Rib cage tightness: Not sure what it might be

38 year old female here, experiencing this sensation since May '25.

Leading up to it, I was strong and active, working as a chef 11 hours a day no problem.
Things that happened before May, some of which may not correspond to eachother:
- I came down with the worst flu I've ever had in my life in Feb. Coughing ridiculously.
- Months later, woke up with debilitating neck pain. Was unable to move or lift it for days without wincing/crying.
- After the neck went away, my collarbones started hurting and clicking. Never had that before.
- After that stopped, it moved down to my thoracic. Particularly behind my right shoulder blade. Ive had this pain before, usually after working a lot with my head down at a prep table.
- A month later, my ribs started getting the painful-ish hugging sensation and my abdominal muscles started to feel weird. I started wearing a hernia belt and/or a rib belt.
- My chest started to get noticeable wider, having to buy larger bra bands.
- Stomach would bloat a lot. Started having digestion issues.

Then one day, just like Christine, I was driving. My back, ribs and stomach started to hurt. My stomach was bloated out and the pressure was immense. My ribs started not being able to expand, diaphragm was spasming, and while i could breathe, i couldnt fully expand my chest to get a full breath. My heart started to beat out of control and I kept going bc I wasnt too far from my house as I told 911 to meet me there. Ive had panic attacks before, this felt nothing like that and I was super calm.

Since then, I've had multiple episodes like that in a car seated position. Rib tightness/pain is frequent, along with my chest clicking at the sternum. Bending or eating or creating any abdominal pressure can cause palpitations or pain. Stomach still distended.

I've been to multiple ERs, specialists and have had tons of test done. Obviously they did a ton of heart testing after that. ECGs, echocardiogram, holter monitors, etc. Nothing wrong except they picked up on the palpitations with the monitor. Tons of blood tests, autoimmune panel, h pylori test, stool test, endoscopy, colonoscopy, cervical mri, thoracic mri, shoulder mri, abdominal ct scan, chest ct scan, etc.
I do have cervical stenosis and degradation/some bulging/a hemangioma in my thoracic. I also have a 2cm fat-protruding umbilical hernia. My PT lady says my shoulderblades are uneven/weak. And my PCP/PT have said I likely have hEDS. But they said none of those explain my symptoms. So I have zero answers still. I cant drive, cant work now, and haven't found any meds that help. Im not an anxious person and am normally a "push through it, no problem" type with a high tolerance for pain so this is just driving me nuts. My PCP gave up saying he doesnt know what else to do. I have a referral in for neurology but its been months and still cant even get an appt booked. Same with a referral for rheumatologist.

I was so sure it was a sliding hiatal hernia, but my gi doctor said he didnt see one on my endoscopy or mri. My only other strong assumption is nerves. The vagus nerve controls the diaphragm, digestion, and heart rate. A lot of us seem to have back issues, hiatal hernias, or Stomach issues. Has anyone with similar symptoms been down that road with a neurologist yet?

@bbex not exactly similar but band of tightness around ribs, various back issues…seems like you tested a lot, so hopefully nothing life-threatening as far as you know. pray, pray…I have had excellent help from my osteopath/MD, manually releasing a lot of tension, as my muscles have been the source of pain that other docs don’t address. This doc actually caught a developing cancer and sent me to big medical center for immediate testing ! Life saving !