Fluttering in chest with GERD?

Hi and Welcome HR!! :)

Have they ever mentioned esophageal spasms? I get those a lot, along with bronchiole spasms (I have heart disease and asthma), so sometimes it is really hard to tell where it's coming from as a patient and a Dr. unless more testing is done. Did you have any of those 'flutterings' while wearing the Holter? If you did have them and the Dr. felt it was okay?...if you did not have the flutterings then how could they tell what it is? If they continue to bother you, you may have to use an event monitor, which unlike the Holter is just carried with you and put to the chest while you are having an 'event' and then phoned in. Let me know what happens!!

Hugs, Teri :)

Hello and Welcome to HealingWell, freedom35cass! :)

Again, I'm not a Dr., however with research I've found that GERD can certainly mimic the symptoms of a heart attack - I've actually had that experience myself. Being woke up one night with severe chest pain, and having it radiate to my left arm - I went to the ER and heart problems were eventually ruled out with this episode and I was told it was from the GERD. So sometimes it is difficult to distinguish. I would follow your Dr.'s advice and keep a close watch on this - it sounds as if you are having reflux with the acid coming up like that. However, if you ever feel that the pain is different or you have shortness of breath, or arm pain, I would go to the ER and have it checked out to make sure!

Much good luck to you!
Hugs, Teri :)

Thank-you Teri for your reply. I don't get anything in the arm most of my pains are in the chest or throat or back it feels like little pinches although being 41 it may be due to age yesterday I had heart palpatations and I have not had those in a long time the last time was last april when I was pg so I think it was due to the Pantoloc I am taking and probably a little anxiety. I still have that lump in my throat feeling though it feels like the food is stuck there and the mornings are bad when I get up. I don't think that the fluttering and Gerd are related at least not in my case because I have had the fluttering for 8 years

now and only the Gerd for a month but I do think the fluttering is related to a increase in hormones I usually get it more before I Ovulate I have talked to the Doc about this and she said she has never heard of any relation but I disagree.

Several folks have answered since my post so let me first say "thanks."

I asked my tummy doctor about esophageal spasms and he didn't seem to think that was my problem. I don't have the pain that I have seen mentioned with the spasms. The doctor said "I can do the test, but you won't like it."
I had a doctor when I was younger and friskier suggest I had IBS. He even gave me some type of prescription to calm things down. My present family doctor seems to think that IBS is more common in younger folks (I'm 57) and I'm less likely to have it now.
As CathyA mentioned, I have wondered if the fluttering is gas that has been trapped moving around. The most disconcerting thing is the dizziness that sometimes goes along with the fluttering. As I mentioned, burping does temporarily relieve the dizziness. A good natural burp is way better than a self-induced one.
A couple of people wondered if the fluttering occurred when I wore the heart monitor. Truthfully, no, not much happened, but I can't believe burping would cause relief for anything that was heart-related. The fluttering was much more occasional then than it is now.
Since I recently was dianosed with Diabetes, my stomach doctor had me take a test last week (I ate oatmeal on an empty stomach and they x-rayed me for 2 hours) that I'll find the results for tomorrow. I'll run some more questions by him then.
Thanks for the responses!

Shoreman, good luck with those test results! Please let us know what happens!

Best wishes to you!

Hugs, Teri :)

Well, the visit to the tummy doctor proved uneventful. He said that the "oatmeal and x-ray" test I took showed that my digestive tract was behaving normally. Yah!
He disagreed with my family doctor who had said that most folks who experienced IBS were younger than me. The tummy doctor said it is very common for someone in their 50's to have IBS. Exercise supposedly helps with IBS so we will see what happens. I have increased my exercise greatly since finding I have diabetes.
I presented CathyA's calcium idea and he said, regardless of whether or not it helped with the fluttering, it was a good idea to take 600 mg twice a day. I have a had a couple of small benign polyps in two previous colonoscopies. The doctor feels calcium may help to prevent those. A book I bought recently also recommends calcium and magnesium for diabetics.
He gave me a presciption to take on an "as needed" basis to see if it helped with the fluttering. I didn't understand the name and couldn't read his handwriting so I'll find out what it is called when I pick it up from the drugstore. Apparently, something that is dissolved under the tongue.
I'll let you know if it works so those who share the "small animal syndrome" with me can consider it.

Later!

I'm a guy, CathyA!

I haven't picked up the prescription yet, but it starts with a L. If the calcium seems to be working, I won't be taking the prescription. The doctor had no problem with that.

