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muscle spasms under breast in ribs
I have muscle spasm in or around the ribs on both sides (in the front under the breast and sometimes in the back at the same horizontal position), it feels like a ball rolling, in that it switches sides. It occurs even at night during sleep, painful enough to wake me. I only know that when I relax and stretch (the side where the knot is) using several positions I have to wait till it goes away, in many cases to have it return in other places described above. What does it mean, how do I treat it. I have high blood pressure and the meds deplete my potassium so I take a prescription supplement for that. What should I be asking my doctor.
From WebMD:
You could be out for a run or drifting off to sleep when it happens: The muscles of your calf or foot suddenly become hard, tight, and extremely painful. You are having a muscle cramp.
Sometimes called charley horses -- particularly when they are in the calf muscles -- cramps are caused by muscle spasms, involuntary contractions of one or more muscles. In addition to the foot and calf muscles, other muscles prone to spasms include the front and back of the thigh, the hands, arms, abdomen, and muscles along the rib cage.
Almost everyone experiences muscle cramps, which come without warning. What causes them, and what can you do to relieve them?
Possible Causes of Muscle Cramps
Muscle cramps can have many possible causes. They include:
Poor blood circulation in the legs
Overexertion of the calf muscles while exercising
Insufficient stretching before exercise
Exercising in the heat
Muscle fatigue
Dehydration
Magnesium and/or potassium deficiency
Calcium deficiency in pregnant women
Malfunctioning nerves, which could be caused by a problem such as a spinal cord injury or pinched nerve in the neck or back
Muscle cramps can also occur as a side effect of some drugs. Medications that can cause muscle cramps include:
Lasix (furosemide), Microzide (hydrochlorothiazide), and other diuretics ("water pills") used to remove fluid from the body
Aricept (donepezil), used to treat Alzheimer's disease
Prostigmine (neostigmine), used for myasthenia gravis
Procardia (nifedipine), a treatment for angina and high blood pressure
Evista (raloxifene), an osteoporosis treatment
Brethine (terbutaline), Proventil and Ventolin (albuterol), asthma medications
Tasmar (tolcapone), a medication used to treat Parkinson's disease
Statin medications for cholesterol such as Crestor (rosuvastatin), Lescol (fluvastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), or Zocor (simvastatin)
Treatment of a Muscle Spasm
When muscle cramps occur, there are several things you can do to help ease them, such as massaging, stretching, or icing the muscle, warming the muscle, or taking a bath with Epsom salt.
For a charley horse in the calf or a cramp in the back of the thigh (hamstring), try putting your weight on the affected leg and bending your knee slightly, or sit or lie down with your leg out straight and pull the top of your foot toward your head. For a cramp in the front of the thigh (quadriceps), hold onto a chair to steady yourself and pull your foot back toward your buttock.
To help reduce the risk of cramps in the future, try the following:
Eat more foods high in vitamins and magnesium and calcium.
Stay well hydrated.
Stretch properly before exercise.
In most cases, self-care measures are sufficient for dealing with muscle cramps, which typically go away within minutes. But if you experience them frequently or for no apparent reason, you should speak to your doctor. They could signal a medical problem that requires treatment.
You could be out for a run or drifting off to sleep when it happens: The muscles of your calf or foot suddenly become hard, tight, and extremely painful. You are having a muscle cramp.
Sometimes called charley horses -- particularly when they are in the calf muscles -- cramps are caused by muscle spasms, involuntary contractions of one or more muscles. In addition to the foot and calf muscles, other muscles prone to spasms include the front and back of the thigh, the hands, arms, abdomen, and muscles along the rib cage.
Almost everyone experiences muscle cramps, which come without warning. What causes them, and what can you do to relieve them?
Possible Causes of Muscle Cramps
Muscle cramps can have many possible causes. They include:
Poor blood circulation in the legs
Overexertion of the calf muscles while exercising
Insufficient stretching before exercise
Exercising in the heat
Muscle fatigue
Dehydration
Magnesium and/or potassium deficiency
Calcium deficiency in pregnant women
Malfunctioning nerves, which could be caused by a problem such as a spinal cord injury or pinched nerve in the neck or back
Muscle cramps can also occur as a side effect of some drugs. Medications that can cause muscle cramps include:
Lasix (furosemide), Microzide (hydrochlorothiazide), and other diuretics ("water pills") used to remove fluid from the body
Aricept (donepezil), used to treat Alzheimer's disease
Prostigmine (neostigmine), used for myasthenia gravis
Procardia (nifedipine), a treatment for angina and high blood pressure
Evista (raloxifene), an osteoporosis treatment
Brethine (terbutaline), Proventil and Ventolin (albuterol), asthma medications
Tasmar (tolcapone), a medication used to treat Parkinson's disease
Statin medications for cholesterol such as Crestor (rosuvastatin), Lescol (fluvastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin), Mevacor (lovastatin), Pravachol (pravastatin), or Zocor (simvastatin)
Treatment of a Muscle Spasm
When muscle cramps occur, there are several things you can do to help ease them, such as massaging, stretching, or icing the muscle, warming the muscle, or taking a bath with Epsom salt.
