I am fairly newly diagnosed (finally!) after several years of symptoms. One of my first symptoms was also my strangest. I would have heart pain that woke me up when I rolled over in bed. But the pain was only at night. I have since been told that this was due to inflammation in the cartridge of my ribs and around my heart. Before I was diagnosed with PA I had blood tests, an endoscope down the throat and they found my heart to be normal. It is abnormally slow though and occasionally irregular.
Just wondering if this is a common symptom and if I should just accept it or try and get further tests etc seems like its a bad idea to have inflammation in your chest? Doesnt seem that much on heart pain associated with PA accept to say it increases rates of heart disease.
Hi Alaska. I've had some weird heart issues in past years and it was never chalked up to PsA. But, more and more I think it was some sort of crazy sign of impending PsA.
Idk what kind of pain you have, but last night at about 4:30 a.m. a weird chest pain suddenly woke me up and I couldn't fall back asleep because the pain would come back every couple of minutes. It was like an exaggerated heart beat--almost like an electric shock in my heart--just a mild pain, but unnerving because of the location of it. I had a MRI with contrast dye yesterday evening, so I wondered if that's what caused my crazy heart pain.
I s'pose there aren't many places PsA can't present its ugly symptoms.
Yes Alaska, I have that same problem for well over 2 years now. Sometimes it wraps around my sides and often feels the same on the sternum as I imagine a heart problem would. There are several unique heart attack signs such as sweating, severe back pain, confusion everyone is different. If you have those or anything truely abnormal get help. I had my nurse teach me how to take my pulse so when I am unsure I can check it for abnormalities. Just be sure to learn what your normal pulse is clearly so you know if there is anything different when you question it. It is very uncomfortable to say the least and can be scary at times. There are some NCAID that work well for chest wall pain you can ask about if it gets worse. Good luck I know how you feel and you are not alone. I figure if I really have a heart attack my already inflamed ribs will hurt like the Dickens!
I have costochondritis. Sometimes it hurts so bad, I can’t breathe for 10-20 seconds until the wave of pain eases up. Of course it seems like an eternity and then I have a panic attack which doesn’t help things. The more it happens, the less worried I am when it does. How does one get used to having a heart attack? Doc wasn’t really helpful. He said to take tramadol. He pretty much told me that for just about every symptom I have.
Good point Spammy! I did not mention the stop in your tracks pain from coughing, laughing, sneezing (ouch that’s a bad one!) Can be. The hardest ones to train for are sneezing and people talking behind you. Sneezing is the worst such an uncomfortable thing but I often have people who talk while approaching me from behind think they startled me because I wince trying to turn around. Someday I will remember to turn my whole body but instinct is hard to overcome. One of my doctors prescribed an inhaler to try to open my airways rather than take normal breaths in the morning due to the pain but he honestly had no idea what was wrong with me and this was prePSA diagnosis, lol he was really trying to help but missed the mark by so much now that I know what I am dealing with. Scary stuff but you find balance with it all after awhile.
Thanks everyone! I am so glad to have found this site. You are all so helpful. Its a lonely old world having this hideous disease and all its side effect because its so miss-understood. My friends don't get it. They just look at me and i can tell they are thinking how bad can a bit of joint pain be? my pain has recently got worse and is day and night now. It hurts when I breath at the moment. If I take a deep breath I am in pain. Seriously? it hurts to breath. I kind of need to do that regularly! Thanks again
Hi Alaska, I too have costochondritis occasionally. I understand how you feel. I do have a minor heart issue, so the chest pain was a little worrying to the cardiologist. The Rheumatologist also said the same thing, Tramadol and moist heat ( or cold, whatever helps!). That is the key though. You must find a pain relief source that helps you. Trust me, I've had this for 9 years and I'm a nurse.
Costochondritis. I think someone already mentioned it. Yes, I have it a lot. I describe the feeling as meat being torn from bone and dowsed with acid..............
I have costochondritis and some times the pain is so severe, I can’t breathe. Once it happened at work in a meeting while I was talking. In mid-sentence, I grabbed my chest and gasped for air. Everyone panicked and I couldn’t talk. Luckily one of my coworkers has a relative with frequent chest pain. So she asked if I’m ok and I shook my head. She asked if I wanted them to call 911 and I shook my head, no. A few seconds later the pain eases up enough so I can breathe.
I’m already taking tramadol 4x/day and codeine at night to sleep, so I can’t really take anything more for chest pain. I just try to minimize physical activity and relax so I can take shallow breaths. Deep breaths usually trigger pain spasms.
Now I tell new coworkers about my costochondritis in case I have an attack again at work. They were pretty traumatized by it.
I have suffered from this symptom for years. My RA-MD thinks it's related to acid reflux due to the meds and other inflammatory issues. It feels almost like a panic or anxiety attack, heart pounding and discomfort that I can feel against my chest, hard to breath, sweats. I get up and take a small drink of water when it occurs. Since going on acid reflux meds regularly morning and night, it has been much less noticeable.
I have costochronditis as well. I also had an enlarged heart years ago on an xray prediagnosis. Think it was related but not sure. I have asthma and the costochronditis messes with that sometimes and I have wheezing. I used to get these weird squeezing chest pains randomly a few years back those were scary. Maybe those were part of this too.
Chest pain is again a symptom I've been having lately, and it's also at night, usually if I'm relaxing in my recliner or lying in bed. It's a little scary sometimes because it's often where I think my heart is. Thankfully I don't have the typical heart attack symptoms like sweating, weakness, etc. I'll definitely mention this weird new pain to my rheumy, but my appointment isn't until June.
Chest pain is again a symptom I've been having lately, and it's also at night, usually if I'm relaxing in my recliner or lying in bed. It's a little scary sometimes because it's often where I think my heart is. Thankfully I don't have the typical heart attack symptoms like sweating, weakness, etc. I'll definitely mention this weird new pain to my rheumy, but my appointment isn't until June.
Chest pain is again a symptom I've been having lately, and it's also at night, usually if I'm relaxing in my recliner or lying in bed. It's a little scary sometimes because it's often where I think my heart is. Thankfully I don't have the typical heart attack symptoms like sweating, weakness, etc. I'll definitely mention this weird new pain to my rheumy, but my appointment isn't until June.
I get various types of chest pain, usually at night too. Recently I had pain and tightness in my jaw that then migrated to my chest over about 24 hours. I thought something was up but it went completely as soon as I was able to relax. As far as I know my heart's fine but one more episode of tightness etc. would send me to the doctor I think.
I've assumed my chest pain is due to intercostal inflammation, my ribs are tender on the left side but it's not noticeable unless they're pressed.
One thing I've learned about PsA is that it loves to go wandering .... my joints are pretty good these days, so hey, I've got tender ears that keep getting infected. That's another thing to check out I suppose. I would have thought that with inflammation around the heart (would that be the pericardium?) you could at the very least do with the reassurance a bit more investigation might provide. Definitely worth asking your doctors to explain the situation fully. Perhaps they feel that it's not serious but we lesser mortals get antsy at the thought of anything affecting our hearts and need to know exactly what's what.