The doctor said the calcium might help if the fluttering is occurring due to weak muscles in the gut. Calcium would help to strengthen them.

I am taking liquid capsules that provide calcium and magnesium on a 2 to 1 basis.

I'll post what the prescription is after I pick it up.

Thanks!

I have bloating, some chest pain, and lots of fluttering in the chest. The fluttering is the most irritating part of it all. Here's my story:

I am male. I drink occasionally. I am a quitting smoker of about four years. I just turned 29 years old. I have never done illegal drugs.

In May, I started waking up with chest pain and tons of fluttering.

One day, under a decent amount of stress, while driving, I felt like I was having a heart attack. I just happened to be near a hospital, so my wife and I pulled in, and went to the ER. They treated me like I was having a heart attack, just in case, even though my vitals were normal (120/75 bp, normal EKG).

In the ER room, they gave me a nitroglycerine pill. That made me feel *horrible*. Vomiting, cold sweats, and significant drop in blood pressure. The nurses said that was a sign that I was probably *not* having a heart attack.

The ER doctor tested the blood they took during triage for all kinds of stuff. Blood sugar, cardiac and pulmonary enzymes, etc. He also did a chest x-ray which showed that I had some slight bronchitis (at the time, I was a 1 pack/day smoker).

At the end of the evening, he said, "I don't know what's wrong with you, but it's not your heart. Quit smoking and go see a GP".

Two days later, I ended up in the ER again. Same basic story, except they did not treat it like a heart attack.

So, I went to my GP. She said she thought I had GERD, gave me Nexium (40mg/day), but sent me to a cardiologist just in case.

The cardiologist did a stress test, and a cardiac ultrasound. Both were negative for any abnormalities. He also told me to quit smoking.

After a while on the Nexium, I was doing better, but started having stomach pain right below my ribcage on the left side, and a bit in my side and back. This ended up being constipation from the Nexium side effects. Just to rule out any bigger problems, an abdominal ultrasound was done, which was negative for any problems.

Since being on a proton pump inhibitor, I have been very constipated, and have had a *ton* of discomfort due to gas.

I next decided I was done feeling like crap. I went to my doctor to have her refer me to a gastroentrologist. She started me preemptively on 2000mg/day of Amoxicillin, and 1000mg/day of Clarithromicin.

I had a consultation with the GE at the end of July. He said I needed to quit smoking, and possibly get on Zoloft for a possible anxiety disorder. Honestly, the only thing I have any anxiety about at this point is feeling like crap. I don't like drugs, so I'm avoiding the Zoloft currently. At this point, I had cut back to less than 5 cigarettes/day. I also switched to AciPhex (20mg, twice/day).

I had an Endoscopy on Augsust 1st. I have a 2cm hiatal hernia, as well as some slight erosion at the LES. I also have moderate to severe gastritis in my stomach (the picture is just a big red blotch). Also, my biopsies and blood tests showed no anemia or H. Pylori. At this point, I cut back to AciPhex 20mg/day.

On my return visit to the GE to discuss my test results (Aug 10th), he said I just need to quit smoking and this will all go away, but I'll probably need to take pepcid AC since I have a hiatal hernia. So, at this point, most days I have no cigarettes, but occasionally, I'm giving in and having 1 or 2. So, I haven't quit, but I'm almost there. Would 1 or 2 in a day really cause this much discomfort?

Currently, I still have fluttering in my chest(It's mostly while I sleep), and get pains in my chest and back that seem to be relieved when I burp. I also get tingling in my hands (mainly the left hand). However, I'm an IT worker, so that may be tendonitis or carpal tunnel. I also get pains in my left arm and shoulder, which, once again could be carpal tunnel. I smoke very little (trying very hard to quit). I drink very little (probably 1 or two whisky and water drinks per week). I've upped my fiber intake, reduced my fat, salt, and fried food intake, and have increased my water intake. I have also eliminated carbonated drinks. I do have occasional iced or hot tea I have lost 20 pounds since this started in May. I am 5' 9" tall, and weigh 156 pounds currently (I have always been a bit thin).

The only other significant stats is that my HCL cholesterol was a bit low (upping fiber and some other things to try to counteract that), and my ALT liver enzyme is a bit high (54, should be 40 or below). All of my other blood tests have been right where they should be.

Does anyone know what the fluttering is? Or are we just all in the dark on this one?

Anyone else have a similar story?

