Hi all,
I recently had some serious chest pain bouts...NOT what I know as the "anaconda wrapping around my chest" rib pain that I have had in the past, but actual chest pain under the sternum. It felt deep and knifelike. It lasted a few hours and an arm went limp.

I did go to the ER because I thought it was heart. Everything in the ER was normal with my heart. And I wonder, what effects does AS have on the heart? I wonder if it was pericarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle. Normal anti-inflammatory meds 600 mg Ibuprofen calmed the chest pain down.

Anyone have anything to add about a similiar experience?

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,

You were certainly wise to get your heart checked. AS can definitely cause those symptoms... I have had the deep knife-like chest pain under the sternum many times. The anaconda too! More recently, it's been episodes of feeling like a heavy weight sitting on my breastbone, or my entire rib cage in pain. They've checked my heart a few times and apparently all is well.

Although AS can indeed affect the heart for a small percentage of patients... how we are ever supposed to tell when it is AS or a heart problem... I dunno.

I have never experienced an arm go limp. That would have caught my attention too! Really smart that you took the precaution to have yourself checked at the ER. Hope it disappears for you!

Thanks Mig. I do feel better. I guess that was the first time, and hopefully the last! a bit scary.

I get sternum pain a lot, I notice it when I am getting up off the ground and have to use my chest muscles and it burns so much. It burns in the morning when I wake up too. I have never had a limb go limp, that is scary. I wonder what is going on? What kind of medication are you taking? Could it be a side effect?
Take care!

Sounds like Costochondritis. It can hurt exactly like that and make you head to to the ER until after you have had it happen a few times and your Dr. finally tells you that is what it is.

I used to have horrible long lasting bout's of it until I started fusing with the ribs and the back, then it was a whole other bag of trick's like breathing instead.

Try a heating pad there when it happens or some ice to see which works best. Do your A.S. stretching in the doorway exercises and take a pain med if you need to. Are you on the NSD?

I get these pains too. They have landed me in the hospital more then once and all tests came back clean. It was frustrating, not saying I wanted heart problems but I wanted answers. Then I got diagnosed with AS and got more answers then actually wanted lol. When I get my stabbing pain I find that if I tuck my hands together over my sternum and lay on my stomach for as long as I can tolerate it it always goes away. I have to convince my self that I know its not my heart and ease the panick that always comes along for the ride.
Take care
nat

Nat,
Thank's for the info about lying on your hands. That is the only one I haven't heard. I'll put that in my A.S.arsenal bag.

Nat, thank you for the tip about lying on your hands. I get this a lot , and at my age,72, It does give me a scare sometime. Usually I can feel that my sternum is tender to the touch. Usually, my collerbone and ribs are tender at the same time. Heat usually helps.

Just check this out. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/22/chest-pain.ppt

Some tips on when to take a chest pain seriously is given here.

My dad had a heart attack about two weeks ago, and he had virtually no symptoms. No chest pain, no arm pain etc. He had a stomach upset for two days, and suddenly had big trouble breathing early morning. I rushed him to the hospital only to find that he was in a very critical condition and had two major blocks ( 95% and 100%) in the coronary arteries. By God's grace, he survived and sustained only a little heart damage and is recovering well after two angioplasty surgeries which were performed immediately upon admission to the hospital. I have been stressed out for two weeks and have been experiencing all kinds of pains , I think I had a severe flare up due to the stress.

Do take chest pains and related symptoms seriously. We nearly missed out in my dad's case and had we been an hour late, it may have been too late.

i havent been diagnosed properly with AS yet but 4 drs feel it is that and a strong family history of it. (if u have seen my into thread ul have the gist) but i started with the chest pain when i was 11 and have been getting fobbed off with it as being asthma since then well until june this year when it actually occured by chance when i was in the hosp. they wacked me on a heart monitor and noticed something on the ecg iv since had a 24 hr tape doing.

however its like a band when your breathing in the pain iv had with a sharp knife like stabbing just slightly to the left/behind the sternum it is scary. i tend to breath in slowly through the pain and it goes after iv fully inhaled. i force through the pain. prob the wrong thing to do, but if i dont it can last up to 15 mins and as iv had it since i was a kid thats how iv always coped with it.

sounds like the same thing to me?

il let you all know what my 24 hr tape comes back as. my gdad has mitral valve syndrome which they have linked to his AS. hes in late 80s. hes part of the uk trials into AS.

its always best to get chest pain checked though, and eventually u will be taken seriously and not fobbed off. fingers crossed for u hope ur ok and hope u get sorted soon. unfortunately its possible for us all to get ill with other things as well as the (possible*) AS so imp to check it all out properly.

liz x