Bilateral radiating arm pain

[cloversblue]

I am a 49 year old female and have had several episodes of radiating arm pain. It starts in one arm and quickly radiates down both arms lasting only a few seconds.  The pain is very severe.  I have no chest pain or shortness of breath.  I have had an ECG, stress echo and have seen a cardiologist.  Everything is normal on my stress echo.  The only thing I have is hypertension.  The first episode I had was approx 6 - 12 months ago.  Then I had 3 episodes within a 4 week period. It has now been several months since an episode but I have felt like I was going to have one.  It starts with a cramping feeling in one arm.  I also have had some muscle weakness in my arms.  While brushing my teeth, it feels as though my arm gets so fatigued and crampy.  I do have lower and upper back pain as I am a nurse but no longer do any lifting.  

[SLadylani]

Hmm, I agree with atonicat. ECG and heart test are great, but this sounds like it's more related to the cervical spine area, particularly C5/6. Did you injure your head or neck before these symptoms started? It could also be just a past of degenerative disk disease.

My cervical neck problems began to show up in just a xray, I still am wanting/waiting to get other apporpriate tests done. If you have good insurance/good doctors I would ask/suggest a neck/spine xray and/or mri. A chiropractor might be able to shed some light.

[atonicat]

Have you had an MRI of your C and T spine? Radiating pain is usually caused by nerve impingement.