Pain in back during adrenalin rush situations

I have this problem was wondering if it might be lung related because the dr says my kidneys are fine . I like to ride the dunes and recently had my first jump and couldent enjoy it through the intensely throbing back pain ugg its something though if any ine figures it kut please.let me know what to do. Thank you!

I have 2 slipped discs in my lumbar section which are pressing the vein in my spine. It narrows the blood passage in this section. This might explain the pain during adrenalin rush.

Yep im 26 and have the same thing happen to me when road rage feeling kicks in.. its typically after it just ended i just breathe slowly and calmly and it goes away.. have had it since about 20

I am a 67 year old male with traumatic lumbar spinal injuries sustained while in the military. The initial injury was an L1 wedging compression fracture with connective tissue damage to the right side of the L1 vertebrae. Through the years it has caused mild lumbar levoscoliosis (lumbar spinal curvature to the left) torqueing injuries to the L3-L4 vertebrae with an L3-L4 superior disc protrusion of 1 cm pushing against the thecal sac (a sac membrane that encases the spinal cord filled with spinal fluid) L5-S1 herniated disc with leg nerve impingement. I have been diagnosed with spondylosis and stenosis of the spine, and varying degrees of DDD (degenerative disc disease). I have just recently been awarded an increase in my disability rating with peripheral neuropathy, secondary to the back injury, of the lower extremities. I suffer from frequent leg failure as I lose the motor command to the legs from the cerebral cortex of the brain. I am often in a great deal of pain. I use to use a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) unit to disrupt the signals in the nerve pathways in the back to minimize the pain. It gets to the point where you just need something to stop the pain. The TENS unit when employed now will give me a headache that can last for a few days and bring on dizzy spells and loss of balance issues. Therefore it really isn’t a viable source any longer for relieving pain. Here’s the thing I try not to do pain medications and minimize my anti-inflammatory medication, I try to tough it out a lot of the time and I am afraid I am not good company during those episodes. What I have found is that during intensive or excruciating bouts of pain that my blood pressure will start to rise dramatically. Today for instance my BP was 154 systolic and 100 diastolic, giving me a headache and chest pains, an early warning system in a way I suppose. I took a 600 mg tablet of Ibuprofen and a 7.5 mg of Oxycodone. A little more than an hour later my BP was down to a systolic of 141 and a diastolic of 85. I believe the chronic pain causes physical and psychological stresses that will trigger the adrenaline glands to release adrenaline into the circulatory system. When this occurs it puts me into a ‘fight or flight’ scenario with increased BP and pulse rate, today for example my pulse was 94 bpm. Considering that I can hardly move around at all because of the pain and the neuropathies fight or flight is not an option. This is how I deal with it, when experiencing a headache and chest pain I check the BP. If it is elevated to stage 1 or stage 2 I’ll medicate. Within an hour or so, sometimes 40 minutes some times longer, occasionally I will have to up the Oxycodone by 2.5 or 5 mgs to initiate relief. Do I think chronic pain causes stress and that that stress can induce the adrenaline glands to release adrenaline into the circulatory system, I personally have no doubt, I live with it nearly on a daily basis.

I am 45 year old woman with Lupus since 1980 and recently diabetes. I think I can relate to you with the symptoms you experience. I have notice that I have shooting pain electricity from my lower back up to the middle of my back. It does come with tension or lets say an almost car accident. It's like my lower back hurts to even breath. I have to lay down slowly. I try to explain to my peers what it's like but the closest I get is that it kinda feels like when with your tongue you kinda lick a battery I believe a V9 or something like that and you feel this sensation. Well something like that. Hope that this can help you...and me... This is so weird. Could it be more serious? I will be telling my doctor asap. I think I am not alone.

I'm a 42 year old male from the UK. I too have experienced severe back spasms after an adrenaline rush. The first time I encountered this was when I was 23 and found myself in a push and shove altercation with another male. The back became incredibly tight around the lower lumber region and eventually bringing me too my knees. The pain lasted for about five minutes. Since then I have had many similar experiences. During driving, roller coaster rides, water slides, presentations at work and even whilst having sex!

I have mentioned it to my chiropractor and he believes that I have somehow trained my brain into coping with the adrenaline rush by sending my back into spasm. Though I am not convinced by this. I habe mentioned thee symptoms to my doctor but he hadn't come across similar situations.

hi there I was in a way very happy to read your post because I was searching for a label for the condition I have which is it identical to the one you described when I'm in a very high stressful situation where my adrenaline seems to flow strongly I get severe back pain of the lower part of my back and it starts to surge upward it's completely debilitating I can hardly breathe and it doesn't matter if I arch my back forward or backward nothing seems to relieve it it just has to pass by itself and I really would like to know what this condition is it's quite frightening

I also suffer from these episodes. I had a spinal tap as a child and a failed epidural about 5 years ago. Your post made me think on it and I can't recall having these episodes prior to that epidural. Another thing is that I have had an unusually stressful last 5 years, like Murphy's Law times 10...no joke. I've read about overexposure to stress induced hormones and the toll it can take on the body...I wonder if this may be part of it??

