Thoracic outlet Syndrome, Upper Cross Syndrome or neck issues?

[Efraim]

I am a 57 year old male. For 3 years I have been getting a twinge in my upper left chest which then leads to tightening of my muscles from my left neck down to my left hand. The discomfort can last for hours and is unrelated to stress or exercise.  It can happen while I am sitting or just walking on a flat service.   Over the years I have taken 2 echo stress tests.  My heart is fine.  Over the counter analgesics like Advil or Tylenol can sometimes ease the symptoms.  Could this be caused by my cervical spondylyosis, herniated disc c3-4 and bulging c4-c5, c5- c6 and c6 -c7?    Any ideas what this could be?

[panda2526]

And also to bonijokrauss...

Sorry, got you two mixed up. Meant to post reply to Efraim. My bad...oops

Cheers

[Efraim]

thanks for your response.  It is good to know that there are others out there suffering from the same strange phenomena.

[panda2526]

You are allowed to get copies of al your medical records, and your current blood work will maybe help point you in a direction to go if you get copies. You can bring them home and look at them, I know at first they all look like greek but if you start punching in the names and numbers of the various tests you'll see what the abbreviations stand for and you can research what "optimal" levels of each thing tested for should be. There are "standard" reference ranges, but the standard and the optimal often vary significantly, and so if you fall within the "normal" range, docs don't investigate further or tell you you're "fine". I have recently been finding out for my husband and I that we are not fine as they have been telling us, and some personal research has given us a lot more information and answers than what the docs telling us.

I recommend getting all your records, get current blood work, ask for complete workups, and another test we found out about that is not a standard routine screen is for iron. and not just the one iron number they look at, you need to get the transferrin saturation, ferritin, iron serum, and TIBC. These give a picture of how your body is STORING iron, and in so many cases people are living with a silent killer.

Too much iron is toxic...we need very little for optimal health and the effects of excess iron is damaging to organs, tissues, and joints. My husband was recently diagnosed with hereditary hemochromatosis, so since birth has been storing iron instead of getting rid of it...now he has liver damage, pancreatic nodules, retinal hemorrhaging, skin afflictions, and joint pain to the unbearable, as well as chronic fatigue. Iron is devastating to your body and docs are not picking up on it until end stage.

The liver and heart are the two most common affected organs, and patients usually present early on with joint and body pain, fatigue, heart palpitations, and liver enzymes begin to rise for no explained reason the docs can find, as the liver gets more and more damaged. Leads to cirrhosis.

I encourage anyone to get this on your list of things to do while in your dr.s ofice, at least once in your life, especially men of 40-50 and women post menopausal usaully in their 60's are detected, but the symptoms of HHC start earlier. Early detection is key, to catch it before damage is done and irreversible.

Anyone diagnosed with fibromyalgia, osteo-athritis, elevated liver enzymes not related to another problem, weird abdominal pain, among many other things needs to check out if iron is the culprit. Don't be surprised if your dr poo poos this...many do, and the results are disastrous. This is a common genetic disorder among European background. Most do not know they have it until end stage and severe problems from organ damage.

Just thought I'd share...I have been doing so in many communities and forums. Awareness is key. I found out through learning about my husband that my iron is way too high. I am 42, female, and if I had not learned about my husband I would be one of those people finding out 20 years from now. I have many symptoms now, but not severe enough for docs to pay attention. Even with the new evidence on my blood tests for iron, my dr. told me I'm fine and she saw no evidence of iron overload. Boy am I going to give her a piece of my mind. They don't know what they are looking for.

Thanks for listening/reading along. Maybe this acan help someone, even someone you know that is suffering with no answers.

[bonijokrauss]

I have neck issues at C5/C6 and some arthritis and I have the same type of things going on. I too, have had the tests done for heart, etc and nothing ever shows up. One doctor diagnosed me with something, but I can't remember what it was. Sorry, wish I could, but it was a long word and I just remember hearing part of and its "tic" something or another. It comes and goes, and I can go for a month with no symptoms and then I will have them for a week or two. Hope this helps and wish I could remember what it was he told me.

[sennefer]

HI,

What does your doc say?  The left side issues maybe exactly what you have stated. Ask your doc.

[blondie918]

Get your neck checked out. Causes lots of muscle problems when its tight