Esophageal spasm or coronary artery spasm? Very confused

[star68]

I have a hiatus hernia and for years I have suffered on and off indigestion problems.  
About 10 years ago I started having these symptoms in the middle of the night disturbing my sleep.  I will feel like suddenly I have a pain in my upper back that will irradiate to my throat and jaw.  It feels more painful as it spreads and at the end is like I would like to burp but I feel like a balloon is stack in my throat blocking the burp from coming out.
I get these symptoms maybe 2-3 times a year and each time I maybe suffering for 2 or three days and they will eventually go.  I suffer from generalized anxiety and when I get these feelings I panic I think it´s a heart attack and my blood pressure which is normally OK will raise so will my heart rate.  I have been to emergency a few times about it one of the times I was travelling and I will panic even more.  Stress is present when I have these episodes. They always do the ECG´s, blood tests, and their conclusion is always anxiety mixed with GERD.
In the past I have been to digestive Doctors , cardiologist had endoscopies, ECG´s, Heart Scans, stress tests but I have never been told about Coronary Artery Spasm.  Casually the other day doing some research I heard people mentioned about CAS and I started to worry.  My cardiologist never mentioned it and the symptoms are very similar to Esophagal spasms or GERD problems.  I am really fed up, don´t know what to do these CAS can be quite dangerous, please could someone give me some advised about what to do next, I have always ignored it but now I am beginning to think that this could be quite dangerous.

[Flycaster305]

Ed34 and I have had almost identical heart procedures, I have a pacemaker as well, and also have had to have had a Nissen Fundoplication procedure because of GERD.  I agree with Ed34, GERD and heart problems can present with close to identical symptoms.

What medications are you taking for GERD?  If you are taking what are known as PPI's (google the term), you should take them exactly as prescribed.  With a Hiatal Hernia, you shouldn't eat or drink anything other than water three hours before retiring.  Also, if you raise the head of your bed about 6" you will keep stomach acids from draining upwards.  

Keep us informed.

[ed34]

Believe me, the feeling of heart problems and GERD are VERY similar. So similar I was diagnosed for 2 years with GERD and it was my heart. I've had heart attack, bad angina, lots of treatment (triple bypass and 10 stents). Last year I went to the hospital believing I was having a heart attack but blood tests turned out clear. They diagnosed GERD and this time they were right. I did say I was confused at the time because the pain would come and go and exertion made no difference. If you had no problems with the stress test, then it is very likely to be GERD.