I am 63 and have had this same problem as you describe for many years, looking for the cause led me to this page. I have wondered if it is prostate related, since I also have had trouble with it for years. My doctor doesn't know either.

Another person with it here! Got it for the first time today, also after a road rage after being cut up . It was agony all over my back. I thought I was having a heart attack and had to pull over. Thank you all for posting your experience it seems remarkably common.

Hi all, I am a 50 yr old male from the UK, have been suffering with this for years, it happened so infrequently that by the time I went to the doctors it had been forgotton about. Recently it seems to be getting worse, as a lot of you have said, I also had many years of the worst possible fairground rides, and other intense situations where the adrenal glands seemed to work fine, never triggered this pain. Now a frail old dear cutting me up on the road will have me agony for about a minute. Like hot knives in my lower back, both legs turn to jelly, hardly enough strength to keep my foot on the pedal. Several times I have actually pulled over.

Not only while driving now though, when walking the dog, if I see someone coming towards me with another dog (mine is not that friendly), and I know there is a confrontation coming, again lower back pain, legs turn to jelly, hardly enough strength to hold the lead.

Over last ten years, suffered with high blood pressure, still on tablets for that. Type 2 diabetic for the last 5 yrs, on pills for that. For the 3/4 years my sex life is down the toilet, can't do anything to get aroused. Due to the blood pressure doctors will not give me anything for the impotence - sulk. (Did try some anyway, but that didn't work either.)

I am due to visit the doctor soon specifically for this, will advise him of what I have found on this forum, and will report back, at the moment Pheochromocytoma seems to tick all the boxes. Just need to go armed and ready - quite a lot to explain in a ten minute slot!

Keep up the good work all.

So amazing to see so many people with the same symptoms that I have had all my life.  They used to be less frequent, but know they are so debilitating that I find myself avoiding any kind of stress and feel I can't have a job if it requires working with people.  Like most of you, I haven't been able to get a single doctor to take my complaint seriously.  They act like this is all in my head.  The fight-or-flight reflex is frequently an over stimulated rush of nerves, rapid heartbeat, pain deep in my back above my kidneys that shoots up both sides of my back into my neck and makes my head feel like it is about to explode and the veins in my neck pulse with every heartbeat.  My wife used to say, "just breathe deep", or "just count to ten", and I have always told her that would be fine if this was something in my head, but it is a deep whole body chemical reaction.  It is like telling a diabetic to breathe deep when they are fainting from a blood sugar, insulin imbalance.  I am not going to give up.  

Two ideas I am pursueing with my doctors pheochromocytoma (google it)  and von-hippel lindau syndrome. (like the hatfields and McCoy's).  Just wondering if anyone has any experience with being tested for these?

Thanks! Steven

This is the must see article on nbcnews website from Apr 5, 2007: Just google "hatfield mccoy feud blamed on mystery rage"

I think the description of their syndrome fits the bill for most of the posts I've read on this thread... Myself included.  Time to have an adrenalectomy!

Greetings everyone, I am a 43 year old male, and 22 years ago after a military parachuting accident (partial chute failure) I had problems with my spine, and legs/knee areas. When I get overly anger or fight mode, my pain originates from my lower spine, like in the bone it seems, then radiates upward. During this pain shooting up my spine it is also coupled with pulses? throbbing? making it hard for me to talk and breath and its extremely painful. This can happen while sitting, driving, standing, walking....it doesn't matter the position. I had mentioned this to my normal doctor and my VA doctor and they both said " well, I've never heard of anything like that..." and to me, all because someone hasn't heard of something, doesn't mean it does not exist. I also get pain in my shoulder blades and neck, like a pinched nerve type of feeling. note: I had xrays by both civilian Docs and VA Docs.. civilian Docs say everything is normal. VA Docs say I have slight scoliosis, but other than that everything bone wise is normal. Also, they seem to just dismiss it all together and quite possibly make you think or act like its all in your head......which is quite frustrating.

Guest wrote: "I can seem to lessen the pain by forcing the muscles used to force a bowel movement." Interesting. I'll try that if I have another attack. So far I've had three, and they all occurred after I stood up and spoke in public for a few minutes. Two of those three occasions involved remarks which were controversial and combative. Perusing this thread a few years ago, a thread which has been around for several years (remarkable that we still don't have a definitive diagnosis), I had already gotten the idea that sitting down aggravates it, since it probably involves an overload of adrenaline, which can only be purged through movement. So the last few times I found myself in similar situations, I made a point of not sitting down for a few minutes after the episode, -- and it seemed to work. But if I have another attack, and standing up doesn't seem, by itself, to do enough, I'll try your trick with the bowel muscles. We're all still waiting for that medical student. He promised he'd study and research it, but we've not heard anything back from him since.