Has anyone else had pain when breathing in, due to fibromyalgia?

[daisiemaiskye]

hello to all my fellow fibro warriors, I’ve been living with this for over ten years but recently it’s moved from being dominantly on my left side to my right and I’ve developed a back pain that feels like a rock in the bottom of my lung… it’s mainly in right and towards the end of the day it starts to throb and ache so painfully it brings me to tears. It hurts to take a deep breath;my gp was very concerned and sent me to hospital to get it checked out… generally they were good and did all the usual tests, morphine helped so I could function but the last doctor I saw made out it was nothing and that I needed to exercise exercise exercise and that would “cure” my fibromyalgia!!! I felt and I was dismissed!

3 months ago I stopped taking carbamazepine (as it turns out I don’t have bipolar which I was wrongly diagnosed with) but I have adhd - which runs very strongly throughout my family! Maybe this has caused this pain?

Has anyone else had this sort of pain? That’s due to fibromyalgia? That hurts more when you breathe in? I had multiple blood clots on both lungs and I’m on warfarin for life that was a year ago now… i wondered if it was pleurisy? It’s there constantly but I do sometimes feel it on left side as well but not like the rock feeling.

I would appreciate any information or similar symptoms that any of you have had and suggestions for coping with this level of pain… I have a heat pad and hot baths and e en oramorph as I can’t take anti inflammatory drugs anymore.

Hope this makes sense Thank you, I hope your pain is manageable today xxx

[Badbessie]

There are a number of conditions which can cause those symptoms. Your safest route is to see your GP. I do get chest pains however I have other conditions which can cause chest pain and I always rule those out before blaming fibromyalgia.

[natherly]

I get this and had a similarly awful reaction from a GP who said "what do you expect ME to do about it" and wrote in my notes that I "need to accept her pain is psychological" I had a chest x-ray and turned out to have mild COPD.

I haven't had a straight answer on whether it's that, fibro or something else.

Nothing helped with the pain but it comes in flares for me.

[daisiemaiskye]

Thank you for replying I have been to my doctor who was concerned enough to send me to the hospital so I’ve been but I’m not getting anywhere… they’ve done all the tests ecg x rays etc they are all coming back clear which is why I’m hoping someone else has back pain like it as doctors seem to think it’s the fibro …. I’d apprenant advice for painkillers too but not ibrupofen or aspirin based as I’m on warfarin

[Jonn9]

Hi daisy. I get this pain often and put it down to costochondritis. I have had chest x-rays in the past . I now just take colchicine tablets when it comes on and it usually lasts few days or weeks. Hope you get some pain relief as you seem to be going through it recently. Take care

[030973]

Hello l don't suffer with pain from breathing due to fibromygia

[Yassytina FMA UK Volunteer]

Hi there, I would see another doctor and glad you are keeping on top of seeking answers ,not all symptoms are fibro related , it’s a shame some doctors are dissmissive xx

[flashyman]

Hi ,Daisie,

Sorry to hearabout your pain in the chest. I have been suffering withchest pains for years. My doctor went through all the routes checking my heart echo and echocardiagram ecg etc. Apparently got a good strong health heart. Went through respiratory process, seeing specialist after specialist, They decide during covid to give me a telephone appointment and prescribed me inhalers. Rang me back again 2 moths later asking how my breathing was. I said just the same short of breath every now and again for no reason sometimes. You know what he said.....Keep using the inhalers and then discharged me. How on earth can you give someone a diagnosis over the phone about chest pains.

I feel your pain but you just have to get on with it if they can't find what it is that's wrong. Just hope it doesn't turn into a heart attack or stroke orcollapsed lung. That's all I can do. Hope you find some proper diagnosis eventually.

Good luck

[daisiemaiskye in reply to flashyman]

Thank you flashy man for your reply, the fact I’m not alone is reassuring. I think a lot of us with fibro just get on with it and hope for the best chest pain has seen me in hospital 3 times in the last 6 weeks and that in itself is exhausting I’m on warfarin and statins so hopefully I will fend off a heart attack for a while!

[FRreedman]

As flashyman says, I hope your doctors are not dismissing chest pain too lightly. The only thing I felt I could add is that Oramorph is only a good enough pain-killer if you take enough to make you fall asleep. I personally won't touch it anymore. Hope you get yourself sorted soon.

[daisiemaiskye in reply to FRreedman]

Hi freedman, please can you tell me more about your experience with oramorph? I’m taking 2.5ml as rarely as possible but definitely once a week as it enables me to concentrate at work. If it has bad side effects I’d like to know… I’ve not had it long but I’ve been on meds in the past with side effects that are still affecting me now and I don’t want to add to them … thank you 🙏

[FRreedman in reply to daisiemaiskye]

Hi, 2.5mls once a week shouldn't be a problem. I was put on 5mls every 4-6 hours, and was wearing a morphine patch and found I was sleeping or in pain. I couldn't concentrate and, even now, have problems remembering things. I think I was probably close to overdosing by having Oramorph as a regular pain-killer when I was an in-patient.

[Fighting4me_17]

I am suffering same right now and am awaiting another meeting with respiratory specialist to try get some definitive answers 🤞

[daisiemaiskye in reply to Fighting4me_17]

Please can you tell me abit more about your symptoms and who you’ve seen so far and how and what they are thinking? Also what pain killers are you using? Thanks so much x

[Titan101]

Hi I get terrible chest pain when I breath in but it's on both sides I have been told it's costochondritus ..think that's how you spell it...its apparently inflammation of the cartilage between the ribs it comes on suddenly and lasts 3 or 4 weeks. I've noticed when it happens I also have pain in all joints, inflammation all round. All I can do is take naproxen and Co codemal. When I first got it I thought it was a heart attack the pain was so bad, the pain makes me cry but you can't cry because you breath deeper so it hurts more. The pain clinic said it was a fibro problem. Hope you feel better soon xx

[daisiemaiskye in reply to Titan101]

Thanks titan, I’ve had costochondritid in the past the paramedics who came out to me suggested it and told me how to lay on top of a pillow to stretch my rib cage so the ribs didn’t rub the breast bone it really helped… this pain is different it’s in my back feels like a rock in the bottom of my lung and a deep breath in causes it to intensify. But it’s a really big breath. Breathing normally in and out is fine …

[Maud-ie]

My chest pain turned out to be an NSTEMI and I had three stents in blocked arteries. I was fobbed off with indigestion and stress by GP for years. This was ten years ago even before COVID and Brexit shot the NHS