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Chest Pain with colitis?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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colitiskid
New Member
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 6
Posted 8/23/2012 5:50 PM (GMT -6)
Hello, everyone! My 19-yr-old has been recently diagnosed with UC after having symptoms from October '11 through June this year. I have been reading these boards a lot.......so much great support and info. Now I am asking for help/advice.

She started/tapered off pred in June/July (6 wks). She also started Asacol. She had bad chest pain/went to ER in July; they couldn't figure out what it was. Later, a doc diagnosed VitD deficiency, so she started on a high dose once a week, and the pain subsided. Now, we tried Rowasa a week ago, and the chest pain returned. The docs do NOT think it is related to the meds. Every time we tell a doc about it or ask for tests, they say they don't know what it is and to keep taking meds.

Do any of you have chest pain with UC?
Have you been told you have costochondritis?

I see it for Crohn's but not mentioned for UC.

All help/advice is appreciated. She returns to college soon, and this is super stressful. We are trying the VSL3 along w/the Vit D. She tried fish oil, but it made her stools more frequent/loose. Next week she sees a nutritionist; we are limiting/cutting out most milk, sugar and fiber right now. Oh, and Asacol, 3 pills 3x/day. The Rowasa we stopped again as the chest pain increased.

Is the chest pain just a coincidence or ????? Thanks again for all advice.
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Bacon Girl
Veteran Member
Joined : May 2011
Posts : 5490
Posted 8/23/2012 6:06 PM (GMT -6)
i developed costochondritis from prednisone. i still feel it sometimes but not too much. the main problem i got from it was when i exercised. exercise makes the chest pain worse so if it's bothering her, she shouldn't do upper body stuff. something i found that helped was rubbing boswellia cream on it. it's used for arthritis but i found it very soothing for the chest pain.
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Chinamomto2
Regular Member
Joined : Dec 2011
Posts : 141
Posted 8/23/2012 6:20 PM (GMT -6)
Ironically, or not, I just got home about 20 minutes ago from an overnight hospital stay due to chest pain. I got a cardiac work-up and everything came back fine, so I don't know what it is. Sort of feels muscular, sort of feels hiatal hernia-ish. I think they erred on the side of it being cardiac since I'm over 40 but I do wonder if its UC related. I've never been on prednisone, just colazal and canasa.

Chinamom
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garylouisville
Veteran Member
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 9088
Posted 8/23/2012 6:28 PM (GMT -6)
This is a shot in the dark and probably not it, but could it be gas? Sometimes when I get a lot of gas it seems to hang around in my chest area on occasion and kind of makes my heart area have some pain. That actually just happened to me last night. I had a lot of gas, when I finally got rid of the gas, my pain went away.
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colitiskid
New Member
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 6
Posted 8/23/2012 7:18 PM (GMT -6)
Joanna, garylouisville, Chinamomto2 and bananagirl, I just shared your responses with my teen, and we are thankful for the quick responses. We have more or less ruled out gas, plus reflux, but those are good ideas to think about. At the hospital ER they gave her some type of liquid to drink, and the doc said, 'If the pain goes away, it's acid reflux; if not, then that's not it.' The pain stayed. Sigh. It is helpful to get all this support and ideas. You all brought a smile to her face tonight.

We have armed ourselves with a bunch of books about UC this summer. Since she has only been on the Asacol since June, I say keep at it ... but she really wants to work on the foods/probiotics/etc, too. The VSL3 is making her gassy, but it's just two days of taking it!! I think teens are even more impatient than I am sometimes.

Again, many thanks to you all. A good evening to you all.
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colitiskid
New Member
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 6
Posted 8/23/2012 7:20 PM (GMT -6)
oops/apologies/Joanna=bananagirl; Sorry that this is one in the same. Time to rest my tired eyes. Again, thanks ... you helped my teen tonight.
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Bacon Girl
Veteran Member
Joined : May 2011
Posts : 5490
Posted 8/23/2012 7:44 PM (GMT -6)
haha no problem colitiskid. i'm glad she is trying a lot of things. tell her to stick with the VSL. it made me very gassy for 2 weeks, but after that, i was ok. also, the paleo diet has been really helpful for my UC lately. i don't know what her diet is like, but she could give it a try if she is having symptoms.
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colitiskid
New Member
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 6
Posted 8/24/2012 5:02 AM (GMT -6)
Those are wonderful suggestions, bananagirl. I will definitely tell her to stick with the VSL. If it starts to 'work' we have to figure out how to get it safely to college in the car!!! Time to buy some spiffy type of traveling cooler. We have looked at the paleo diet.... one of her other issues is she has had an allergy to tree nuts her whole life. So many of the diets (SCD, too) call for nuts, nuts, and more nuts. We used to think it was a curse to have the nut allergy until ulcerative colitis came along. Again, many thanks. I have read so many of your posts to learn information this summer. I just wish she could wake up and have a day with no chest pain. Take care.
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Bacon Girl
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Joined : May 2011
Posts : 5490
Posted 8/24/2012 8:16 AM (GMT -6)
colitiskid, ouch nut allergies would stink! is that mostly nuts like almonds, cashews, pecans, brazil nuts? are coconuts and avocados included? i actually find it really easy to be on paleo and not have nuts, but i do include avocados. i do eat seaweed wraps that have some nuts inside but it's mainly for extra calories.

i did the same thing as you guys last summer! i got out practically EVERY book on UC from the library and just bombarded my brain with information. it will kind of make you go crazy since some books promote diet and natural healing and then it will be bashed in a book about medication.

