Fibromyalgia?

For the past couple of years, I've had sporadic chest pain, sort of like a pin prick to the heart. Within the past year, this pain radiates across my left chest and down my arm, making it painful to lift my left arm when it occurs. I saw two doctors that told me that my EKG's were fine and I've had two echocardiograms which showed that I had a minor murmur in the mitral valve, but nothing serious. The pain sent me to the emergency room once where an ER doc told me that I most likely had costochondritis, which is inflammation of the cartilage that connects a rib to the breastbone. It is usually harmless, but the pain itself does mimic that which someone feels during a heart attack, which is scary. I told my new doctor about it, but she ordered up an EKG and echocardiogram and as they were OK, as described, I haven't heard anything else from her.

The past couple of nights have been pretty bad, so I decided to do some research on my own. What I found is that my chest pain as well as other symptoms seem to point to fibromyalgia. A person with fibromyalgia will experience costochondritis, fatigue, sinus problems, weight gain/loss, sensitivity to cold or heat, vision problems, generalized tender points (such as pain in knees, back, and back of head) or localized pain (such as chest pain), terrible headaches/migraines, sleep disturbances, depression, morning stiffness, and problems with thinking and memory, sometimes called fibro fog. All of which I experience.

Research shows that it may resolve on its on with the help of a combination of analgesics (motrin), antidepressants, and muscle relaxants. There are also alternative remedies such as acupuncture and chiropractic care. I was actually going to the chiropractor for a while for my migraines and it really did help with most everything. I began losing weight,felt more positive, my mental fog cleared and mental clarity and response time improved, and felt more motivated. I hadn't even expected those changes because I was only there for the migraines.

I'm not sure that I have costochondritis or fibromyalgia, but now that I'm armed with the information, I'm going to ask my doctor to focus her search.