9 replies to this topic

[Lol Hare]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me please,I'm C6/7 complete and for years now I have had pain around my chest,going around to my back,it's around the lower few ribs and feels like a tightening,my whole torso can hurt too,I had some Gallstones and thought that was the trouble as many people described the same type of pains before having theirs removed.I went ahead and had mine removed but the pains are still there,nearly a year on.
If I eat too big a meal it seems to hurt more,(but sometimes it's fine??)I have tried digestion and wind meds but to no avail,I've been on a daily bowel routine for the 10 years since my accident and find that I have to go daily as if I fail one day,I feel worse and get instantly backed up,I take Senna/Lactulose nightly but sometimes this pain and discomfort can last days and I eat something little at around 11 am then for evening meal at around 5 pm I just have a bowl of wholesome soup and maybe a slice of bread,sometimes I even have this 2 day running to feel right.The strange thing is that sometimes I get this discomfort for apparently no reason,I wake up to it somedays and another day I'm fine.I'm on gabapentin and baclofen but have been for ages,this problem has slowly got worse,starting around 5 years ago.I'm around 5 feet 7 and roughly 10-10 1/2 stone,(60-65kg) and have always been quite a small frame but my "Tetra tum" has grown but isn't huge,I did think that while sitting,my ribs were digging down into my stomach,as I'm sat and have no trunk strength so I get a kind of hinge effect where it's natural to fold in the middle,my back hurts along with this too and it's right about the same height as the back of my chair too

I'm sorry for the long winded description but hope someone can make some sense of all this,it's been grinding me down for so long and pretty much dominating my life now

[my-sister]

I don't have an answer for you as to why the pain comes, but I did want to let you know that my sister is 2 years tetra c5/6 incomplete and has the same sypmtoms as you. so you're not alone. Hope that someone might have something good to add here. Every time we talk to the spinal cord dr., he just says it's common. My sister explains it like a binder being way too tight and squeezing her around the ribs and guts all the way around to the back. It makes her miserable But thankfully, it comes and goes, like yours. The other thing, when she is doing her breathing exercises, I can hear air moving back and forth in a little pocket in her upper left section of her belly. It sounds like a frog ribbiting. That must cause some discomfort!

Good luck! Hope you find the cause!

Edited by my-sister, 28 December 2011 - 02:50 AM.

[Lol Hare]

Thanks for the reply,my consultant didn't seem to know much about this at all,or anyone for that matter,those symptoms are exactly like mine,can anyone else shed anymore light on this?

[spot]

Isn't that feeling of being squeezed to death a terrible one? I know it all too well. It never goes away. Some days it is better than others, but I can't pin down the reason. Yes, large meals make it worse, any pain that may be somewhere also does it. Weather changes seem to do it, but not consistantly. I have never found any doctor or nurse who understands this. No one that I've met has any suggestions for dealing with it, except gabapentin and baclofen. You are already on those. I am sorry I don't have better news for you. Maybe someone else has had better luck. (If you find a solution, I'd love to hear it.)

[Tetracyclone]

I first got this about a year ago. It made me just want to crawl into bed.
I am Incomplete, and I discovered that the more exercise I get, the more less squeezing I endure. Improving posture helped a lot too. The key is opening up my breathing.

This helps completes not at all, but it is my experience.

[spot]

Tetracyclone, on 02 January 2012 - 02:18 AM, said:

I discovered that the more exercise I get, the more less squeezing I endure.

Uh, which do you mean? I find the more exercise I get, the worse the problem becomes. Maybe I'm just strange, physically as well as mentally.

[Cathelena]

Sorry i dont have any answers for you, but know exactly what you mean about the feeling that your ribs are digging into your stomach. I have had this feeling or about 6 months now and have eventually got an appointment to see my consultamt about it next month

[Lol Hare]

Thanks again for the response,clearly this is more widespread than I thought,funny enough when the weather is warm,like if I'm away on holiday it seems better,I did think that it could be a mental thing,like occupying the mind with other things and being a bit more active while away etc there's also the placebo effect that has been proved for some things,its just strange,the lack a of regular pattern is not helping at all along with doctors not shedding any light on it either,

The diaphragm has been spoken of by a member,anyone ever considered breathing exercises as singers may have etc?? Sounds crazy maybe but this place throws up stranger things!

[shady]

Lol Hare, on 28 December 2011 - 12:30 AM, said:

I'm wondering if anyone can help me please,I'm C6/7 complete and for years now I have had pain around my chest,going around to my back,it's around the lower few ribs and feels like a tightening,my whole torso can hurt too,I had some Gallstones and thought that was the trouble as many people described the same type of pains before having theirs removed.I went ahead and had mine removed but the pains are still there,nearly a year on.
If I eat too big a meal it seems to hurt more,(but sometimes it's fine??)I have tried digestion and wind meds but to no avail,I've been on a daily bowel routine for the 10 years since my accident and find that I have to go daily as if I fail one day,I feel worse and get instantly backed up,I take Senna/Lactulose nightly but sometimes this pain and discomfort can last days and I eat something little at around 11 am then for evening meal at around 5 pm I just have a bowl of wholesome soup and maybe a slice of bread,sometimes I even have this 2 day running to feel right.The strange thing is that sometimes I get this discomfort for apparently no reason,I wake up to it somedays and another day I'm fine.I'm on gabapentin and baclofen but have been for ages,this problem has slowly got worse,starting around 5 years ago.I'm around 5 feet 7 and roughly 10-10 1/2 stone,(60-65kg) and have always been quite a small frame but my "Tetra tum" has grown but isn't huge,I did think that while sitting,my ribs were digging down into my stomach,as I'm sat and have no trunk strength so I get a kind of hinge effect where it's natural to fold in the middle,my back hurts along with this too and it's right about the same height as the back of my chair too

I'm sorry for the long winded description but hope someone can make some sense of all this,it's been grinding me down for so long and pretty much dominating my life now

Hi Lol

I am c6 incomplete and please don't take this the wrong way but I was really pleased to read your post!!! It's good to know I am not alone. I started suffering with the same symptoms this last year and have ended up in A and E twice, wired up to an ECG machine due to the chest pain!
The most recent was last week and the final verdict was Muscoskeletal chest pain. I have now put it down to poor posture and gastric failings. It has also taken over my life. It gets inside your head.
Good choice of profile pic by the way.

[Diane Dolan]

Hi my son suffers with this we thought at first it was panic attacks an he was put on dittrapam 5 mg but this doesn't work, it has got worse the last few months an is very hard as he shouts at me when he is in pain an panics, he is 24 now he was 20 when he had his accident, he is c5/c6. Any advice is very welcome thanks.