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GERD + Anxiety - Chestpain, Palps, Difficulty Breathing

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Posted 2/5/2016 9:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hey guys,

My name is Brian. I'm 30 years old. I've always been pretty healthy until about a year and a half ago when I started having really bad chest pain near my sternum and upper left chest. I went to the ER worried I was having a heart attack and they did an EKG, echo, x-ray, ct scan, and blood tests. The results were normal so they suspected either pleurisy, costochondritis, or GERD.

I had recently started drinking a weight gain shake called Serious Mass (1,800 calories per serving with whole milk). I'm 99% sure that's what messed up my system - probably due to the sudden intake/excessive amounts of calories/carbs/proteins/vitamins and/or having whole milk twice a day (I rarely had milk prior to that). The doctors pretty much dismissed it saying that would not be causing any of the symptoms I was having.

The fact is from that point on I started having frequent chest pain/pressure, constipation, bloating, upper back pain, hoarseness, fullness, and just feeling really ill. I went to a GI doctor and he performed an upper endoscopy. They didn't find anything and the biopsy was negative for H. Pylori and Celiac but he put me on Omeprazole 20mg/day. I also changed my diet and cut out tomato, citrus fruits, carbonated beverages, garlic/onion, red meat, dairy, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol (I never drank much anyway), fried foods, etc. I improved somewhat and was able to manage the symptoms last year.

A few weeks ago I started having some fluttering in my chest, palpitations, quick stabbing pains (feels like a shock and lasts only a few seconds) mostly in my upper left chest but sometimes in my sternum, lightheadedness, difficulty breathing, mid/upper back pain, headaches, clogged nose, lots of gas/gurgling noises in my sternum, and red irritated eyes. I went to the ER last week and they told me it didn't seem to be heart related. I have an appointment with my PCP on Monday, just wanted to get some insight.. does anyone with GERD also have these symptoms? I also have anxiety which doesn't help. I feel so crappy right now..


What I take:
Omeprazole 20mg
Simethicone
Calcium/D3
Magnesium
B-Complex

Post Edited (BrianW) : 2/5/2016 2:25:36 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/5/2016 9:23 PM (GMT 0)
Also, does anyone have hyperhidrosis? I've always had it and it gets a lot worse with anxiety. I wonder if the fact I sweat a lot on my hands/feet make me dehydrated causing me to loose electrolytes. During my ER visit last week the dr mentioned I 'might be' dehydrated but my electrolytes were normal. I've been trying to drink more water
Posted 2/5/2016 10:57 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Brian,

Welcome!!

How long have you been off the weight gain stuff? It's possible you were having an intolerance to the milk fat in whole milk. My girls have intolerance to whole milk and they get really sick.

I also have costochondritis so I can relate. If I could take my rib cage out I would. Have you been sick lately? You can get a viral version of it I guess that causes chest pain and muscle problems. The inflammation is horrible and makes me very uncomfortable.

Anxiety is what make it all worse than it probably is. Chest pain goes right into your mind and stays there. HORRIBLE. Do you have any heart history in your family or is your cholesterol high? If not you are probably not looking at a heart problem if you've been checked out. My cardiologist gave me very soothing advice that most times heart attacks are not sharp quick pains. He said thats usually muscular or gas. Of course that being said if you get chest pain get it checked out. I had pain for so long finally got a good cardiologist to tell me my heart was fine and it took that much to get it out of my head I was having a heart attack.

Do you have a hiatal hernia that they've found?

I get a lot of your symptoms when I'm having a panic attack, even a mild one. Do you have any meds for that??

Hope you can find something that makes you feel better.

Take care!
Posted 2/6/2016 3:28 AM (GMT 0)
Michiganmom,

I've been off the weight gain stuff since this all started back in 2014. I'm guessing I have some sort of milk/lactose intolerance, so I've been avoiding dairy since.

I definitely agree with you that anxiety is making everything much worse. I've been trying to keep it under control but haven't been able to manage that really well - the other symptoms dont bother me much but whenever I get the stabbing pains in my chest my body goes into panic mode.

A new thing I've noticed this past week is a golf sized 'ball' about an inch above my navel. I was laying in bed with some pain near my sternum and was trying to feel/pin-point the location of the pain with my fingers when I felt it. The next day it was gone.. but it comes back again whenever I get pains there. I can feel a 'ball' very distinctively. It seems like it could be an epigastric hernia.