For a charley horse in the calf or a cramp in the back of the thigh (hamstring), try putting your weight on the affected leg and bending your knee slightly, or sit or lie down with your leg out straight and pull the top of your foot toward your head. For a cramp in the front of the thigh (quadriceps), hold onto a chair to steady yourself and pull your foot back toward your buttock.
To help reduce the risk of cramps in the future, try the following:
Eat more foods high in vitamins and magnesium and calcium.
Stay well hydrated.
Stretch properly before exercise.
In most cases, self-care measures are sufficient for dealing with muscle cramps, which typically go away within minutes. But if you experience them frequently or for no apparent reason, you should speak to your doctor. They could signal a medical problem that requires treatment.
I also have been having severe cramps around the rib cage.earlier i would havecramps in the calf muscles or foot muscles.but this is more severe,longer lasting and does notgo awayso easily.i am 51 yrsof age,overweight,sedentary( college teacher).
I have started on calcium,vit E vit D.
I had TB of the spine about 3 yrs back in which L3,L4 vertebrae were damaged.
I have started on calcium,vit E vit D.
I had TB of the spine about 3 yrs back in which L3,L4 vertebrae were damaged.
Wow. Your research has been the best. I'm 45 and have been experiencing this muscle spasm underneath my right breast. I'm a long distance runner who has had Type I chronic diabetes for most of my life. The spasm usually occurs after bending down and after a very long run where I lost a lot of fluid. I just always excused this pain due to my diabetes and being chronically dehydrated. The cramping is about the size of a marble or two and it squeezes so tight that I have to stretch my belly out (the opposite direction) and breath deeply. It's very scary because I never know how long it will last and whether or not I will recover from it. Thanks for the post.
I have similar concerns, so this may be of help to some of you.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Precordial Catch Syndrome (PCS), also known as Texidor's Twinge, is a common cause of chest pain complaints in children and adolescents. It also occurs, though less frequently, in adults. PCS manifests itself as a very intense, sharp pain, typically at the left side of the chest, generally in the cartilage between the bones of the sternum and rib cage, which is worse when taking breaths. Patients often think that they are having a heart attack which causes them to panic. This pain typically lasts from 30 seconds to a few minutes. The frequency of episodes varies by patient; sometimes occurring daily with multiple episodes each day, or on a less frequent basis with weeks, months, or even years between episodes. Though some episodes last just a few breaths, in some cases they can persist for up to 30 minutes. On rare occasions, breathing in or out suddenly will cause a small popping or cracking sensation in the chest, which results in the pain going away. In most cases the pain is resolved quickly and completely, and medication is not needed for the pain to subside. There is no known treatment or cure for PCS.[1]
•
History
The syndrome was first described and named by Miller and Texidor in 1955.[2] They reported the condition in 10 patients, one being Miller himself. In 1978, PCS was discussed by Sparrow and Bird who reported that 45 healthy patients suffered from it and that it was probably more frequent than generally assumed.[3] PCS has also been reported on by Pickering in 1981[4] and by Reynolds in 1989[5] who did a report of the children in the US with the condition. These constitute the literature available on PCS.
Symptoms
PCS has consistent characteristics. Its symptoms begin with a sudden onset of anterior chest pain on the left side of the chest. The pain is localized and does not radiate like heart attack pain typically does. Breathing in, and sometimes breathing out, often intensifies the pain. Moving also intensifies the pain. Typically this causes the patient to freeze in place and breathe shallowly until the episode passes. Episodes typically last a couple of seconds to three minutes. The frequency of episodes varies by patient, sometimes occurring daily, multiple episodes each day, or more spread out over weeks, months, or years between episodes. PCS is believed to be localized cramping of certain muscle groups. Intensity of pain can vary from a dull annoying pain to intense pain causing momentary vision loss/blurriness and loss of breath.
