chest painI have fibromyalgia and RA. this morning i started having a pain that felt like a tightening on the right side of my chest. by afternoon i felt short of breath. by early evening the pain turned sharp and wrapped aroung to my right shoulder blade and i cant lift my arm past should height. it has stayed about the same without getting worse since 6 pm CST. because of my health history, i wasnt concerned other than the pain limiting my activity until i told a couple of people and they were alarmed. its on the right side, not left so im not sure what might be going on over there, or is it just a crazy muscle flair caused by one of my auto immune disorders?
Hello! Thank you for asking on Chat Doctor! I read your question carefully and understand your concern. Your symptoms don't seem to be related to any cardiac cause. As you refer, the pain is exacerbated from the arm movements and the respiratory movements (causing difficulty breathing), so it is probably a musculoskeletal pain. Based on your complicated clinical situation, both fibromyalgia and RA can cause this symptomatology. I would recommend consulting with your attending physician for a careful physical examination, a routine blood test and a chest x-ray, to exclude other possible causes. A cervical spine x-ray may be necessary to rule out a possible cervical spine degeneration, which could cause articular pain in this region. Meanwhile, I advise using painkillers like ibuprofen, fetoprotein, etc. and physiotherapy. Hope to have been of help! Greetings! 