Anyone want to hazard a diagnosis...? Nocturnal back pain.

[FOF44]

For the last week or so I have had bad nightime back pain, painful to move, spreads thro to my chest/ribs, hurts if I breathe deeply. A different sleeping position makes no difference. Once its woken me up it's impossible to get back to sleep so I get up, take some painkillers, and over the course of an hour it subsides. I suspect the getting up is more effective than the painkillers since they dont work if I stay in bed! During the day I barely notice it, tho there is a little residual achey-ness just under my left shoulder blade I guess.

I have already posted recently and had some suggestions of gallstones but GP was really dismissive. He said wrong place for the pain. He also said lungs sounded clear. Nothing hurts to the touch. Reflexes fine. No obvious anything came up from the consultation. Except my BP was thro the roof which is not usual for me. I put it down to my irritation with the GP since I felt he wasn't really listening. But it's ended up that I went to talk about back pain, and came out with a BP monitoring diary to fill in for the next 2 weeks! I have been checking my BP at home and unfortunately it has stayed quite high. Is this part of the backache issue?? Or am I getting my knickers in a twist because I'm in pain and not sleeping well with no idea why?? I did put it down to muscle aches and pains originally, but Im not sure that explains why its nightime only. Anyone have any suggestions?? (And if it is gallstones, how will it develop?) It's bad enough that I now dread going to bed

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MNHQ Update
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Back pain is awful and pain at night is very wearing as you don't sleep well.
A few things spring to mind - what type of mattress do you have? I slipped a disc years back and I find a hard bed incredibly un-comfortable.

I visit a chiropractor regularly (3 or so times a year) and I find it very useful. Also maybe think about trying Pilates - I know after I slipped my disc Pilate was a very good way of building up muscle strength.

I've had gallstones and I didn't have pain in my back at all, but I suppose pain can present differently in different people

Thanks DPotter...my mattress is fairly new, an Emma one so a reasonably good one that I've had 18 months or so so not sure it's that. Yes to Pilates tho for all sorts of reasons! Must do it!

This may sound stupid , but I recently had similar issues. I turned my mattress, took painkillers, vitamin d, did yoga and nothing worked. So I changed my bra type. May be my size increased during perimenopause or just that I needed a different support - I am not sure. But I changed from hooks to the hookless version and the pain went away. Went on Amazon to look for a back support when I saw the bra. Never thought that would ease the back issue.

My gallbladder pain felt like a red hot poker being pushed through my shoulder blade. It travelled through to the middle of my chest.

Can you sleep on your front?

Thanks for people's comments. Chavvy sleeping position makes no difference Literallyfedup - funnily enough I have just invested in a hookless bra since Im fed up of normal bra discomfort. Would be delighted if that solves the issue!

Weirdly, I am having the same thing. Apart from lying down, the only thing that makes it worse is breathing deeply. The pain isn't in my back, it feels like it is behind my ribs and shoulder blade

I'm exactly the same I'm wearing my cropped bra top for the 1st as normal
Bras were really hurting me I'm also 46 so might be my age as well

Is it on the right hand side, rib cage below your breast going from back to front.

If you press hard on the spot on your front does it feel like you're pressing on a bruise inside you?

If so it could be gallstones.

CMOTDibbler....yes sounds like the same. Have you ever had issues with reflux...when one of my DC was young he got terrible reflux lying down, its the only thing I can think of that turns off when you're upright!

I was just about to suggest reflux too. I went through a phase when I had quite localised pain in my upper back at night, bad enough to wake me. Changing position could be very painful but getting up helped it. I think the acid must have burnt my oesophagus and made it temporarily sensitive, but it went away after a week or so.

Oh and certain foods, and coffee, made my stomach hurt. And hiccups!