Bouts of terrible chest and back pain every few weeks (ruled out heart issues) - galbladder?
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Anonymous
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I'm 4 months postpartum and have had several episodes of severe pain that starts in my chest and seems to radiate through to my back and make me nauseous. It typically lasts several hours and hurts terribly with my only bit releif being laying on my back with very warm heating pad on my chest and waiting for it to pass. It feels like someone has reached into my chest and is crushing my heart in their hands. The first time this happened was ~7 weeks after my c section and I went to the ER at the urging of my midwife to rule out a blood clot or something similarly serious. ER did an EKG, bloodwork, etc. and from what they could tell there was nothing wrong with my heart and all my numbers came back normal.
Has anyone had a similar expierience? The placement of my pain feels a little high from what I've read about galbladder issues, but both my mother and sister had theirs out around my age (my mother's was 10 days after having me via c section) so that's my theory. And yes, I'm meeting with my PCP but am curious if anyone has any similar experience or ideas that I could bring up to discuss with my doctor. I was considering posting this in the expecting and postpartum forum but am hoping to cast a wider net in case there are women who had this issue but don't check that forum regularly. Thanks in advance! |
Anonymous
| Did the ER do imaging of your chest? CT scan, etc.? |
Anonymous
| There is a special test for your gallbladder. The symptoms you describe, in my case, are from GERD. |
Anonymous
Yes- CT scan found nothing. Heart, chest, and neck all normal. |
Anonymous
Interesting- thank you. The only risk factor I have is the recent pregnacy, but I'll talk to my doctor about it. I've took tums when I first experienced this thinking it was perhaps really extreme heartburn- provided no releif though. I think my dad had GERD but his lifestyle was very different from mine. |
Anonymous
| Esophageal spasms are excruciating. Ask Google AI about it. It pulls together good references. |
Anonymous
What special test? I had my blood drawn, then CAT scan and ultra sound to diagnose my gallbladder. Not a gallbladder specific test. Gallbladder pain can cause back pain, but the source of the pain is not in your chest. It's barely below your ribs, center, to just right of center. |
Anonymous
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I'm so sorry, OP. That sounds stressful. If it hits every few weeks, could it be stress linked to your hormonal fluctuations? Even if you don't have a period right now, your hormones are trying to cycle.
I'm in perimenopause, and my hormones sometimes spike or crash, way more intensely than during my peak fertile years, and it gives me all sorts of weird symptoms, like muscles spasms, joint aches, anxiety, and insomnia. But I agree that you need to check your gallbladder, due to family history. |
Anonymous
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This sounds somewhat similar to a medical mystery I’ve been dealing with. A few months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night to a stabbing (not squeezing—definitely stabbing) pain that felt like it was radiating from my right breastbone through to my back. When I shifted in bed, it felt like it was traveling from the back to front. Every breath was excruciating, and felt a lot like when I had pleurisy a few years ago. While debating a trip to the ER, I realized if I contorted my body just so, there was no pain. After googling “what feels like pleurisy”, I decided I was having a back spasm, though the intense pain lasted for a week and was only bearable with the max dosage of Motrin.
My PCP, after yelling at me for not going straight to the ER given my history of blood clots and pulmonary emboli, ordered a CT scan and also X-rays of my spine, given a family history of ankylosing spondylitis and spinal stenosis. All that those tests showed was mild osteoarthritis in a few parts of my spine. Neither she nor the rheumatologist had much interest in diagnosing the problem once the serious things were ruled out. I still have a mild version of the pain in my back and sternum when I breathe deeply or sneeze. I’m thinking it may be costochondritis. When you meet with your PCP, I’d recommend you ask: Whether a gallbladder scan makes sense given the family history Whether it makes sense to get a complete cardiac work up Whether the symptoms could be from a compressed nerve, back spasms, esophageal spasms, or costochondritis Whether the symptoms could be related to inflammatory arthritis of the spine What else the PCP thinks could be causing the pain If you have been having reflux symptoms, then it probably makes sense to see a gastroenterologist and possibly get an endoscopy. GERD can definitely cause symptoms that feel like chest pain. Good luck, and let us know if you get a diagnosis! |
Anonymous
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If it’s gallbladder it likely has food triggers; can you think back to what you’d eaten on the days you get episodes? For me, I’d be woken up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain, so it was always a few hours delay after eating (my trigger was specifically McDonald’s lolol).
I had never felt pain like gallbladder pain before I had it. I didn’t even know what a gallbladder was 😂 so I def believe that it could be related. |
Anonymous
| That sounds similar to my gallbladder pain. It was higher than I expected |
Anonymous
| also ask your PCP for a referral for pelvic floor physical therapy. The way that your body stretched out during pregnancy may be a factor in causing reflux (if it is just reflux, as mine was). Are you sure a cold pack is not better than a hot pack? |
Anonymous
| Do you see DrBeachgem on instagram? She’s an ER doc and just posted about this |
Anonymous
| I’ve had the same experience also postpartum in all my pregnancies. I assumed it was gallvladder but never really do any tests. It only happened to me when I was postpartum never again after. |
Anonymous
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A gallbladder flareup, at night, can typically occur after an extremely fatty meal. The pains are intense and last around 4 hours.
I found a hot bath helps sooth the pain. I didn't correlate those pains until after my gallbladder ruptured. Confirmed by ultrasound. |