Anyone that can relate....please reply

bizzytom

New Member

Joined : Feb 2006

Posts : 1

Posted 5/23/2008 6:18 PM (GMT 0)

I am a 48 yo male. I have a gut but not really that big. However, I have a hx of digestive probs. I started out several years ago with tums, then pepcid, then of course presription Prevacid. I most recently had an endoscopy which came back "normal". I was already on 2 prevacid daily and was told to continue on that. I even had full color pics of my procedure which by the way I should get a tshirt or something, I did the whole thing without any sedation. I can't say I would ever do that again, but anyway, I heard some great things about cayenne capsules called cool cayenne. A few weeks back I tried 2. about an hour later I had such an incredible burning just to the right of my rib cage substernally I thought I would die. After eating something it went away as quickly as it came. My naturopath friend tells me that proves the tests werre wrong because it should not have burned that bad at all if I didn't have something going on there. I have dealt with a "pulling sensation" in my chest on and off for well over a year. It comes and goes.I have in the recent past went to the er with a very high bp. 210/140. Even though that is high, I am a type a and prone to anxiety. I have even at times wondered if I am not a hypochondriac. Simply because I am still alive and nothing major has happened. In any case, the visit to the er revealed all normal bloodwork and ekg in terms of whether or not there had been a heart attack. For the past couple of weeks, I have been dealing with this unusual aching pain that comes on suddenly at any time, mostly at rest, I never get pain when I go for a walk or working. Usually at rest. It lasts for sometimes 30 mins and yeasterday it lasted for hours. Right in the middle of that we had svere weather here in So cal and I figured if it was serious, I will be checking out. I am still here. My doc friend in Mich tells me he feels it is GERD causing the pain. It really hurts when it comes on, it has me looking over my shoulder so to speak. I stopped at a drugstore and checked my bp during this yesterday and of course was anxiety ridden and running from tornado warnings, and it was 200/110. When I talked to my doc friend he felt that was because of anxiety. Soooo, changing my poor diet is a priority. I am sick of feeling this way. It is interfering with my life and my wife is tired of hearing me complain all the time. In closing, is there anyone that has this aching coming on suddenly, lasting for God knows how long, spreading across the chest, a little funny feeling in the neck, not really pain, and that's pretty much it? I fear unstable angina. Anyone ever have that?? If so, what are all of the symptoms beside pain out pf the blue at rest?

mlp

Regular Member

Joined : Sep 2005

Posts : 65

Posted 6/3/2008 12:28 AM (GMT 0)

I don't check on these boards often because I don't have many symptoms these days. I had some serious GERD about 2-1/2 years ago. I also thought I was having a heart attack. I had been on PPIs for a long time for silent acid reflux that cause esophagus strictures. However, all of a sudden it got very bad. I had VERY BAD stress at the time due to problems at home. The worst pain was in my chest. There was other pain in my back, upper arms, etc. I even woke up w/ a white tongue a few days. For six months I never thought I would survive. It affected my attitude and I felt like you sound. But I did survive, got the stress under control, and now only have occasional issues. Each person is different and I have no idea if your symptoms are GERD or something else. I'm not trying to diagnose you, just provide my experience. I assume you have read up on the full list of things to do? It wouldn't hurt trying them and seeing if it helps relieving your symptoms.

1. Diet; caffeine and chocolate are bad. Try to limit them. Same with alcohol. Low acid foods and limited spicey food.
2. Do you have a hiatel hernia? I would suggest losing weight. The pressure from you stomach up through the LES can be putting pressure and forcing acid through. Even if you aren't really heavy, do you wear your pants tight?
3. Get an acid reflux pillow to sleep on. It will raise the top part of your body up so it's harder for the acid to go up. I HATED it. But it helped.
4. I do not want to get in a fight with people, but I cut down on carbs for awhile and it helped. I am not on a low carb diet now. Perhaps just eating better helped get it back under control. I don't know.
5. No eating or drinking a couple of hours before dinner. Try not to nibble during the day. When you eat it tells the body to start producing more acid.
6. It's hard, but I started walking more often. If you can't, try to find some way to relieve stress.
I'm probably forgetting others.

After awhile I kept complaining and my doctor prescribed carafate for me. My esophagus was feeling terrible. He said carafate was for ulcers but it actually soothed my esophagus and gave it a chance to heal.

You had the endoscopy without any sedation? Even conscious sedation? That's what most people have -- awake enough to swallow when told to, etc. However, you should have been mostly out and given something so you don't remember any of it. I had a dentist when I was a kid that drilled w/o novacaine. Needless to say, I got a new dentist. Get a new gastro doctor if you can.

BTW, my endoscopy didn't show any serious problems w/ the esophagus. These days I have occasional problems, especially when I eat spicy food, have a couple of drinks, etc.

BTW, as I said at its worse I also feared heart. My regular doctor said something I remember. If it doesn't bother you, or feel short of breath, after regular exercise like walking, it's probably not your heart.

Good luck.

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