a friend has had similar issues for years, she just got a dx of ankylosing spondylitis, and it looks like what sealed the diagnosis was this feeling of being "hugged" round the ribs, her worst pain was lower back and into her hips.. she had done the rounds of most medical specialitities - her husband is a gp! seems like it was an on the ball rheumatologist who worked it out for her. She finds Pilates helpful, has also altered her diet to cut out excess sugar with good effects. good luck, be well.
Hello from across the pond (NY). I have the exact symptoms described in the OP. My solution to about 6 months of nightly agony was to begin sleeping in a recliner chair. Once I made the switch, the improvement began that same night, but only after about a week did I start waking pain-free in the morning. I'm here making this reply because i'm in a hotel room, and I foolishly tried sleeping in the bed. After about 3 hours, my back was throbbing, and I've wised up and moved to a comfy chair with foot rest (with a pillow behind my lower back for support) my back is feeling better already. Good night!
Yes I have exactly the same symptoms, terrible pain trying to get out of bed in the morning, I used to have to crawl upstairs on all fours. Couldnt sit on an ordinary chair. Suffered about 6 years of this, x-ray showed arthritis. About 6 months ago I discovered my bed was the problem, had tried all sorts, memory foam, air, very firm, soft. etc. After a couple of sleeps on a clapped out old sagging sofa, found much improvement, cut a long story short I have now bought a fully adjustable bed, wish I had done so earlier. i can now sleep all night, get out of it easily and even touch my toes in the morning and getting better. it has the knee break so my legs are bent and raised, i have the head part raised so I am lying in a U shape, its like floating on a cloud, I have a pocket spring mattress on it. I really cant lie on a flat bed any more. I was due to try acupuncture but have cancelled it, I dont even do the excercises that I used to have to do any more. You could just try lying on one of these beds in a store, see how it feels. We spend a third of our lives in bed, no wonder it damages our backs when placed under strain on a flat surface.
Hi I'm a massage therapist in Canada. Yes we get back pain too unfortunately. I've been dealing with a painful radiating pain which goes from my mid back at about kidney level to very acute in my right hip but only when I lie down on my back or from riding around in the car. It's not instant but creeps up on me but the intensity of it is brutal if I stay in that position too long. My thinking as someone who deals with muscle issues is, if you don't suffer from disc problems in your spine, you have illiminated the possibility of pain from major organs through MRI scans, blood tests, etc, perhaps you have a badly strained muscle (or 2 or 3...), and it has contracted or tightened around a nerve, which radiates pain like an electric current throughout the pathway of this nerve. If you are fine sitting or standing it´s probably because this nerve is only being compressed by the weight of the body in the prone position. In my case the pain starts in the back just below my ribs but the killer pain I feel after lying on my back or side is in my hip sometimes as far as the front of my thigh. This leads me to conclude that my femoral nerve is being compressed somewhere along it´s route by a very tight muscle that won't release. Specific therapeudic massage to my lombar muscles, groin muscle, sacro-iliac muscles as well as visits to an osteopath for back manipulations have managed to "un-jam" the nerve but it's been 3 weeks and although I can sleep on my back now, it's still comes back after a week or so which means the muscle tension keeps coming back. Be patient, these things take time and if you're lucky might resolve itself. The body has an amazing capacity to heal itself of many problems. But after a few days if the pain does not subside and even gets more acute, Be pro-active. It´s your health and quality of life. Find a chiro or osteopath, therapeutic massage specialist, physio-therapist, but to avoid permanent nerve damage from years of compression, get on it! And nip this thing in the bud early if you can.
I couldn't agree more about being proactive about back problems though try and avoid the quacks. In the 80s to jump the NHS queue i went private, all machines and chat. Eventually got an NHS physiotherapist and a positive result also a full diagnosis of my spines condition, how i could help myself and a course of exercises to follow. But in time the exercises lapsed as did my lifestyle resulting in the trapped nerve from hell. Off work for months, job hanging by thread my consultant grabbed a hospital bed and put me on traction,needed valium the first few days. It took four weeks, consultant said it would be the knife if i didn't buck up, so i did. Later a scan showed me three nerves flattened in places where trapped,so if you're doing skilled manual work never mind the machines, look after yourself.
hi rebecca just had the camera down into my stomach like you i was getting pain but only when lying down however the results of my test were that i have got barrets osophagous which is the lining of the osophagous has been damaged by acid coming up and causing back pain in between my shoulder blades under my armpits and the bottom part of my neck also they are investigating possible helicobactor pylori whis is a bacteria in my duodenum this causes me to have belly ache and pain under my ribs they have taken samples but have to wait 14days for results i hope this information helps you in some way good luck
Hi,
Has anyone come up with a suitable solution?
I am suffering the same ailments at night, the pain is random and can move from the middle of my chest to my shoulderblades and under my arms. When I get up, I struggle to get in/out of my car as lowering my head feels like I have an elastic band attached to the middle of my chest which is about to snap!
After an hour or so there is no pain or symptoms until around 4 in the morning.
I play tennis as a hobby 2-3 times a week and have not played for 3 weeks to see if any improvement, but pain is still there at night.
The doctor has put me on codeine/cocodomol which I take at night and has suggested I have Costochondritis which is inflammation of the ribcage cartilage. I have been to a physio for one session which appeared to help short term, but at £40 a session is a bit expensive to keep going back.
I am leaving it for a week or 2 and will return to exercising as there appears to be no effect by resting. My next step is a new mattress and perhaps more physio. Let me know if any more advice?
Thanks
Hi,Im Rich and I have had exactly the same problems everybody is talking about, I'll sleep for a couple hrs on my back or side, then when I wake up my whole back feels like somebody used it for a punching bag, my wife was puzzled cause after an hour of standing and moving around it completely went away, what it is, is muscles aren't releasing and relaxing when you fall a sleep, could be from past trauma,getting older a number of things,but I took Flexeril to relax my muscles about 1 to 2 hrs before bedtime and it has taken 90% of the pain away, good luck and let me know if any of you get better, we might have found a solution to this.
Hi Rich
You could think about the idea of an infection or infectious cyst or lump that has become embedded in the muscles surrounding the spine. Possibly, when you're lying on your back at night the lump is being pressed into one of your nerve branches causing the terrible pain. I had the same. It seems that a few hours after falling asleep the muscles automatically tense up from a relaxed state, thus pressing the lump into your nerve branch even further.
The mechanism for getting the cyst or infectious lump in your back could be as simple as a spot or skin infection being pushed from surface to internal by leaning back on a chair or something similar.
Be very cautious about causing stress on the area. If the problem is infectious, then the cyst/infection could be ruptured and spread about your spine and further causing really terrible damage and muscle pain. Avoid any physical treatment untill you know what the problem actually is. Get an mri done as a priority. If a referral is too slow, you can get one done privately at a reasonable cost. Treatment could be as simple as a course of antifungals or maybe antibiotics.
Hope this helps
I discovered this site by googling pain in my upper back only when I lay down on my back. I looked at several comments and yours related the most to mine except my pain is on my left side. Did you ever figure out what was causing your pain?
Hi Steve,
I'm desperate to know how you ended up. I am in deep pain and no xray or scan has picked anything up. Did the MRI shed some light? How are you now?
ive ha the same thing ,no pain standing but soon as i lay down i get excruciating pain, my doctor told me it is mt SI joint http://www.spine-health.com/video/sacroiliac-joint-dysfunction-video watch the video might help sobody here
I had this problem for 14 years and 2 weeks ago someone told me
about a medication that is used for parkinsons and restless leg
syndrome, it's called ROPINIRole .5mg after taking it for 3 days
I am pain free. ask your docter about it IT WORKS
Hi Steve,
A pain in the back that gets worse at night when you're sleeping then easing off in the morning when you get up and start moving about could be a sign of ankylosing spondilitis.
Helen
Please let me know what happened with your MRI I have had the same problem for about 3 years now, and I sleep very little, because it hurts too much too lay down It is my lower back though I have tried everything....Gabapentin, tramadol, even hydrocodone. I have had corticoid injections, physical therapy, needling, massages. Nothing works! When I lay on my right side, the pain is worse....I feel shooting pain down my right leg. When I lay on my back or left side it just throbs. I only sleep a couple hours a night, and its makes me irrratible and tired all day as a result. I am going to try the ropinirole that was suggested, but am curious as to how your MRI turned out.
Ok so for years I have had terrible back pain. When I sleep on a couch it goes away. I don't have that option right now, so if you sit in a straight back chair and cross your legs like a man lean forward while you have your legs crossed this will release a nerve in your back and help you rest. You do this a lot and after while you won't have pain...but stop doing it the pain will return...drugs will not work and will cause other issues, also you may have bowel issues which is very painful also but my little stretch exercise along with you watching your weight will stop this pain....good luck and let me know when you start feeling better.
I have something similar, except that the pain is always in the same place - from the right side lower bck/buttock and down the right leg to the knee. This started about one week ago, after two nights it went away for two nights, then came back again.
The pain comes on gradually when I lie down and intensifies - becoming very painful and waking me up after a couple of hours. At this point, each change in position brings a few seconds relief before the intense pain returns, and makes it impossible to go back to sleep. The best stragey, I have found is to get up for an hours or so, and then go back to bed. At this point, there is little more than some soreness, so back to sleep for a couple of hours until the pain become severe again.
The pain is an intense ache, feels muscular, but not cramp, and not trapped nerve.
During the day, I the pain site feels a little sore, but no painful while I am standing, sitting, walking or exercising.
Other than the pain iteself, the main problem is lack of good sleep.
Does any one know what this is - and how to treat it?
About 5 or 6 weeks ago I started experiencing several back pain after sleeping in my bed. On a few occasions I've worked really late in home office and fell asleep in my lazy boy office chair, and I awoke with zero back pain. I've started to sleep in my chair now because it seems every time I sleep in my bed I wake up with stiffness or pain. Have you experienced any relief from sleeping in a chair or at an incline? I'm not sure if sleeping in this position is healthy, but it has been working for me so far.
I have dealt with this for years. It seems to be due to IBS, i fasted a few days drinking water and was pain free. It could be intolerance or reaction to certain foods or additives. People with gluten issues have the back pain along with abdominal distention, i am a male and when it flares up i literally look pregnant. Still havent been able to single out what i eat or drink is the culprit.
I don't know if you solved your problem, but I had the same symptons - pain when lying down but not when sitting or standing. I had a CT scan to look for spinal compression, and this revealed instead a large tumour which was pressing on my sciatic nerve when I was lying down.
I would suggest that anyone with these symptons get an abdominal CT scan.