What causes low back pain and shortness of breath?
Patient: I m a 37 yo female who has experienced chronic low back pain for 1 1/2 years (main complaint), EXTREME fatigue and noticeable joint pain for years. Over the last 8 mths my blood pressure has been a little high, mainly the diastolic # (122/95) I ve had a total of 3 kidney stones, but the last one I had was the largest 1.3cm and required lithotripsy to be removed. It was in my kidney for 2 years, without causing any problems. Due to the other random symptoms I was experiencing, I decided to have it removed to eliminate it as a cause to anything that was going on. Every urine specimen I gave had blood and tissue in it. Also, I will mention that I was diagnosed with asthma after my youngest child was born (2009). I had never had any symptoms prior to that. I never was happy with that diagnosis, because I know people with asthma and my symptoms didn t seem anything like theirs. The meds may have made a little difference but not a significant difference. I remember asking my pulmonary dr if there could be something with my heart causing the shortness of breath, because it felt more like my hear or diaphragm was weak and not strong enough to draw in a deep breath. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me though…. About 2 months ago, I started experiencing swelling in my feet. About 3 weeks ago I started experiencing intermittent nausea. Last week I started experiencing intermittent sharp chest pains and shortness of breath. I saw my dr and he did an EKG in his office. It looked good. He examined me and said he heard a possible clicking noise in my heart, so he ordered an abdominal ultrasound and ECHO. The echo came back with 1)Left Ventricular systolic function is borderline reduced 2)The estimated LV Ejection Fraction is 45-50%. 3) There is borderline global hypokinesis of the left ventricle. The ultrasound shows 1)The kidneys demonstrate mild increased echogenicity, which may be represent chronic medical renal disease, but are without evidence of suspicious solid renal mass, hydronephrosis, or shadowing stones. 2)There is a benign and simple-appearing cyst seen at the left kidney, measuring 1.5 X 2.6 X 1.3 CM. The left kidney measures 10.9 in greatest dimension, while the right kidney measures 10.1. I had a CT (w/o contract) in May of this year, just before the lithotripsy and nothing was noted or mentioned about anything with my kidneys, other than the large stone. I m worried about about an abdominal aorta aneurysm, for the cause of my heart issues, as that would explain the low back pain. When the ultrasound was done, she focused only on my upper abdomen and didn t go below my belly button. What are you thoughts on the heart impressions ? Are they symptoms of something else (like an aneurysm) or is this a condition/disease/defect itself? My grandfather died from a massive heart attach. We were told he had a thin place in the main artery to his heart, and that it was genetic, but only the males in our family needed to worry about it. Also, your thoughts on my kidney findings would be great. Does an ultrasound show better images than CT, that would explain why nothing showed on the CT I had a few months ago, or is this something that has developed this fast? :-/ Doctor: All your symptoms suggestive of kidney involvement with systemic symptoms If u have low back ache tell me does it radiate to lower limbs?  If yes which limb And how far are u able to walk in terms of metres?