Hello everyone, I thought I would get some opinions here. I have been waking up shortly after going to bed with heart palpations, sweating, nausea & sometimes alittle dizzy, I just kind of feel sick. I was diagnosed with gerd years ago but was told it was not to bad, so what is this, anyone know? could it be esophagus spasms? This is pretty scary & I am tired of it. I do feel at times like something is stuck between the breastbone. This pounding sensation & palpations is to much, I have also been feeling like I have been choking like I am not swalling right in my sleep. I am on alot of meds due to a shoulder & cervical issue whic also causes me alot of chest, shoulder & back pain. I am due for surgery for the shoulder Jan,31, after all that pain & surgery I don't want all this to. I can't eat alot right now because of the pain I am in & I am becoming frightened to eat at all. Already had the whole cardiac workup done to. This is really starting to bother me, at times I just can't seem to breathe right when this happens. I will look into this with my doc. but already focusing on getting the shoulder under control, I have a ton of inflammation due to the shoulder all the way into the ribcage & upper chest, I also wonder if this could be contributing at all. Any opinions or suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks Sammy

Hi Sammy, :)

I have been waking up shortly after going to bed with heart palpations, sweating, nausea & sometimes alittle dizzy, I just kind of feel sick. I was diagnosed with gerd years ago but was told it was not to bad, so what is this, anyone know? could it be esophagus spasms?

Sorry to hear about your shoulder.

What meds are you on for your inflammation? Inflammation frequently leads to other problems. I am glad yours is being treated. Antiinflammatory drugs can have quite a few side effects. If you are taking a lot of medication, you might be experiencing unwanted side effects or drug interactions. Some prescription meds cause palpitations, as do other external and internal factors. I am pretty sure mine are medication-related for the most part. I am on a few meds as well. My heart does this when it's time for a dose of medication. I take it and they stop shortly after. Sometimes I get palpitations for no good reason.

Some other causes of heartbeat abnormalities are stress, unbalanced electrolyte levels, hyperthyroidism, anemia, caffeine, alcohol, illicit drugs, OTC and prescription meds and structural abnormalities of the heart. I agree with you, they can get scary. How did you cardiac workup go? Everything checked out OK?

There are people on this board suffering from esophageal spasms. They might offer some insight. Choking is a symptom of GERD (I have it and so do many others here :( ) , breathing problems are also very common with this disorder - unfortunately!!!

I hope your doctor will offer some solutions.
Good luck with your surgery! :)

I totally feel for you!! I have been sleeping in an upright position on the couch because of the same thing! I've been scared to go to sleep. I find that I have little to no relief until I have a bowel movement and then it seems to calm down some. I frequently have the racing heart/palpatations though when I get gas trapped in my stomach. It flutters and carries on, between my breast bone, right where my esophagus ends and stomach begins. It is SO annoying and scares me stiff! I've done hoards of research on my symptoms and so far have come up with GERD and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) as possible reasons for this. This message board has helped a lot in knowing that im not losing my mind and Im not alone. It can be very scary, but I find that if I "calm" myself down, focus on breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth and manage to get a burp out, it feels better. Do you take anything for GERD? Im going to try everything until I find something that works!! Read through some of the forums in the Acid Reflux and IBS sections. You might find something you can relate to. Best of luck to you!

Thanks, I was on nexium, protonix, & acouple others in the past but honestly still had this occur. Not often but I learned not to eat & never heavy before bed. At this time I do not eat a whole lot or little at a time. I looked up the esophagus spasms & one of the sites was right on with the symptoms. I am on alot of meds for the shoulder at this time. This has happened several nights in a row. It is a very scary thing & I can understand not wanted to go to sleep or bed. My cardiac workup came back fine. Turst me the first time I had this I really thought I was having a heart attack. My heart was racing so bad that I could barely talk. Yes it does tend to calm down after I burp. Not always easy to do. I am constipatied at times from the meds but this was occuring before all the meds just not as often. I am so swelled every where perhaps that is why it is occuring so much. started last night I took some water & noticed had a hard time getting it down so that tells me alittle something. I have never noticed that so much before, then took one of my meds & felt like it would not go down. Great bad enough to have the shoulder which leaves me in chronic pain. I guess I will have to make a doc. appointment. I will look into it some more. I hope you all get some relief It really is nasty. Does this only occur at night or when you are lying down? It is strange how it occurs shortly after going to bed. I know I was told by the specialist no eating or even drinking water after 6:00 pm, it is not good for anyone, but I always drink water. Tahnks again I will continue to watch for posts. Sammy

Hi All,
Don't know if you read some of my other posts. I have similar symptoms, chest pain, relieveved by burping, rapid heartbeat, had normal cardiac workup. Now the Dr. says ( an cardioglogist/electrophysicist) I have SVT. Supraventricular tachycardia. I am on Verapamil and it has helped immensely. Also taking magnesium tablets( carry them in my purse now) helps relieve the pain, pressure. He also told me to try bearing down when the rapid hearbeat starts- it will almost feel like pop, but it does help at times. Or drinking very, very, very cold water, that helps me more. All this time I thought it was in my head, but it is not. It is common and undiagnosed I was told. I hope this helps just one person, and all this "grief" I have gone thru in the last year will be so worth it. Good luck, blessings to all.

