Is it GERD, or a Heart attack, or Lung desease !!

[bjazi01]

Hello All,

Well I was rushed to the hospital on Sunday with what was thought to be a heart attack. I am a 30 year old male, I was heaving difficulty breathing, fainting and heart palpitation.

I was admitted to the hospotal and all kind of chest x-rays, EKG's, cardiogram and stress cardiogram. They found NOTHING wrong with neither my heart nor lungs, good thing I guess, except that i am STILL having symptoms that are now unexplained.

Here is the symptoms I am having:

1. Basically every 10 to 30 seconds I get the urge of having to take a deep breath, sometime I am able to sometimes I am not.
2. My neck is very sensitive, the slightest sqeese and I feel like I am going to throw up.
3. When i take a deep breath I get sharp pain in my middle back.
4. I feel like something is stuck in the lower part of my throat.

The doctors all sent me home and said the only thing they "think" is wrond is that I have GERD, I was placed on Protonix and Zantac but my symptoms has not improved any yet (only been taking them for 2 days).

The weired part is that I can sleep throgh the night with no problems at all, no urge for deep breaths or heartburn or anything.

Has anyone gone through this before ? I am still worried that the doctors may have missed something since I was a smoker for 15 years. ANy help is appreciated,

Thank you

[wackytoposthere]

First guess would be a panic attack, however after researching both drugs,
it sounds like side effects. Don't look at the side effects from the companies that make the drugs, but independent research from companies that gain nothing in return. Like Rxlist!

Here's a sample of Zantac's side effects, the side effects for Protonix was longer, on one web site 7 pages long.

Example:

Central Nervous System: Rarely, malaise, dizziness, somnolence, insomnia, and vertigo. Rare cases of reversible mental confusion, agitation, depression, and hallucinations have been reported, predominantly in severely ill elderly patients. Rare cases of reversible blurred vision suggestive of a change in accommodation have been reported. Rare reports of reversible involuntary motor disturbances have been received.

Cardiovascular: As with other H2-blockers, rare reports of arrhythmia's such as tachycardia, bradycardia, atrioventricular block, and premature ventricular beats.

Gastrointestinal: Constipation, diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, abdominal discomfort/pain, and rare reports of pancreatitis.

Hepatic: There have been occasional reports of hepatocellular, cholestatic, or mixed hepatitis, with or without jaundice. In such circumstances, ranitidine should be immediately discontinued. These events are usually reversible, but in rare circumstances death has occurred. Rare cases of hepatic failure have also been reported. In normal volunteers, SGPT values were increased to at least twice the pretreatment levels in 6 of 12 subjects receiving 100 mg q.i.d. intravenously for 7 days, and in 4 of 24 subjects receiving 50 mg q.i.d. intravenously for 5 days.

[bjazi01]

I guess that's possible, but I was put on Protonix and Zantac after my ospital visit. Basically I was having the symptoms I described above prior to taking the drugs

[jsharp29]

It kind of sounds like LPRD, as opposed to GERD, to me. The symptoms that stick out my mind are the sensation of something sticking in your lower throat and the fact that your fine while you sleep.
These are two common attributes of LPRD. If it is indeed that then you'll have to give the protonix more time. Most of the literature on LPRD says it can take weeks to months to clear up.

Here's a good article on it:[url]www.nature.com/gimo/contents/pt1/full/gimo46.html[/url]