Hi all, looking for some advice/ideas as we’re completely stuck.
My mum (late 50s) has been unwell since early Jan. It started with sudden severe pain (burning, stabbing, described as feeling like sunburn) on one side of her torso (band-like, wrapping round to her thigh and breast). GP initially thought internal shingles, but no rash ever appeared.
Since then it’s been a mix of:
- Severe shifting nerve-type pain (torso → breast → now mainly left side breast - had breast examinations and no concerns)
- Numbness in toes (now mostly gone)
- Brief vision issue (now diagnosed as a floater)
She’s had:
- Multiple GP reviews
- Blood tests (lots – all normal)
- X-ray (clear)
- stomach ultrasound (clear)
- CT brain scan (clear)
- MRI brain & spine (clear)
- 5-day hospital stay with “everything they could think of” tested
Doctors have ruled out anything serious like MS, tumours etc but have basically said they don’t know what it is.
She’s now on gabapentin (2 weeks so far, no improvement yet). The pain is still ongoing and really affecting her quality of life. She’s already tried amitrypline and pregablin.
Has anyone experienced anything similar or have any ideas what this could be? We feel a bit lost as everything serious has been ruled out but there’s still clearly something going on.
Posted in AIBU as we are desperate!