Have Lupus SLE. Sharp Pain In The Chest And Back. History Of Pericarditis. Normal Stress Test Report. Any Suggestions?

Posted on Wed, 10 Apr 2013

Question: I have Lupus SLE. I continue to have electrical sharp pain in my chest and my lower mid back. It comes on sudden, last only about a minute and disappears. The pain is so bad that t makes me jump and drop everything I am holding even so that I have dropped my 2 year old son at one point. What can this be? I have done a stress test and passed. But I have been hospitalized last year for pericarditis.

Answered by Dr. Dr.Raju.A.T (2 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for your query.

The chest pain you mention appear to be arising from the heart. This pain may not be due to ischemia of the heart muscle but could probably be due to structural defect in the heart especially the valves which are usually affected in SLE.

I would suggest you to get a 2D ECHO (Echocardiogram) done, this test will help to rule out any structural defects in the heart.

Also do get an X-ray of the spine done to identify the cause for the low mid back pain, which could sometimes be due to spine defects.

Hope, I answered your query.

Please let me know if there any other concerns.

Regards,

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar