tightness in chest fatigue trouble breathing

[lostone08]

for the last 3-4 years i was diagnosed with gerd it seems everytime i go out and drink or have a few drinks i get really bad fatigue the next day and i feel very ill my chest gets tight and its hard for me to breath for a day or two any ideas of what this could be?

[CalGal]

uhhuhyea, I'm glad you're being treated for EE. Have you done any reading on the subject? Have you excluded the foods that cause the 'allergic' problems in your system? EE isn't an easy thing to treat and diet can be a big part of it. It's like many other food intolerances that can leave you exhausted and displaying a myriad of other symptoms, but EE can in some cases be 100x worse. And medication(s) may not be enough to control the problem. Diet can be extremely important.

[uhhuhyea]

Hi Boron,

You seem very well informed on this subject.  I have a question for you or anyone else who may know the answer.  I am 24 years old and always have been extremely healthy and athletic. I've been struggling for two years now with almost unbearable symptoms.  I first noticed them only after a night of really heavy drinking...I would feel extremely faint and almost pass out, my chest was extremely tight and I could barely get words out.  This only happened later on the next day after drinking (no symptoms while drinking or anything) and would last two or three days.  Extremely exhausted and unable to get words out...extreme pain in lungs and cough.  Feels like intense squeezing on my throat and a big lump, and pressure in my stomach pushing onto my lungs.  It feels like I need to let out a huge burp but if I try to push gas up it just hurts and a tiny gurgling sound comes out.  Everything I eat and drink feels like its forcing open my esophagus.  Even drinking water is painful and sometimes gets stuck and comes back up!   Ive been prescribed antacids (prevacid, nexium) and the haven't helped.  I now no longer drink heavily because I have started experiencing these symptoms almost constantly.  I got an endoscopy done last year that showed eosinophillipc esophogitis which I am being treated for. Doctors are all puzzled if not careless about my symptoms.  I have taken a pulmonary function test and was diagnosed with mild asthma, but nothing that should be causing these symptoms.  They are the WORST at night!  I am constantly trying to cough up phlegm that wont come out and this has been happening for 2 years!!  I have used nasal irregation systems.....nothing seems to work and its getting worse and worse.  Can anyone help me?  p.s  these sypmptoms are times 10 if I even have one drink now a days.  

[boron]

I've mentioned both above only like possibilities, since I don't know much about your other symptoms and medical history.

H. pylori and candida are killed by other antibiotics as they are usually used for infections (especially candida which is a yeast and not bacteria). For H. pylori I don't know, it is considered that 50% of people have it - most without symptoms though.
Both bacteria and candida may develop slowly and persist for years - there are patient stories about that. Antibiotics may actually trigger candida overgrowth, since it kills bacteria and thus provide place for yeasts. Antibiotic treatment is a typical cause for candida, as you've might read on above link. Antibiotics kill harmfull, pathogenic bacteria, and may (and do) also kill many normal bacteria. But not always. Clostridium difficile overgrowth for example and candida overgrowth in colon typically appear after long term antibiotic treatment.  

Being young does not prevent you from gastric cancer. How old are you? There was a 20 year old woman here some time ago with a gastric cancer. It is colonic cancer which appear mostly only after 50.

You may want to put your medical history in one peace here, exact antibiotics, reasons for them, symptoms, chronic diseases, family diseases...Pain - where, when (night, after the meal..)?

[lostone08]

so if one of these was the case could it have lasted this long for 3-4 years? i have been on a few course of antibiotics wouldnt that of killed it? im just really worried its something untreatable but when i go to the doctors they just see me as a young person and are reluctant to do any tests

[boron]

Your first test should be breath test for H. pylori, which are in the stomach. Candida is in the colon, so when that emulsion, you drink, comes into the colon, candida eats it the same way as H. pylori, and produce gas again. I'm not sure if both microbes can be checked at the same time, but you can ask before the test. Also: producing of gas in colon in this test doesn't exactly mean, it's candida, it may be some other microbe.

