at ER all day for chest pain, not a happy day!

Went to urgent care on thursday, had chest pains which were bugging me, normal EKG, normal chest x-ray, normal blood enzymes. Have stress test tuesday.

Then today, chest pains on left side, about 8-18 sec, not crippling but painful. Go to ER, again with the EKG (normal) two blood draws to make sure enough time had elapsed (normal). Does not really seem related to exertion. Happened five times in two hours while sitting on the hospital bed. I w as not nauseous, was not sweaty.

Am home, waiting for stress test but scary, I did read about linked angina but wow, I work out hard (not since my EGD and chest pains, about two weeks) but before, about three times a week, am not overweight, do not smoke, do not eat fats, no family hx of heart problems, go on long hard hunting trips, just had a physical (granted,a lousy one), just hard to accept a heart problem
but it sure feels like it. never had this before!

I read what Alcie posted about linked angina...does anyone else have this? I thought there had been some earlier posts about esophogeal spasms or something but couldn't find it.

Thank you for any info!

Thank you Alcie!

I am sure you have already posted this, but what did you do to get the problem stopped?

Neither the doc at the clinic nor the guy at the hospital, both very nice, mentioned anything about this being connected to my GERD.

Meanwhile, I don't know what to do (obviously I 'll do the stress test). Take an aspirin daily. Keep being active? Stop being active? I will keep a food journal, although nothing had changed in my (very limited) diet. I don't eat bread but I do eat about two handfuls of raisin bran in the am (without milk).

I was told this would not "get kicked to a cardiologist" unless they saw something of interest in the stress test.

Am thinking i would like to get a complete checkup somewhere, not northwest montana (very very pretty but not so much on healthcare services!)

My family is in New England so maybe somewhere back there.

Anyway, no pain yet today (but its early!)

thanks again!
Lila

Why am I not surprised the ER didn't find anything? I've only been through a couple of years of testing that didn't find anything and suffered a heart attack, that's why. I now refuse stress tests because I've had 4 that didn't show anything and I am sure they are useless unless you are unable to walk across the room. I had to figure my causes and cures out for myself. Fortunately I have a bit of an education in biology and worked in some pharmacology labs and a hospital ICU lab, but I'm certainly not a doctor and don't play one on TV.

Hardly any doctors are aware that the stomach and esophagus can have an effect on the heart. It works the other way around too, according to severalthe studies I read. Not surprising since just about everything has a connection to the vagus nerve.
Here's one new study: http://ajpheart.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/290/5/H2085 . This was written after my heart attack, but it says what I already figured out on my own. I recommend printing it and taking it to your cardiologist. No, maybe not. Patients aren't supposed to know anything, so don't push it too much. Once you find your triggers you may be able to stop the symptoms yourself.

Now here's what I did: On the recommendation of my allergist, who said, "Of course you have food allergies, I've been in practice over thirty years, and I see this all the time!" I started keeping a detailed food journal - including all the things I put on the hamburger, not just that I ate a hamburger, and so forth.

Then I did challenge testing of the foods that I thought were giving me symptoms. (My problem was that I would get reflux and then get tachycardia.) The method is to eat a tsp of a suspect substance, wait 20 minutes. Then if there were no symptoms you double the dose 2 tsp, wait 20 minutes. Then double again 4 tsp, 20 minutes, then 8 tsp, then 16 and stop. Some foods take a little more, so you might start with a tablespoon. I knew a teaspoon of jello was not a problem, but a cereal bowl was sure to set me off. You have to separate foods too. The waffle wasn't a problem, but the maple syrup was. I had problems with mixed seasonings, pepper, garlic, mustard and ketchup, vinegar.

When I got my very long list of foods identified - nearly a page typed - I searched the internet. I knew some things like wine and beer would bring up a hit when searched with "allergy." I found all my foods on sulfite allergy websites. But that's my triggers, not necessarily anyone else's. When I went back to my allergist, she didn't know about sulfite in particular, but she has since found other patients with the same problem. A lot of medications have sulfites too! I'm glad I found out that generic propofol has sulfite preservative because last year I needed 3 surgeries and giving me that could have killed me. I have a typed list of my intolerances and another of meds containing sulfites.

Maybe all this has nothing to do with your symptoms, but it doesn't cost anything but your time - lots of your time. I spent 2 months just getting the first list done, then weeks more on challenge testing. I've spent years continuing my personal research. I used to have tach every day. Now it's not that often, only when I cheat on my diet.

Hi Jo in UK
Tachycardia is rapid heart rate - over 100 beats per minute. Palps are usually ventricular - PVCs. Tach is usually atrial. Tach can be a regular rhythm, just too fast. Half the time when I get tach I also get an irregular rhythm.

lilitiger
I "passed" all my stress tests, including a couple of months before I had my heart attack and 6 months afterwards just before I needed another stent. I don't believe they are worth getting all the gamma radiation. I routinely refuse the annual stress test now. I was forced to have one (which didn't show anything again) before having my fundoplication. I needed that radiation on top of my breast cancer radiation (65 grays) and 3 CT scans like another hole in my head.

My GI guy still doesn't believe I can control my reflux and tachycardia just by avoiding my trigger foods. My allergist however, does believe it, and she passes my information about sulfite allergy along to her patients who happen to have that particular problem. She has been practicing over 30 years and sees a lot of food allergies that trigger reflux and tachycardia.