I'm new here. I'm a 29 year old female with a new baby and 2 older kids. Since the baby, I have had numerous problems. I had postpartum pre-eclampsia that left me with high blood pressure that resulted in medicine and I have kept on about 25 pounds from her. When she was about 6 weeks old, we took a vacation with a 13 hour drive. Half way into the trip, I started feelling chest pressure. By the end of the week, I had chest pains in both sides and my sternum and very short of breath. Since then, I have been to the ER 4 times in 2 differrent hospitals, saw 2 different cardiologists, had Ct scans of my chest and pelvis, a stress test, an echo, ultrasounds on my legs and blood work for blood clots, and numerous EKG's. The only thing they found was a small amount of fluid around my heart that they think was left over from the pre-clampsia and high blood pressure. My chest was sore to the touch, which I know sounds like inflammation of the sternum, but the chest pressure and shortness of breath really scared me. As a result, I had a whole lot of anxiety and a few full blown attacks. That's when the palpitations started and now I've had dizziness. The reason that I'm on this board is that they also did an upper -GI series and found a hiatel hernia with some kind of ring present. I do have constant burping, but hardly ever any heartburn. I have noticed that when bending over or being slumped over, the shortness of breath gets worse. (maybe from the hernia being pushed farther up?) Has anyone else had this kind of experience with a hernia of this kind? Both cardiologist and ER Dr's say this is not heart related. I would appriciated your insight! :) Kelly