Just thought I would let you all know that went to the doctors & she maintains that the ole reflux is the culprit to my problem & is trying me on prevacid, because it is one I have never been on. Although she went in to detail to explain that the nexium, protonix & so forth are pretty much the same. Also she stated that some people can't take them they are just to strong, I believe that was my case. I will tell you she said she takes the old fashion Zantac & that is what works best for her. So she gave me a script for Ranitidine which must be the same as Zantac & said if the previcid does not work in a few days to take that & has to be taken faithfully, morning & night. All these meds take a few days to work & the Zantac takes alittle longer.
She explained that very often this occurs when after going to bed because everything relaxs & the acid kind of goes bonkers. Now here is an interesting comment the doc. made. If this is still a problem after my shoulder surgery she will give my something to relax before bedtime because stress of anxiety can kick all this up at night when you try to sleep, also said that people have come in with breathing problems which gerd was the culprit. I am not sure if this will help anyone out but I hope so. I am willing to give it all a shot. Beats all that scary stuff. By the way my insurance would not cover the Ranitdine, probably because of the zantac being over the counter, but it only cost $4.00 for 60. Much cheaper then buying the Zantac OTC. I hope this works & will try to let you all know. Sammy

Having been currently going through the same problems, it amazes me at how much I took my health for granted in the past. I would never have thought twice about watching what I eat and stuff before. I don't wish this problem on ANYBODY. Its terrible! Who would have thought that a little gas and acid reflux could completely ruin a persons life? Well, now I know. It took me a few months of research and this message board to realize that its not going to kill me and that I just need to RELAX! I haven't been to the doctor because I can't sit in waiting rooms for more than half a second before I start having anxiety and panic creep up on me. And, after reading these boards, almost all tests that people have gone through come back negative. I've had a barium swallow a few years back that came back negative and also heart testing that came back showing I had PVC's and it was nothing to worry about. YA RIGHT, lol. Thanks for the stories guys. Im glad Im not alone and we are all still here to tell about it!

I truely do feel for you, went through all that in the past, could not even go the grocery store, to worried about whether I would have an attack & could not breathe, felt everything bothered me. Strange. I am trying very hard not to let that happen again. I have been through all the cardiac testing, & so forth. Although Gerd showed up in my gastro testing they said it was not to bad, wow I hate to see what it would be llike if it was real bad. That was a couple years ago. I understand there is a surgery available now, well if mine gets that bad I will go for it, forget living like this. I just hope one of these meds help, even to get through the shoulder surgery. Really does wear you out. Good luck, god knows we are all in the boat together. Sammy

I have become terrified to go ANYWHERE but work and home -- I have become a shell of the outgoing person I used to be.

If I do have a day where I feel good - I worry all day that the breathing problems are going to come back at any moment...

I do feel awful most all day everyday now - I do not sleep well so I am exhausted. My breathing is terrible and I am afraid that something bad will happen to me before they (the Drs.) figure out what is wrong.

It is a terrible way to live..... Thank GOD for Xanax!

It was ditto for me, I am not sure how long you have been feeling this way but I can tell you it felt like forever when I went through that. It was terrable. I was starting to question my sanity a few times. I know there is a problem(medically) & I personaly feel for me it caused anxiety & just kept spiraling out of control. I was the exact same down to the xanax. I remember going to the grocery store & it would start I would just start to sweat. Dizziness & all. I am sure there must have been a panicked look on my face. I am so disappointed this has started again, but I truely hope it is from my monthly & the anxiety over surgery. I am always tired & can't take anything else due to the pain meds. I can't express to you enough how I do understand & it is terrable. I wish I could think of something that could help, I am worried about it reoccurring with me. I can't remember how it stopped even it just eventually became less bothersome & I just made myself do things. I will admitt that I get nervous if I am to far from home when this is acting up. The mind is powerful, I have had a terrable time going to one of my friends because I had such a bad experiance there & for the life of me I can't seen to forget it, She is way out in the country & it took forever for me to get help when this first starting occurring I was transported by EMS to emergency they thought I was having a heart attack, even my vital were off. I just can't get rid of that fear. This time I will not let it get out of control, third day on the prevacid & no real change infact my back hurts alittle more. Great. I will keep you in my prayers for sure,it is no way to live. Sammy

Hi Sammy,

What type of breathing problems did you have when you went through your hard time?

I know that pain killers are very hard on the stomach - so maybe that is what is causing your acid to act up. Maybe once you have your surgery - the pain will lessen and you can go off some to help heal your tummy.

I am praying that your surgery is 100% successful - I love your contributions here - they are so helpful.

