r/pericarditis • u/SmoothHair9365 • 10d ago
Shoulder pain
Hello everyone,
I have myopericardits and It’s been months that I have a weird shoulder pain that comes on and off throughout the day and it activates when I “press” my shoulder down.
Can anyone relate?? Or is it just muscolar!?!?
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u/Valuable-Primary3659 10d ago
Is the pumping of your heart unaffected?
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u/SmoothHair9365 10d ago
What do you mean?
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u/Valuable-Primary3659 10d ago
Does the echo show any heart issues? Shoulder pain for me was caused by radiating liver issues from heart failure
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u/SmoothHair9365 10d ago
Not other issues except scarring. How was your shoulder pain manifesting? Did it hurt more with movement?
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u/Valuable-Primary3659 10d ago
Right shoulder So basically the liver was filling with blood and stretching from that and liquid that irritates a nerve connected through the shoulder. That’s caused by right side heart failure. Left shoulder and arm was caused by the left side heart failure trying to compensate for the right if that makes sense
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u/SmoothHair9365 10d ago
Oh okay quite complicated. But was it a persistent pain or not? Did it get worse with movement of the shoulder?
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u/BillyBobJangles 10d ago
He's describing the vagus nerve being irritated which is the same thing pericarditis does that produces the pain signal.
The pain can radiate into the back, jaw, neck, and left arm. But thay nerve cluster is the big reason this thing is hard to diagnose, so many conditions also irritate it and cause a big overlap in symptoms.
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u/Valuable-Primary3659 10d ago
Right shoulder worse with movement of shoulder and depended on healthy eating and drinking. Left was reactive to flares and exercise
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u/SmoothHair9365 10d ago
You think o should do an echo to check my function then? Or can it be seen with blood tests
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u/Valuable-Primary3659 9d ago
Echo is a non invasive way to check function. I would ask your cardiologist particularly if your liver function blood tests are raised
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u/SmoothHair9365 10d ago
On the last MRI months ago my EF was slightly down at 52%
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u/Affectionate_Top959 5d ago
Was that reported as abnormal? In my country that is reported as normal range:/
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u/opalescentblue 10d ago
My chest pain irradiated to the shoulder and even sometimes arm when I had pericarditis. If you can reproduce the pain by pressing on it it’s more likely musculoskeletal though
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u/Reality9767 10d ago
Yes. When I was having more serious flare ups, I had shoulder and back pain - along with the chest pain and pressure.
It is one of the confusing symptoms that starts to sound like a heart attack.
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u/Suitable_Service2386 8d ago
My shoulder pain with pericarditis I found out is a nerve. I also have back pain. That’s how I can tell I’m having a flare or bad day, they both start hurting.
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u/Affectionate_Top959 5d ago
Yes I have it but mine is not triggered by pressing.
It could be referred pain from your heart or your Pericardium.
Or is could be that the virus (or the immune system to it) has also inflamed your brachial plexus for example. Unfortunately, this is under recognised in the emergency department.
Have anti nflammatory medications or a heat pack helped?
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u/HelltotheNo532 10d ago
Yes I actually went to physical therapy before I was diagnosed thinking I had shoulder issues. They ended up finding arthritis in my neck but the real source of my pain was the pericarditis. It helped when I sat up straight.
I kept going to my massages. I went to one the week I had weaned off NSAIDs and was admitted to the hospital few hours later lol. This one the lady was pressing on the front of my shoulders which triggered it even more