Question:
I've been suffering of chronic upper back pain for the past 3 years. I would appreciate if someone could help with an advise since I don't know what to try any more. Basically the history of my condition is as follows:

- It started with a tingling / numb sensation in a spot between the middle of the left shoulder blade and the back bone, in the soft tissue. The spot was not in any way tender when pressed just disturbingly tingly at effort.

- The condition progressed over the whole upper back, shoulders and the side of my arms. It feels like the skin is sunburned and is sore when gently rubbing but not when pressing hard or pushing with the finger. The tingly sensation extended on the whole middle area of my upper back.

If I exercise or I am very active it's less annoying than when I relax or do light moves. The movements of the head and body don't seem to be impaired or restricted in any way. It feels like a weird muscle pain / burn. I've had a lot of tests and X-rays done but nothing significant or abnormal came out of them. I tried all the oral NSAIDS on the market (Vioxx, Mobicox, Tylenol, Ibuprofen etc.) and also a variety of ointments but nothing seem to disturb this constant no relief pain. I've also tried massage with no improvement. I haven't had any pains anywhere else (no headaches or joint pains) so far and the X-rays do not show signs of arthritis. One year ago for 6 month I've also had an attack (first time in my life) of chronic (very strong) nausea that lasted a few month (24 hours a day with no connection with diet whatsoever) and slowly disappeared. There was no medication that helped that either and basically it healed with no intervention after 6-7 month. The medical tests revealed no abnormalities. I've also had 2 Lyme tests done and they came negative.

This are the major symptoms - advice on this?

Answer:

Be sure and double check those Lyme tests. What lab you used matters.

Also, the standard Lyme tests were never meant to diagnose Lyme. There has been so much confusing in this area that there is now a Public Law signed by the Pres. of the United States stating that.

There is no test that can rule out Lyme disease. Really the best way to rule it out is to see a Dr. who treats Lyme ever single day. You can find one by going to http://www.lymenet.org under Flash Discussions.

Sounds like soft tissue to me, especially with the description of its relation to exercise. But I suspect that you're getting it moving, getting the spasm area involved and somewhat cleared with some activities but not others.

If I were dealing with you, I would probably start out by having you put your hand behind your back at belt level, and then do cupped-hand percussion in the area at shoulder blade.

But you're elsewhere, I'm just speculating.

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