gall bladder and it showed that my function was severely lower than normal.  Although he warned that the billiary test in not 100% accuarate, his diagnosis was that my pain was most likely related to my gall bladder and recommended surgery.  I had my gall bladder laproscopically removed four days ago and I am feeling good.  Pain is gone.

Did they ever check your gall bladder?

am aslo expirencing these shape pain in he breastbone,and is really scaring me,what could cause that

I have sudden onset pain radiating from right chest wall to under shoulder blade. 2 tums help subside. maybe just gas or costochrondritis.

I have been having this same type of pain for over 5 years now. It is right in the center of my breastbone and radiates through to my back between my shoulder blades.  It isn't a sharp pain like pinching, it is more of a massive burning pain that is so bad sometimes, I ended up in the emergency room once and then almost again.  I had an endoscopy and they said I had gastritis (inflammation of the stomach) and they have me on acid reflux medicaiton, but I think it is more.  A friend of mine said it may be my gall bladder.  She said she had the same symptoms and they ended up taking hers out.  I was worried it may be my heart when it first happened.  But, I don't think so anymore.  It gets so bad I can't function and have to lie down, if I can and it can last for hours non-stop.  Luckily, it comes and goes and is not really frequent at this point.  Sometimes I can go months without any pain and then it just happen out of nowhere.  I will definitely ask my doctor to check my gallbladder and for pancreatitits now after reading the comments.  I also sometimes get a sharp pain on my right side on top of my rib cage, not sure if that is even related. May be something entirely different since it is not there when the other pain comes all the time.  It comes by itself usually.  Any help to figure out what this is would be greatly appreciated. 

Well I am starting to feel a little better. This exact thing has happened to me. It comes out of the blue and is very painful. Several times I have almost gone to ER. It starts with a horrible pain right in the middle of my chest, between my breasts. Then it migrates through my left breast and into my left shoulder blade (lower right part of that shoulder blade). I literally double over with pain when it happens. Sometime is only lasts a couple minutes and sometimes it is a longer span of time. I had an EEG a few weeks ago and everything was normal. It is definitely not my gallbladder as it was removed in 2005.

I have constant pain in the center of my chest that radiates below my ribs and around to my back. It has continued to get worse. stress echo from cardiologist showed no heart problems. Gastroenterologist did a barium swallow and it indicated esophogeal spasms. He then did an upper endoscopy wich showed esophagial damage and lab showed first stages of berretts.Dr said doubling my proton pump inhibitor meds would help. Did that and now only drink water and have small bowls of soup or oatmeal. Pain has become extreme and unbeartable. The only thing that gives relief is xanex that was given for panic attacks (caused by the pain). This is literally driving me insane.

this is scary i have some of these same symptoms i never felt this before im 34.  i will be going to the hospital its scaring me.

I have noticed that if I take some probiotics, digestive enzymes and HCL, that the pain goes away in about 15 minutes. I can't figure out what or which food or drink might be triggering it!

I have had chest pain for a couple of weeks now and sometimes it does hurt when I breath. My partner says its just anxiety and that I should chill out a bit but I find it hard to relax with the pain I get. I have a back condition (scheurmanns) and so I'm not sure whether my chest pain is an aggravation from the back pain. Does anybody know if a back condition would affect and cause my chest pain?

I am 59 and was diagnosed with a sliding hiatus hernia about 6 years ago. Was prescribed Nexiam for about 4 months and pain cleared up. About 3 years ago the pain reappered and was so bad I went to the Emergency Room where I was put on a drip and kept until the pain abated. Shortly after this the pain reappeared and again was so bad that I went to the Emergency Room where they gave me a pain injection and told me to go to the hospital the next morning. The surgeon carried out all sorts of tests for gall bladder and liver (I do also suffer from non-alcohol related fattly liver syndrome) and kidney tests. All were fine and the pain gradually disappeared so it was back home.

About 2 years ago I underwent an endoscopy and colonoscopy and it was found that I had some healed "lesions" in my stomach along with a couple of healing  and raw lesions. Went onto a course of antibiotics and Nexiam again which relieved the pain.

Two weeks again the pain in my chest hit with such a vengeance I thought I was having a heart attack and went off to emergency yet again. ECG and blood tests indicated that heart was okay. Since then the pain has gotten worse and has spread to the right side, centre back and sometimes down my right arm. It happens at any time durung the day, befdore and after eating, in bed at night, when I am out on the farm anywhere and everywhere and can last up to 4-5 hours.

I have been really stressed over the past year - in particular the last few months and I am wondering if this hasn't resulted in a flare up of the gastric ulcers again. Can gastric ulcers cause pain to radiate into the back and arm, make it feel as though one's bra is too tight and that there is something crawling under the skin? I am just so darned tired of all of this now.

 

 

 

 

I woke up with a stiff neck feeling and when I sat up I had a pain in my breastbone. I figured I slept wrong. This was 2 weeks ago now. After a few days I started googling but cannot find anything that relates except this thread. The stiff neck started going in to my shoulder. All on the right side only. It is constant and not food related. I have had no GI issues. The pain is worse by positioning and especially trying to sleep at night. I did not pull anything or do anything crazy during the time I went to bed and woke up with pain. I have been doing warm pack, bengay and tylenol. Trying to lay flat or in a most comfortable position. The doctor said if it isnt a constant pain and it is affected by movement then it is a musculoskeletal issue, give it time. It is frustrating and doctors do not know sh... I am in my 20s and no health issues, active and work. I do not take medications and I refuse anything stronger than tylenol. So I am definitely not seeking pain medication or muscle relaxers as the doctor wanted to give me. I want a reason, not something to shut me up.