I have been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and GERD. Does anyone else experience the strong burning sensation in your chest, the pain on the lower left side and also the pain right under the breastbone? I often get stressed and the pain seems worse at those times. My father died about two months ago, so the sorry and stress have not made these symptoms any better. Are these symptoms normal? Anyone else have these horrible chest pains?
Hi, I have acid reflux and the chest pain. The pain could be esophageal spasms. The spasms mimic a heart attack type pain, and stress does make things worse. I am so sorry for you loss, take care and try hard not to stress, has your doc put you on any meds?
Thank you for your response. I take zoloft for stress and now take prevacid once a day. I called the doctors office and they said for a week I could try taking it twice a day. So I plan on taking it twice and see what happens.
Hi Perdi
I have a small hiatial hernia too -- diagnosed after an endoscopy and months of bad burning in the chest, pain under the breastbone, painful swallowing, and upper back pain. I never knew I had a hiatial hernia and never had symptoms before. My doctor said it was small and was surprised it caused such severe symptoms. However, like you, I lost my father about two months before this all started. I also was on doxycycline for another medical problem. I think the two things really did a number on my system. I am still dealing with symptoms 9 months later, but not the burning anymore. I was put on Nexium and it took care of the burning. I now have a sore throat most of the time and am still undergoing tests to see if we can pinpoint the problem. I think all the symptoms you describe are pretty typical of GERD. Maybe you could try switching meds. I was on prilosec first and it did nothing for me. Nexium helped quite a bit. I've read the people sometimes need to switch 2, 3, or 4 times until they find the right med.
Kassie