God be with you:angel:

Vanessa, although I put some on the other post I will put it here also, I just could not seem to get a full breathe in, like something was blocking it, even when I yawned(which i would do alot) It was like I could not even yawn. Very strange. Was an odd feeling like at times something was working its way up & kind of cutting off my air supply. I would start to sweat & at times get dizzy, discomfort in the chest & rapid heart rate/pounding or palpatations. The most scary thing I have ever went through. Even though I have had cardiac testing done & everything seems to be fine it still worries me at times. I was put on all kinds of asthma meds with no relief for the longest time. I had doctors look at me like I was crazy. But for a long time this would happen everysingle day out of the blue & at times all day. I was put on steroids & that seemed to help & then all of a sudden the steroids made everything worse, terrable coming off of them & very slow process. Odd I never had a problem till I moved into my new house. We thought perhaps it was something in the new construction but I was the only one with these problems. I had a heart cath done & they seen acid in it, but they said not enough to cause a whole lot of problems, then a gastroscope & the same. They kept me on the nexium due to breathing issues 2 aday, but it was really bothering me. I did find out I had an injury (which also took me forever, I don't trust all these test they do anymore) & when that was being treated someof the other problems calmed down. Now they are popping up again.
Now I have been on the prevacid for three days & I have had more pain in between the rib cage so I will try the other. I can't see staying on something that is causing more pain, I am in enough with the shoulder & that gives me chest & back pain. Crazy. the breathing issue is what scares me, I am afraid to eat, no matter what I eat at times this occurs. Hopefully it is the stress. I can't focus on this when I have the surgery coming up. They want to treat it with something to calm me & I cant do that on all the pain meds. So lets hope one of these other meds work. Sammy

Thanks for sharing your experience Sammy - I appreciate it,

I am very sorry for what you have/are suffering.

My Dr. thinks I may have a 'hiatal hernia' - which pushes up into your esophogus from your stomach and causes difficulty breathing (cause it is right by the diaphragm - the big 'breathing' muscle) - and worse after you eat when the stomach is digesting. The PPI's are supposed to help with that which is why he had be try the Prilosec.

Maybe that is what you have too and the pain meds may be aggravating it - I hope the Zantac works for you. Maybe I will try that too before the Prevacid.

Your breathing problems sound a lot like mine - I also have chest pain and severe tightness with mine - scary scary stuff.... Hard to believe it can all stem from the stomach????

They kept me on the nexium due to breathing issues 2 aday, but it was really bothering me.
the breathing issue is what scares me

Sammy,

Could you please explain why they thought that Nexium would help your breathing issues?

Only those of us who've experienced terrible shortness of breath know just how very scary not being able to breathe is. I fear it more than anything. I think about it almost every day, hoping it will stay away forever. Not knowing the exact cause of my breathing problems makes me afraid they will come back and ruin my life all over again.

Acid reflux is known to trigger Asthma attacks &/or breathing problems, so they felt that if they controlled the reflux it would help to get the breathing under control. Hope the expalins it for you. It is very scary & can take over your life, as I said when I went into the doctors last week she said many people have thought they have had asthma when it was really bad reflux causing their breathing problems. With all the meds out there & foods we eat it can be along road to finding out what to take what not to eat & so forth...also stress is most certainly a factor & anxiety, really hard because all this can cause anxiety. I would suggest even trying to keep a journal, keeping track of what you eat, how you feel, what you have done that day, what meds you have tried & so forth.. after all what have you got to loose, I am going to try to keep busy & not think about it so much, I know I am anxious about surgery & I have started a new med so we will see. I believe it is also as bad not eat, which is what I have been doing. I am just not hungry, but where does all that acid go then? I feel for all of you, it is scary. Good luck, Sammy

Sammy..the Prevacid made my chest pain and back pain sooooo much worse! I tried it for 3 weeks and thought I was going to die, anyway the Zantac also is helpful for me. I am going back to my doc and have her write me another script. The OTC was not strong enough, mine was 300mg twice a day. I have tried other stuff, and I am going back to the Zantac.
This disease sure does make you feel like you are going nuts!! My family just wants me back and I am really scared that I am going to be this way forever...:(
Take care of you!
Crazy

I gave the prevacid only 3 days, but the discomfort was just getting worse so I cant see staying on it longer, I am trying to figure out if Ranitidine is like the zantac, the doctor said she was going to have me take the Zantac if the prevacid did not work but gave me the script for the Ranitidine. The way I feel at this time is I have enough pain do the the shoulder I can't take the added discomfort from trying all these meds, so I will give them a shot & if I feel it is just getting worse I will not take them, I swear some of these meds can with out a doudt cause more pain. Good luck, my family is the same, shame isn't it, the whole family suffers. I wonder if the doctors consider this. Sammy

Ranitidine is generic Zantac, not too horribly costly if you do the generic.
Hope today is a better day!
Good luck with your surgery, God Bless!
Crazy