Thanks,

Koree

Hi Koree,
Have you read this entire thread? We've talked alot about that fluttering feeling in some of the posts here. I think it has something to do with either gas in our upper GI tracts, or some sort of painless spasms.....sort of like muscle twitches. Our transverse colons go clear up under our chests, and activity in that can be transmitted up into our chests. We've jokingly referred to it above as "small animal living in our chest" syndrome. That's what it feels like.
I occasionally have that fluttering feeling lower in my bowel too. It almost feels like a vibration. The GI tract can do some pretty weird things! As mentioned above, calcium seemed to work well for me, in settling down that fluttering feeling in the chest. Also I would recommend magnesium, which calms down muscle twitching too. With some of the tingling you have in your arms, you might do well to increase your B12. There are sublingual B12 tablets that are very easy to take.

I have often thought I had a hiatal hernia, but the docs say those don't really cause problems. But I swear, there are times when I think mine is a sliding one......one that comes and goes, and my symptoms are definitely worse when I think it's a bit up in my chest.

If your symptoms keeping getting worse, keep trying to find an answer......even if means changing doctors. But what I'm discovering, having Fibromyalgia and IBS and GERD......some of these problems can feel almost life-threatening, but end up being benign. Very irritating, uncomfortable and disconcerting.......but benign. Good luck to you.

Hi Koree,
My fibromyalgia has been like your problem.......feeling like poop so much of the time, but all my tests are normal.
Do you do alot of leaning over? I'm thinking your hiatal hernia might be more of a problem than anyone is giving it credit for. Just because doctors say something isn't so, or can't happen, doesn't mean they're right! I'm learning that the conventional doctors don't really know much about the body, and zoom in on their specialty, while ignoring it's connection with the rest of the body.
Next question for you is that, why did the doc put you on those antibiotics?
Some people really believe in yeast overgrowth as the cause of alot of our GI problems. Things may have been made a little worse by the antibiotics, so be sure to take a probiotic, and eat lots of yogurt with live cultures.
My fluttering seemed to worsen at night too. I started thinking it had something to do with gas settling up high, or more problems from GERD, and a possible hiatal hernia from laying down. Also.......everything always seems worse at night.

We can easily get low on magnesium, even when our blood values look normal. If I were you, I would add 200-400mg of magnesium a day. The worst thing that would happen is it would make your stools loose, and then you could cut down to 200mg.
Also try to cut back on carbohydrates, since they aren't the best thing for our systems.
Do you feel your pulse when you're having all that fluttering? Is it regular? What is your heartrate during this?

I got pretty crazy when mine was it's worse. I would sleep with a stethoscope (I'm an RN), next to my bed, and listen to my heart in the middle of the night, when this fluttering would happen. Of course, when I told my cardiologist this, he made it sound like I was a hypocondric. But this feeling is extremely bizarre, and I was just trying to figure it out. I couldn't believe that it was a regular heartbeat, when I thought it was going crazy! Where was all that action coming from in there????
It's very real.........but because the doctor hadn't ever experienced it himself, he couldnt believe in it.
Anyhow......good luck with this. Do you take your calcium in the evening, before going to bed? It may help the most then. And really consider increasing your magnesium. My problem last summer, was that I would get alot of irregular heartbeats, especially when I leaned over. I was convinced it was a hiatal hernia, pressing on my heart......but the doctor didn't think so. Anyhow........I was in the ER one day when it got really bad. I was fortunate enough to have a really smart doc, open to alternative ideas, and he gave me 1 gram of magnesium I.V. I didn't have any irregular beats for 2 weeks!! That's when I knew I had to take extra magnesium all the time. We have so much muscle in our bodies (including heart, intestines,) and it can all be affected by low magnesium.
So........try to believe that this is a real pain in the butt, and very disconcerting, but that you won't drop dead. Focus on it being a low calcium-magnesium problem, and a GI problem, of perhaps too much yeast, added to your problem of a hiatal hernia. Try not leaning over too much.
I hope I'm not overwhelming you. I just know how bad you feel, and what has worked for me.

BTW, this is the vitamin I take each day:

http://www.centrum.com/products/labeling_centrum.asp

Cool. I'll get another magnesium supplement. I'm definitely not overweight. I weigh about 156 as of today, and I'm 5' 9" tall. When this started, I was 175, and the heaviest I've ever been is 198, I believe. However, I have a fair amount of bloating, and my stomach is pushed up into my ribcage when I sit because of it. We'll see if these vitamins help. I also have an appointment with my GP again, and I may ask for a second opinion on my endoscopy...

Thanks,

Koree