Unsure about the diagnosis...

I've had quite a range of symptoms for roughly a year, and my Doctor is convinced that they can all be explained by GERD. I'm a 20 year old female, slightly over-weight (by about a stone) and a moderate smoker (10 a day). This is what I've been suffering with:

- chest pain (sometimes light, sometimes I feel like I'm dying)
- heart palpitations (sometimes pounding, sometimes fluttering)
- heartburn
- tingling left arm
- stomach pains
- fast pulse (80-100 resting usually, but has been 115)
- problems swallowing / excess saliva

Sometimes these symptoms exist together, sometimes seperately, and on rare good days I get nothing at all. I've been up to A & E three times in the past year, I had all the tests (EKG, bloods, X-Ray, urine sample) and nothing. I had the H Pylori test and an ultrasound for gallstones... also nothing. My Doctor seems to have run out of options and has stuck me on 30mg Lansoprazole a day, sometimes it works and other days it doesn't. I have requested a stress test and a 24-hour heart monitor but she doesn't seem to think it's necessary, nor has she suggested an endoscopy, even though I've read a lot of posts where this has given people a definitive diagnosis.

I'm really not sure what's going on. Some of the symptoms may be due to anxiety (I'm told I'm slightly hypochondrial), but I want a definitive answer. After a year, I'm ready to tear my hair out!

Please respond with anything you think may be helpful, considering my Doctor doesn't seem to have any answers.

Unforunately in my area it doesn't work that way... you have a gp and they have to refer you, it's a vicious circle. The NHS is great! Haha

Hanna91,

Sounds like an "alarm" rang, your body is telling you that you have not treated it well enough. Adopting a healthier lifestyle will lesson the symptoms and reverse the damaging process. A good start, quit smoking?