oh and something else i forgot to mention. i have started using magnets as in "magnet therapy." i don't know if you have heard of it before but i was speaking to somebody with UC about it. we both say cramping and pain are our main symptoms and what i do is tape magnets to my belly as well as the soles of my feet. this has helped my cramping a lot. i know it sounds weird, but if you googling it, it's used a lot for arthritis patients, and since costochondritis is an inflammation in the sternum area, she could try taping a very small magnet where she fells pain. i use neodymium magnets that i got for $15 on amazon.
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sherbear46
Veteran Member
Joined : Jun 2011
Posts : 3316
Posted 8/24/2012 9:43 AM (GMT -6)
I believe its been mentioned that some people can get chest pain when tapering the pred. I also think I myself have had bouts with Costochronditis. I read about it on Healingwell and said to myself gee that sounds like me. Mine hurt daily too for a long time. Finally just stopped for whatever reason. I feel for your daughter. Not really knowing why your having a specific pain is very nerve racking.
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MNBeachgal
Veteran Member
Joined : Jun 2008
Posts : 918
Posted 8/24/2012 1:38 PM (GMT -6)
I get chest pains when I'm tapering Prednisone. Seem to be worse till I get to about 10mg but of course that's when my UC symptoms come back so I end up going back up in dose again. Mine are more like palpitations but it also can hurt and even wakes me up in the middle of the night. My doctor said its normal when you are tapering Prednisone.

I've also had chest pains that turned out to be gas but I never would have known at the time the pain occured. It seemed the chest pains happen way before you actually feel the gas sometimes. 

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xeekk
Regular Member
Joined : May 2010
Posts : 256
Posted 8/24/2012 3:23 PM (GMT -6)
I used to get costochondritis with my flares. The doctor wouldn't have diagnosed it unless I told him what I thought. Truth is it doesn't show up on X-rays and there's not much else to diagnose it. I knew I had it, because I had localized pain at the sternum that was just a bit more than skin deep. I told my doctor, and he agreed.

There's no real treatment. It's often unexplained unless sports is involved. It's inflammation of the of the cartilage around the sternum. It's can be extremely painful, but usually harmless. It usually goes away on it's own and NSAIDs help. Unfortunately I refuse NSAIDs because of my colitis, so the doctor could only give me pain pills which helps some, but Advil would have worked better than morphine (strange eh?).
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colitiskid
New Member
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 6
Posted 8/24/2012 4:35 PM (GMT -6)
Thanks to everyone who posted advice/ideas today. Bananagirl, thanks for the ideas about magnets. No, we hadn't heard of them or read about them, yet. And she can eat avocado...for a while when on pred she ate a lot of it; now that she has seem to have more control of the situation, she isn't as 'in' to avocados as before. But other nuts, no, no almonds, no walnuts, or pecans, or cashews, or pistachios....none of it. She can tolerate peanuts, but the others mean a stick w/the epipen and call 9-1-1. She has had that allergy since childhood....

She was only on the pred. for 6 weeks....but from all the craze to read about this UC and what it means, I am learning that pred. can affect her for a long time after.

Thanks, Sherbear46 for sharing about when you had chest pain, and xeekk, too, and MNBeachgal. Yes, I don't think I'd have her try Tylenol.....won't that upset the colon?

All her labs from yesterday are okay. And she's on a huge dose of Vit D bec. one doc thought that might cause the chest issues. Yesterday's test shows she has gone from 17 up to 60 on the Vit D test, so while it's good news, then it means it's not a lack of Vit D that is causing the pain. I hear you xeekk that she will just have to wait it out. She really wants to exercise back at college in a couple of weeks, but I'm pushing her towards yoga (and telling the instructor she has colitis!).... and meditation and the like. She is taking a health/psych class fall, and maybe that will give her some insights into positivity. It is so hard to be positive.

Thanks again to all of you. This is a great forum even if it's me/Mom posting and not my teen. Oh, and I gave / gifted her a membership to the CCFA....but I don't think she has researched that site, yet. As you say bananagirl, there is SO much information out there..........we're still quibbling over the possibility of vitamins, ginger, tumeric, glutamine....overwhelming choices and can't bombard the system all at once.

A good evening to you all..................
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xeekk
Regular Member
Joined : May 2010
Posts : 256
Posted 8/24/2012 4:43 PM (GMT -6)
Tylenol will not upset the colon. NSAIDs are likely to. That includes aspirin, advil, etc. They can be really bad to the gut. Tylenol is most safest on the digestive system. It can do harm to the liver but only in large amounts or if taken for a long period of time with alcohol use as well.
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colitiskid
New Member
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 6
Posted 8/24/2012 5:51 PM (GMT -6)
Thanks for that tip, xeekk. I will write it down; we get so much info, it's hard to keep it straight. The doc did write in her report that my teen can take Tylenol if the costochondritis pain gets to be too strong. Guess that's one smart doc! She's the one who ordered the initial colonoscopy last fall..... but then docs couldn't diagnose/figure out colitis until the really bad flare in May/June.

Thanks again. I appreciate your wisdom/knowledge.
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Bdd88
New Member
Joined : May 2021
Posts : 3
Posted 5/7/2021 12:54 PM (GMT -6)
Anyone have center back pain between the shoulder blades with costocondritis? Trying to figure out why if someone presses on my back at all it hurts on my heart or center chest on the front. Not sure if this is the typical costrocondritis or something new.

Horrible Healthcare in my area so trying to find out what tests I might need, i read is could be pericarditis too but I just don't know.
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