Saturday morning upon waking my husband had sharp electric shock like pains under his left breast.  It was quite constant for about 5 minutes.  He is on Divalproex for epilepsy.  He had a seizure in April and had two compression fractures T5 & T6, and has had back pain ever since whicChatDoctores and goes.  Could this be serious?
Hello! Thank you for asking on Chat Doctor! I read your question carefully and would like to explain that his symptoms seem to be related to articular pain, caused by a displacement of the thoracic spine disks, leading to irritation and inflammation of the nerves that originate in this region of the spinal cord. I would recommend consulting with the neurologist for a careful physical examination, a nerve conduction study and thoracic spine MRI or CT scan to examine better for possible compression of the spinal cord. Divalproex is usually helpful in nerve pain. This may be a reason why he has not had any problems since the fractures. I recommend performing valproate plasma levels, to see if he is being treated in therapeutic doses. Regarding the treatment, I recommend discussing with your doctor the possibility of increasing divalproex dose (based on the plasma levels results), or adding another antiepileptic Chat Doctor. Hope to have been helpful! Greetings!