Hello all.

I had either gastritis or an ulcer in May of this year. I stopped drinking alcohol and it resolved after a few weeks. Due to covid restrictions, the pressure on the NHS in Wales, and the fact that I’d had ulcers 25 years ago (and my symptoms were identical) I didn’t consult a doctor.

At the same time I experienced intermittent and brief pain under my left armpit and my left shoulder blade. This only occurred when I was out walking. And it only happened once every couple of weeks for about 5 minutes,

In early August my adult son became ill with covid. I was extremely worried but he recovered after ten days. I suddenly experienced, for the first time in my life, acid reflux and heartburn. I stopped drinking alcohol (again!) and cut out spicy foods. The pain in my left armpit and shoulder blade got much worse and lasted for much longer, mostly prompted by eating, although I do get twinges while sleeping.

Getting a telephone appointment with my GP was difficult until I mentioned abdominal pains. I’ve just dropped off a stool sample, once this is analysed I will have a physical exam and blood tests.

I’m pretty sure I’ve developed a hiatal hernia due to the stress off my son being ill and sitting hunched forward, worrying. I’ve been doing heel drops and diaphragmatic breathing for the past few days and last night I felt a huge lurch in my chest, and the feeling of something balled-up in my sternum area completely disappeared. I felt like my stomach was in the correct place and my heartburn seems to have disappeared.

However I still get a brief, mild pain in my left shoulder blade when eating. It feels that as soon as the food hits my stomach there’s an instant twinge in that spot.

I had a severe car crash 20 years ago in which my left shoulder was badly damaged, as well as my SI joint in my pelvis. I’ve had years of PT on these two joints. In April I was in agony with lower back/pelvic pain but the bladder issues I’ve suffered for years suddenly stopped. I’ve since realised that the pain (which lasted for two weeks) was my SI joint and hip finally realigning fully after 20 years of being wonky. I was overjoyed but within a few weeks these stomach/shoulder/armpit issues emerged.

My theory is that my shoulder/diaphragm were also misaligned, and once my pelvis had slid back into place the misalignment of my upper torso became problematic.

I was very interested to read @debkl ’s posts. It may be wishful thinking on my part but I believe that this shoulder/armpit pain when eating might be caused by a neuro-muscular-skeletal issue, in my case anyway. I’d be really interested to know more about the exercises for dorsal scapular nerve impingement.