Never had any symptoms before, but... - Acid Reflux / GERD Message Board

Ninja1 · 01-12-2008, 08:14 PM

my feelings of GERD came on so suddenly after the death of my father. Worse yet, I am also very anxious because of the chest pains and whatnot (I had 2 EKG's to rule out heart problems in the midst of major panic attacks). I have never had any symptoms and suddenly I feel:

*Chest tightness
*Lower rib pain
*Upper chest and shoulder pain
*Tickly throat
*SLIGHT heartburn
*Lump in the throat
*Constant clearing of mucus in sinuses

I went from being a normal completely carefree individual to experiencing GERD in literally 4-6 hours. As soon as my father passed away from a heart attack I started having all these symptoms. Is it possible my GERD is temporary due to a stressor? Should I take TUMS or whatever the antacid pills are?

I would go to the hospital but since my father passed I have been there 3 times and they ran a gamut of tests--they said I was healthy, so...

Thanks in advance.

CharBerry · 01-13-2008, 04:31 AM

I certainly hope these symptoms go away. Very sorry for your loss. My husband had a heart attack Wed and even though I have symptoms every day, they became much, much worse when I found out about him. Stress is a factor for sure. Best of luck.

Charla

jbsim · 01-13-2008, 07:09 AM

Charberry-So sorry to hear about your husband is he doing ok??? Also yes stress can make this problem soooooooooooo much worse.

Kassie29 · 01-13-2008, 08:12 PM

Ninja,
My problems started about 2 months after the death of my father. I was at the hospital with him 24 hours a day for the last 5 weeks of his life. He died of esophageal cancer. Initially, my doctor thought my symptoms (heartburn, lump in the throat, acid taste) were due to stress, after seeing what my father went through. I couldn't quite believe I was having these symptoms for real either. When the symptoms persisted months later, I was sent for an endoscopy and they discovered a small hiatial hernia. I never knew I had one and it never ever bothered me before. My doctor thinks it may be the stress that brought everything out. I had also taken doxycyline for an eye infection around the same time so there are two possible culprits. Stress sounds like a strong possibility in your case.

roxcyn · 01-13-2008, 09:05 PM

Try to reduce your stress---you could take some Tums, Prevacid or Prolosec.

Roxcyn