Causes
The cause of PCS is unknown. Miller and Texidor suggested that the pain may originate in the parietal pleura of the lungs. Exeer suggested that this pain originates from very brief intercostal muscle spasm which relieved after release of spasm unlike intercostal muscle strain (6). The pain is most likely not of cardiac origin.[1]
Treatment
There is no known cure for PCS. However PCS is not believed to be dangerous or life threatening, and generally not seen as a major medical issue. Many see the worst part about PCS to be the fear that this chest pain is an indicator of a heart attack or other dangerous condition. PCS should only occasionally interfere with normal activity, and there is no reason to use any form of medication.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Precordial Catch Syndrome (PCS), also known as Texidor's Twinge, is a common cause of chest pain complaints in children and adolescents. It also occurs, though less frequently, in adults. PCS manifests itself as a very intense, sharp pain, typically at the left side of the chest, generally in the cartilage between the bones of the sternum and rib cage, which is worse when taking breaths. Patients often think that they are having a heart attack which causes them to panic. This pain typically lasts from 30 seconds to a few minutes. The frequency of episodes varies by patient; sometimes occurring daily with multiple episodes each day, or on a less frequent basis with weeks, months, or even years between episodes. Though some episodes last just a few breaths, in some cases they can persist for up to 30 minutes. On rare occasions, breathing in or out suddenly will cause a small popping or cracking sensation in the chest, which results in the pain going away. In most cases the pain is resolved quickly and completely, and medication is not needed for the pain to subside. There is no known treatment or cure for PCS.[1]
•
History
The syndrome was first described and named by Miller and Texidor in 1955.[2] They reported the condition in 10 patients, one being Miller himself. In 1978, PCS was discussed by Sparrow and Bird who reported that 45 healthy patients suffered from it and that it was probably more frequent than generally assumed.[3] PCS has also been reported on by Pickering in 1981[4] and by Reynolds in 1989[5] who did a report of the children in the US with the condition. These constitute the literature available on PCS.
Symptoms
PCS has consistent characteristics. Its symptoms begin with a sudden onset of anterior chest pain on the left side of the chest. The pain is localized and does not radiate like heart attack pain typically does. Breathing in, and sometimes breathing out, often intensifies the pain. Moving also intensifies the pain. Typically this causes the patient to freeze in place and breathe shallowly until the episode passes. Episodes typically last a couple of seconds to three minutes. The frequency of episodes varies by patient, sometimes occurring daily, multiple episodes each day, or more spread out over weeks, months, or years between episodes. PCS is believed to be localized cramping of certain muscle groups. Intensity of pain can vary from a dull annoying pain to intense pain causing momentary vision loss/blurriness and loss of breath.
Causes
The cause of PCS is unknown. Miller and Texidor suggested that the pain may originate in the parietal pleura of the lungs. Exeer suggested that this pain originates from very brief intercostal muscle spasm which relieved after release of spasm unlike intercostal muscle strain (6). The pain is most likely not of cardiac origin.[1]
Treatment
There is no known cure for PCS. However PCS is not believed to be dangerous or life threatening, and generally not seen as a major medical issue. Many see the worst part about PCS to be the fear that this chest pain is an indicator of a heart attack or other dangerous condition. PCS should only occasionally interfere with normal activity, and there is no reason to use any form of medication.
1 Comments
Nope. Mine is either one side or the other or both at the same time.Terribly painful. Like screaming painful.
I started getting these charlie horse cramps after my second pregnancy. The Dr.'s said it was too high for gall bladder. You can totally feel and see the knot when I am having such a spasm. It literally knocks the wind out of me. To cure, I try not to panic and have to "rub" the knot out while standing tall. It gets worse if I try to lay flat. My first attack was while using the breast pump I bent down to adjust the cord. It scared me so much my assistant took me to the E. R. They told me they weren't sure of what it could be and sent me home with antibiotics for a U. T. I. Does anyone think it could be a side affect from having an epideral?
1 Comments
i am so glad i found these comments.i thought I was crazy! I don't have to be doing much of anything to get them on either side,occasionally both and can get no answer from a DR for past 8yrs. Mine make me feel very evil when it happens LOL sorry and I feel like a snake is inside me writhing around. I can see and feel the muscle whe it happens.Sometimes they bring me to my knees they are so painful and nothing I can do to relieve them but wait. Happens while sleeping too and if I stretch.No answers or help is the worse. Reading every single one of these comments!
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