Severe chest pain

[friendofakwof3]

We have a 18 year old daughter. She has asthma and had a bout with bronchitis. For the past month she has had severe chest pain in her upper right lung/rib cage area, starting in the front, under the arm and in the upper back. She has been in the hospital for the last week and they have run CT scan, Xrays, as well as several other tests including gaulbladder tests. They can find nothing wrong with her. She is on the strongest pain medacine and that just bairly stops the pain. They now want to send her home on pain drugs and see if it just goes away. I worry because she has a blood cloting disorder (they have checked for those), severe asthma and they can't find a problem. Any ideas about what they should check for would be great.

[National Jewish Health]

Your note seems to say that your daughter has a blood clotting disorder.  If that is true, the pain could be related to abnormal blood clotting in the veins of her chest.  The CT scan may provide some sign of that.  It could also result from:  1) a strain or other injury to a bundle of nerves that runs through the arm pit called the brachial plexus; 2) inflammation of the nerves that run between her ribs; or 3) nerve compression in her spine.  Diagnosing the type of pain could be helpful.  You should ask her doctors if it is pleurisy.

You should not just wait until it goes away.  You should request consultation with a specialist in internal medicine or lung disease.

Good luck.

[A_Kap]

Well. I am really sorry to hear about this. Although it probably has already been tested, get a check on her lungs to make sure she has no pneumonia. Also, see if you can get the report(s) yourself and show it to another doctor and see what he/she says.