I'm thinking of heading to the ER at YNHH tomorrow morning to get
checked out. I know they usually only do the very basic tests but I'll try to at least get a CT scan. My PCP is a PA and it usually takes forever to schedule imaging or anything other than bloodwork.
Posted 2/7/2016 5:11 AM (GMT 0)
Good luck!!!! Maybe the ct scan will help? The pressure in chest seems like a common denominator....putting our brains together I'm sure a solution will present itself. Just sucks we are in our Early 30's & want to enjoy life to the fullest instead of worrying about something that Dr's can't even figure out.....
Posted 2/7/2016 1:16 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Brian gerd can definitely cause chest pain..Im having Sharp pains today too n went to throw up d acid bit didnt make it to sink so it stayed in tummy would rather have got it up. Iv been having terrible ordeal with tummy probs lately literally near killed me. But its important to keep the acid at Bay as it can make u really sick n further irritate tummy...iv got gastritis n possible ulcers so if acid is there i get worse n cant eat it chokes u n makes u feel sick.

You should not be lightheaded though this could be a deficiency in something like iron b12 or potassium which are all related to the heart too. If u are sweating u could defo be loosing electrytes. Get copy of your bloods n compare them to a Blood test when u were well. My potassium totally bottomed out bcoz of tummy probs i nearly has heart attack but they only gave me enough potassium to bring back up but as soon as stopped getting it got so many symptoms but they were severe: excessive thirst, dehydration, heart palps, weakness, leg cramps, muscle spasms,.lbp n d doctors kept saying my potassium was normal ! Thing is when i actually asked it was 3.4 which is only one point below 'normal' but it was not normal for my body...I discovered that b4 i got sick my potassium was 4.5 which was ten Times the amount it was now...doctors are not well informed about such things they just go by ranges n thats it. Alot of people would need to be in mid 4s for optimal health. My body defo cant function on low count may be coz iv fibromialgia n damaged spine. Its 5 months later n i still have a deficiency its very hard to build up a Store of it again. Also when i went back with this info to docs they didnt believe me n wouldnt give me supplement s crazy! Eventually i got a doctor who prescribed but i stupidly took on empty stomach one Night n irritated it then i took antibiotics 4 h pylori n that ripped up stomach all over again along with gi tract after i drank cabbage juice so i couldnt take the supplement. Iv been drinking 1 litre of coco water every day since which contains 2000mgs of potassium. If i dont have it i get v weak iv basically no life coz of it...Im seeing an electryte specialist next week so hoping he can help. My problem is RAW gi tract n cant take anything to irritante..otherwise i could take supplement s n would be sorted.
Try this: drink litre of innocent coco water n couple bananas n c if u feel better if so you are deficiente in potassium. Im also feeling very light today because my potassium is too low .. Also we excrete potassium every day so even if u eat loads one day thats all it stands to you for hense why its so hard to build up. You also cant take large dos es at once as can cause heart attacks unlike iron or b12 which are much easier to combat. Hypokalemia is the worst thing thats ever happened to me.
Also during this time i discovered i was low on iron which also was not recognised by meds check the Ferritin level if its under 50 u cud be anemic.
Posted 2/7/2016 1:28 PM (GMT 0)
Also get retested for h pylori especially if you have flu like symptoms i had scope n it was a false negetive. I had a breath test done afterwards n it was positive.

Sometimes doing one thing can trigger up something already underlying. Its your body n u know when something is wrong. I got treated pretty bad when i went to er n i literally felt like i was dying with Extreme infection symptoms n they just thought was gastritis. Im sorry i didnt stay n argue further with them but they made me feel so small...big mistake feeling small was a small price to pay compared to what i went threw hell on earth n still am not right....n i was actually correct all along there was stuff wrong they just missed it.
Posted 2/8/2016 12:14 AM (GMT 0)
Ying,
Thanks for your support. Yea, I'll be asking my dr for a CT scan when I see her tomorrow. Hopefully we'll make some progress. I'll keep you posted.

Melig,
I never get that classic heartburn feeling but I feel nausea like I'm about to throw up any minute.. but never do. When I went to he ER last week they told me my electrolytes were 'normal'.. I'm gonna ask my dr to check it again and get the numbers this time.. also get a breath test for H. Pylori.

I've been eating bananas and potatoes everyday to help with the potassium and I'm also taking magnesium and calcium. I'll try the coconut water.

How about you.. how've you been feeling?
Posted 2/8/2016 7:28 PM (GMT 0)
I read you can't get a breath test unless you're off meds i.e h2's and ppi's for 2 weeks and antibiotics for 4 weeks. Not sure if this held true for you or not melig?
Posted 2/8/2016 7:31 PM (GMT 0)
Well i have náusea on n off too n i actually do get sick..the acid is literally choking me n Im taking ppi but not really working yet its hard to get on top of..I find when acid is down it Will work but but if it keeps producing its hard to get on top...n i m just constantly burping from morn till nigh Im eating enough to keep me going but wanna eat more...hArd with all these nice foods around ...have to be kind to tummy:( hope d h pylori is not back or never gone otherwise i near killed myself with those antibiotics 4 nothing!

Worse disease ever being a prisoner to your tummy never thought it possible to suffer this much. Its scary having the thing u need to survive with broken..u just assume anything can go in there but meds n things can really mess it up.
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