Ouch! My Chest!

[wspnut]

Male, 23 years old.  No history of digestion problems.  Recently I have had extremely large bouts of anxiety and acid reflux was assumed to be from that by the PCP.

Current medications:  atenolol, buspirone, protonix

For the past month, I have been dealing with all sorts of pains involving my GI tract.  My PCP assumed it was gastritis and put me on nexium (and later switched to protonix by an ER doctor) to handle the pain.

The pain right below my sternum (in my upper stomach) seems to have subsided, but I have had awful pain in my chest and back for the past couple of weeks.  I've been checked out by the ER for pancreas, gallbladder, and infection bloodtests.  I've also had lung xrays, EKGs, and cardiac enzyme tests that have all come back fine.  The only thing I've had lately (lab-wise) is a bit of a yellowish tint in my eyes and high billiruben levels on my bloodwork (over 2.5).

Still, however, I have severe pain that persists... always on my right side.  It feels like it's on the right side of my sternum or spine and spreads into my right shoulder and front-right of my neck.  It's extremely sharp.  Does this sound like acid reflux symptoms?  I have not had any blood in anything, so I do not think it is an ulcer.

When I wake in the morning, I usually have no pain.  Mid-day my sternum will have an awful "ticklish" sensation that drives me batty.  Usually, by the time dinner rolls around, my chest and back are in severe pain and I find it very hard to get comfortable.  I take tums, sometimes, but it usually does not relieve any of the pain.

Any suggestions?  Might this be something more serious than acid reflux?

[wspnut]

I think my biliruben was from the antibiotics I was on.  The yellowness in my eyes has faded since my prescription was ended.

I'm going to get a ultrasound on my gallbladder within the next couple of weeks.  We'll see if I have gallbladder problems too!  My doctor is convinced of my reflux pains as well, but zantec, nexium, and protonix has not fixed it so I am going to go to a gastroenterologiest to get checked (EGD and gallbladder ultrasound).

My pain IS every day.  It's almost always pain-free in the morning and unbearable by the time I get to bed.  I wriggle and writhe to try and get rid of it... but the only thing that is doing is inuring my back!  I have to make a conscious effort not to do that or I end up in more pain.

If you do have gallstones, I would definitely suggest visiting a specialist to ensure that they are not causing the pain.  Reflux can cause pain in all of these locations, but gallstones are nothing to mess around with!  Best of luck!

[missfiveday]

Your symptoms sound alot like mine, other then the fact that you have raised billirubin levels. My blood work came back "beautiful" as termed by my family physician, and I have gall stones.  But my dr says the stones arent the cause of my pain, rather its reflux causing the pain at the center bottom of my rib cage, back and right shoulder.  It kind of comforts me that Im not the only one feeling like this and having it deemed reflux.  Does your pain come everyday too? mine like yours isnt there in the morning but by mid day I start feeling it bother me.  I always feel like it will go away if I could just find a way to stretch it out....