Diagnosing of candida is hard. Candida often lives in the healthy gut, so it is often found during the stool test. Since stool test for candida can't distinguish between normal and excessive amount of candida, it is useless. Actually, the only reliable test for candida would be colonoscopy, which shows white patches in colonic mucosa.

Doctors are reluctant to order colonoscopy for candida without obvious symptoms, like oral thrush.

Anyway, you can make a diet trial, where you avoid all simple sugars (table sugar, fructose - so no fruits, and fruit juices, pasta, potatoes and so on. More here:
http://www.allhealthsite.com/40/intestinal-candida-overgrowth/

[lostone08]

wow thanks a lot! for the detailed response so how do i test for candida?

[boron]

Breath test:
You drink an emulsion of carbohydrates. If there are H. pylori bacteria in the stomach, they will eat those carbohydrates, break them down and produce gas. This gas enters the blood and then lungs, and it can be measured in expired air. This is the first test, you should have, since H. pylori may be the main cause of your problem. If test is positive, you get antibiotics for a week, and healing follows in most cases. These bacteria cause gastritis (inflammation or ulcers in the stomach) and may cause excessive acid secretion. This acid then goes up into esophagus and causes heartburn. If some acid leaks into trachea, it may be aspirated into lungs - and this is the cause of short breath. All this is dangerous since it may permanently damage your esophagus or lungs.

Until then, a green tea, or so, may help, since it creates a thin film over gastric mucosa, and prevent acid to affect it. But this is so-so, it may work or not, and it is not a permanent solution.

Alcohol, smoking, aspirins, acids, fruits or fruit juices, or anything acidic (aspirin, ibuprophen...vitamin C) may irritate gastric mucosa and worsen the pain. You can also try some days of completely vegetarian diet to see, if it helps (proteins from animal food, especially meat and eggs, sit a long time in the stomach, trigger acid secretion and may cause pain and nausea).

Now, I'm not sure if this is the real reason, but you can try. If you see, its triggered by alcohol - what should I say :) ?
The fatigue you describe sounds a bit unusual for GERD (at least for me), I think it's probably from alcohol - from its breakdown product acetaldehyde , which is a cause of hangover. This acetaldehyde is also produced by yeasts (fungi) candida. If these candida are overgrown within intestine, they may produce this acetaldehyde when you feed them with alcohol (or sugar). OK, this candida is just a possibility - if you were having candida, you'd also probably have a white coated tongue, skin itching, bloating, or diarrhea, especially after SUGARY meal.

[lostone08]

thanks again for your response yea my docs look at my liver with an ultrasound and determined it to bew fatty liver that was 3 years ago i have had hep tests done recently all neg and they put a camera down my throat into my stomach for gerd and same result nothing what is this breath test? so gerd can affect the lungs too wow i never knew that is there any herbal or at home remedys i can try to cure it with i really have a hard time breathing so bad i cant even smoke a cig if i wanted to

[boron]

Tightness of breath is probably from gerd. You should fix this, since it can cause permanent damage of esophagus, or even lungs. The first test is often breath test for H. pylori, which may be the cause of all gastric problems. H. pylori is then treated with antibiotics.

About elevated liver enzymes - which ones and how much elevated, also bilirubin levels would be needed to say anything more. Problems with liver often cause fatigue and nausea. It may be hepatitis, fatty liver...if enzymes were rised, additional testing is needed - starting with ones for hepatitis.

[lostone08]

some times heartburn sometimes not i forgot to mention my liver enymes have been elevated the last 3 years any ideas?

[boron]

Would you say, you have heartburn, acidic burning feeling behind your breastbone or in the throat? If yes, then your hard breathing may be from acid, which comes into lungs and causes narrowing of small breathing pathways (bronchioli). This is like in asthma. It's not an allergy, but irritation of lungs. If acid goes further into the lungs, it may cause aspiration pneumonia. This causes permanent lung damage. You should by any means avoid these attacks.