Medical question that I think I know the answer to

[erbear]

But want to hear from others:

How long would you wait to see a doctor with this?

I have had a consistent pain in my back (near my left shoulder blade) for about a week. It’s not super painful but I can feel it all the time. No trouble breathing, and my pulse ox is normal. I can sometimes feel an ache in my shoulder and my chest, but it’s pretty localized to one spot on my back. It doesn’t get better or worse with a deep breath.

Relevant may be information:
I have factor five leiden and a family history of pulmonary embolism. My dad has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

I went to the emergency room in March with similar symptoms, though more painful and more on my chest. It was right after I got home from my sister’s in Colorado when we had been way high in the mountains. I was feeling a lot of shortness of breath as well. They did all of the heart testing, which was relatively normal, plus a chest x-ray and a CT scan. Both were normal. They kept me overnight and told me it was muscular-skeletal.

I had a similar episode episode in June, but not for more than a couple of days.

My assumption is that this is muscular or skeletal. I don’t want to go to the ER again if I can help it. At the same time, I don’t want to underplay something more serious.

Thoughts?

[mrsukyankee]

Call 911 (or if there is another line you can call - we have one in the UK for non-emergencies and they can give you advice what to do) and talk to someone about it at the very least. As women, we're likely to miss out heart stuff and with your family background, it makes sense to check versus letting it go.

[dancingnancy]

Not 911. Do you have a primary care doctor you can contact? Either call in and ask to speak to one of the nurses or send a message through the portal.

[livinitup]

Do you have a primary care physician that you followed up with after your last ER visit? This symptoms and your history seem like they should be under primary care for monitoring and follow up. The PCP can always recommend the ER for testing so it’s not mutually exclusive.

[Susie]

Do you have a doctor with whom you are an established patient?  A PCP, a cardiologist, etc.?  

If you do, I would call their nurse line, describe symptoms, and ask for guidance.

If you don't, in the short term I would go to urgent care, and in the next-week term, I would work on establishing care.

[doctoranda]

I would try to get an appointment with my regular doctor within the week for this.

[erbear]

I have all the docs. I will call/message my PCP. I have a cardiology appointment next week.

[heygrey]

Aug 21, 2024 13:20:07 GMT -5 erbear said:

I have all the docs. I will call/message my PCP. I have a cardiology appointment next week.

Call cardiology too and tell them about your symptoms. They may try to move up your appointment. 

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Aug 21, 2024 13:28:51 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Aug 21, 2024 13:20:07 GMT -5 erbear said:

I have all the docs. I will call/message my PCP. I have a cardiology appointment next week.

Call cardiology too and tell them about your symptoms. They may try to move up your appointment. 

I second this! Does the cardiologist have a nurse line? I hope you feel better really soon and it’s muscular

[followyourarrow]

I'd try to get in your cardiologist or PCP asap.

[erbear]

Aug 21, 2024 13:28:51 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Aug 21, 2024 13:20:07 GMT -5 erbear said:

I have all the docs. I will call/message my PCP. I have a cardiology appointment next week.

Call cardiology too and tell them about your symptoms. They may try to move up your appointment. 

I will. It's a followup from my ER followup so I saw them in June.

[shauni27]

I have a similar family history and had a very similar experience as well last year. I called my pcp first and they could not get me in for a few days and really said I should go to the ED. I went and told them what was going on and they were so kind and got me in immediately and did all the tests. They said as a woman with this family history they take it very seriously and they were thrilled to tell me that it was nothing at all after they did all the tests. "we would rather take it seriously and it be nothing than have you wait too long and die."

[countthestars]

A friend (male) had a similar story and it was a heart attack, so I would call your cardiologist for sure and get their opinion.

[litasail]

Yeah, as a person who also has clotting disorders, as much as it sucks, I think you need to go to the ER. I'm sorry.

The clot that I had was in my head, so I've shown up at the ER several times with a vague, "my brain feels funny and I think I need a CT scan to make sure that I don't have a clot." The doctors and nurses have always been VERY reassuring and told me that I did the right thing by going.

[shauni27]

erbear, please update us!

[waverly]

If it is muskular skeletal than it should respond to heat and maybe those hand held massagers and improve. If it is not improving my first thought was lungs. I see that covered when you did the chest X-ray. Sometimes if it is a PE they need a CT scan to see them.

I see multiple have already covered the cardiology aspect. But my point with muskular skeletal is that it should resolve/ see improvement, and if you weren't seeing that then it may be something else.

[erbear]

I called my PCP and she said that considering 1) it's not painful, just noticeable, 2) that I can't feel it in certain positions, 3) I can feel it more when I stretch it, 4) there are no other symptoms and 5) I had an echo, EKG, chest x-ray and CT scan come back normal recently that I should monitor, keep my cardio appt next week and come in next week if it's still bothering me. And obvs go to the ER if any of that changes.

[heygrey]

erbear, glad its on their radar and that it hasn't gotten worse. Hopefully you can get some more definitive answers soon!

[Aloe Vera]

In the meantime, if it is muscular, you can massage it with a tennis ball. Pick a wall and put the tennis ball between the painful spot and the wall and move around slowly to massage the area. You'll know right away if it's a knot in your muscles.

[raindrops]

Possibly a rib subluxation? I had a similar feeling and that’s what it ended up being, there are exercises on YouTube to try and ultimately I went to a chiropractor to fix it.