Starting a couple of years ago one of my newer symptoms (which I finally told a doctor about recently when it got worse) has been a tight squeezing sensation around the middle of my body and it makes me feel out of breath.
I remember it starting a couple of summers ago and I thought it was just fatigue from doing gardening in the heat. It gradually became more often - and worse, and about a year ago I kept taking antacids thinking it was some type of stomach issue. I had also chalked it up to anxiety at times.. even if I wasn't feeling anxious about anything in particular.
More recently (like within the last year) it got to the point where I've been waking up with it.. waking up gasping for breath. So I started paying attention to when it happens and what might be causing it.
I do notice that if I do too much physically or get overtired it will happen, and also if I get overheated. Sometimes it goes away within hours but if it's really bad it can last for days and even be sort of painful - besides the pressure feeling.
The last time I had a really bad time of this was a few months ago and I called my dr. office and told a nurse what I was experiencing. She put me on hold to talk to the dr. and when she got back on the phone she told me to go to the ER. I explained that this is common for me - but just worse at that time, but she insisted that I be seen. So.... I went to the ER (feeling kind of foolish) and of course there was nothing wrong with my heart or lungs. And they did not think it was anxiety either.
They thought it sounded muscular and did a neurological exam - which was normal except for nystagmus (also common for me) and encouraged me to keep following up with neurology and testing, etc.
Well, fast forward a few months later and here I am today. I was supposed to have MRI's of my spine on Monday but they got cancelled because my insurance won't authorize them. Apparently state insurance won't cover it unless I have extremely disabling symptoms which can be proven.
I know that the MS "hug" can be caused if someone has a spinal lesion. But since I can't get my spine looked at to see if that is what's causing it, I am trying to figure out what else it could possibly be. When it gets bad it causes me to lose sleep, and even when it's mild it is still annoying and tiring!
My PCD doctor thought maybe I had Costochondritis which is an inflammation of rib cartilage, but I looked up the symptoms for that and it doesn't match what I experience. When people have that, it typically hurts to take a deep breath or to push on the chest or ribs. Mine is more like a squeezing pressure - and sometimes I will try pushing around my ribcage to try and relax the muscles.. and that does *not* cause pain.
It feels similar to when I had asthma when I had a very bad case of bronchitis. I even had a pulmonary function test recently - and of course it was normal!
Some of my symptoms are driving me nuts, they seem to be getting worse over the years, and yet I'm being told it's all from being hit on the head when I was a little girl 3 decades ago??!!
I can see a "post-concussive syndrome" causing my dizziness, balance and cognitive/memory issues - which all come and go randomly.
But how on earth would that explain the other stuff like bladder spasms (Urologist said it was nervous system related), severe neck pain and headaches which started only a few years ago, and this bizarre squeezing thing?
And I PROMISE you I am not just imagining all this stuff because I read this forum. I didn't read about this stuff until very recently.. but have been having problems for at least well over a decade.
I remember it starting a couple of summers ago and I thought it was just fatigue from doing gardening in the heat. It gradually became more often - and worse, and about a year ago I kept taking antacids thinking it was some type of stomach issue. I had also chalked it up to anxiety at times.. even if I wasn't feeling anxious about anything in particular.
More recently (like within the last year) it got to the point where I've been waking up with it.. waking up gasping for breath. So I started paying attention to when it happens and what might be causing it.
I do notice that if I do too much physically or get overtired it will happen, and also if I get overheated. Sometimes it goes away within hours but if it's really bad it can last for days and even be sort of painful - besides the pressure feeling.
The last time I had a really bad time of this was a few months ago and I called my dr. office and told a nurse what I was experiencing. She put me on hold to talk to the dr. and when she got back on the phone she told me to go to the ER. I explained that this is common for me - but just worse at that time, but she insisted that I be seen. So.... I went to the ER (feeling kind of foolish) and of course there was nothing wrong with my heart or lungs. And they did not think it was anxiety either.
They thought it sounded muscular and did a neurological exam - which was normal except for nystagmus (also common for me) and encouraged me to keep following up with neurology and testing, etc.
Well, fast forward a few months later and here I am today. I was supposed to have MRI's of my spine on Monday but they got cancelled because my insurance won't authorize them. Apparently state insurance won't cover it unless I have extremely disabling symptoms which can be proven.
I know that the MS "hug" can be caused if someone has a spinal lesion. But since I can't get my spine looked at to see if that is what's causing it, I am trying to figure out what else it could possibly be. When it gets bad it causes me to lose sleep, and even when it's mild it is still annoying and tiring!
My PCD doctor thought maybe I had Costochondritis which is an inflammation of rib cartilage, but I looked up the symptoms for that and it doesn't match what I experience. When people have that, it typically hurts to take a deep breath or to push on the chest or ribs. Mine is more like a squeezing pressure - and sometimes I will try pushing around my ribcage to try and relax the muscles.. and that does *not* cause pain.
It feels similar to when I had asthma when I had a very bad case of bronchitis. I even had a pulmonary function test recently - and of course it was normal!
Some of my symptoms are driving me nuts, they seem to be getting worse over the years, and yet I'm being told it's all from being hit on the head when I was a little girl 3 decades ago??!!
I can see a "post-concussive syndrome" causing my dizziness, balance and cognitive/memory issues - which all come and go randomly.
But how on earth would that explain the other stuff like bladder spasms (Urologist said it was nervous system related), severe neck pain and headaches which started only a few years ago, and this bizarre squeezing thing?
And I PROMISE you I am not just imagining all this stuff because I read this forum. I didn't read about this stuff until very recently.. but have been having problems for at least well over a decade.
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