Idiopathic Small Fiber Neuropathy - chest pressure/tighteness

I had a stroke in '19 I was left with dysesthesia all on the left side of my body. I have tightness on the whole left side. I can tolerate the arms and legs and sometimes my face and especially my hand but when it tightens up on my ribs around the breast area it makes me feel like I cannot breath. It feels like someone is sitting on my chest sometimes and it makes it hard to breath even though my oxegen level is fine. Putting an ice bag on it helps. Laying down helps me. It seem to appear when the weather changes to cold or a storm coming through or high stress. Doctors do not understand this problem because it is not a visible thing. I read it is what MS patients suffer the "MS hug"

Hello - I too have idiopathic SFN with pressure and tightness around the chest and rib area. I have experienced this intermittently throughout the day for years. Whenever I have mentioned this to my neurologist in the past, he has explained that SFN can affect any part of the anatomy. I have accepted this explanation and I deal with it the best I can. I find anti-inflammatories work the best but only take them when I absolutely need them. If you receive any other advice, I would greatly appreciate you sharing it.

So I am 68 and newly diagnosed with SFN by a telemedicine appt. I recently had with a neurologist. I am in the process of scheduling to have blood work done, and he wants to do an EMG test but after I read it does not diagnose SFN and can be very painful, I have decided against it. Apparently the many symptoms I have had for the last 15 years and longer are" classic SFN," but I either attributed them to other causes (e.g. degenerative disc disease) or I ignored them because I started to feel like a hypochondriac. After getting COVID this last January and ending up in the hospital briefly where I was diagnosed with heart valve issues I was completely unaware of, as well as developing symptoms that have not gone away, in particular, a horrific sensation of pressure on my chest and feeling like I breathe too shallow, as well as intermittent low oxygen levels (in the upper 80's) that wax and wane, all of which my cardiologist and pulmonologist told me were not related to my heart and lungs (HUH???), I decided to consult a neurologist and I am slowly piecing together that I have most likely been dealing with SFN for decades. I also believe both my mother and brother were as well but went undiagnosed. My question to you and others is, have you ever experienced low oxygen levels? It is very scary and worrisome, especially when my cardiologist and pulmonologist seem fine with it. I am looking forward to more testing and meetings with my neurologist.

I have had this or something similar for about 2 years. Mine is just below the breasts and seems to run mostly across the chest from side to side in the front, less so in the back. It is a feelin of pressure. I've mentioned it to every doctor (neurologist, gastroenterologist, PCP, etc. with no answer. Finally got my PCP to order a CT scan of the abdomen. Result shows some heart enlargement. Echocardiogram and angiogram of heart show only slight thickening of left ventricle wall which ruled out cardio as a source of this symptom. Cardio also found that I have "monophasic flow" which has to do with blood in lower extremities not flowing back to the heart as it should. I recently started having very low blood pressure. Gastroenterologist did endoscopy and found gastritis and small hiatal hernia. The hiatal hernia seemed to me the most suspect for cause of this mystery feeling. So far nothing prescribed has affected it. When I exert or get stressed (notably having to explain symptoms to my doctors causes me to get out of breath) it becomes much tighter and I FEEL like I can't fill my lungs or take a deep breath, but my oxygen level is normal. I find that I am slumping over when sitting and sometimes when walking and I had suspected this might have to do with the muscles in that area becoming weaker and my posture becoming worse. I also notice that I have to eat smaller amounts of food or the pressure is worse. I'm taking gabapentin for pain and tramadol only as needed. My gastroenerologist prescribed Citrucel and Miralax for constipation and Pepcid and Aloe Vera gelcaps (I guess for the gastritis. My PCP prescribed ezetimibe (Zetia) for cholesterol control. I take vitamin d3 (4000 units a day) and supplemental Calcium (1200 units a day) for osteoporosis. I also get monthly injections of Evenity for osteoporosis. All of which are known to my various doctors. I have also been treated for post-treatment Lyme disease, (probably unsucessfully), which I think may be a factor in my neuropathy. I offer all this information in case any of it corresponds with anyone else's profile.

I am somewhat relieved to hear that others have this chest tightness - that it is not in my head. I am a little surprised it may be one effect of the neuropathy although that makes sense I guess. I am starting PT this week and I hope to find exercises to strengthen my back and correct posture among other things and see if that lessens this feeling.

Thank you to everyone who has reported this and I hope my posting helps too. I wish we could get our doctors to recognize this.

So I am 68 and newly diagnosed with SFN by a telemedicine appt. I recently had with a neurologist. I am in the process of scheduling to have blood work done, and he wants to do an EMG test but after I read it does not diagnose SFN and can be very painful, I have decided against it. Apparently the many symptoms I have had for the last 15 years and longer are" classic SFN," but I either attributed them to other causes (e.g. degenerative disc disease) or I ignored them because I started to feel like a hypochondriac. After getting COVID this last January and ending up in the hospital briefly where I was diagnosed with heart valve issues I was completely unaware of, as well as developing symptoms that have not gone away, in particular, a horrific sensation of pressure on my chest and feeling like I breathe too shallow, as well as intermittent low oxygen levels (in the upper 80's) that wax and wane, all of which my cardiologist and pulmonologist told me were not related to my heart and lungs (HUH???), I decided to consult a neurologist and I am slowly piecing together that I have most likely been dealing with SFN for decades. I also believe both my mother and brother were as well but went undiagnosed. My question to you and others is, have you ever experienced low oxygen levels? It is very scary and worrisome, especially when my cardiologist and pulmonologist seem fine with it. I am looking forward to more testing and meetings with my neurologist.

I have had this or something similar for about 2 years. Mine is just below the breasts and seems to run mostly across the chest from side to side in the front, less so in the back. It is a feelin of pressure. I've mentioned it to every doctor (neurologist, gastroenterologist, PCP, etc. with no answer. Finally got my PCP to order a CT scan of the abdomen. Result shows some heart enlargement. Echocardiogram and angiogram of heart show only slight thickening of left ventricle wall which ruled out cardio as a source of this symptom. Cardio also found that I have "monophasic flow" which has to do with blood in lower extremities not flowing back to the heart as it should. I recently started having very low blood pressure. Gastroenterologist did endoscopy and found gastritis and small hiatal hernia. The hiatal hernia seemed to me the most suspect for cause of this mystery feeling. So far nothing prescribed has affected it. When I exert or get stressed (notably having to explain symptoms to my doctors causes me to get out of breath) it becomes much tighter and I FEEL like I can't fill my lungs or take a deep breath, but my oxygen level is normal. I find that I am slumping over when sitting and sometimes when walking and I had suspected this might have to do with the muscles in that area becoming weaker and my posture becoming worse. I also notice that I have to eat smaller amounts of food or the pressure is worse. I'm taking gabapentin for pain and tramadol only as needed. My gastroenerologist prescribed Citrucel and Miralax for constipation and Pepcid and Aloe Vera gelcaps (I guess for the gastritis. My PCP prescribed ezetimibe (Zetia) for cholesterol control. I take vitamin d3 (4000 units a day) and supplemental Calcium (1200 units a day) for osteoporosis. I also get monthly injections of Evenity for osteoporosis. All of which are known to my various doctors. I have also been treated for post-treatment Lyme disease, (probably unsucessfully), which I think may be a factor in my neuropathy. I offer all this information in case any of it corresponds with anyone else's profile.

I am somewhat relieved to hear that others have this chest tightness - that it is not in my head. I am a little surprised it may be one effect of the neuropathy although that makes sense I guess. I am starting PT this week and I hope to find exercises to strengthen my back and correct posture among other things and see if that lessens this feeling.

Thank you to everyone who has reported this and I hope my posting helps too. I wish we could get our doctors to recognize this.