"Angina" and GERD

I'm a 48 y/o woman, 7 foot 7 and 180 lbs. About six weeks ago, I started feeling nauseous and having pain just to the left of my sternum. I've had GERD before, and it feels like that, but this time the pain comes and goes. Lasts about ten to twenty minutes at a time. I've had the pains off and on when I'm in sessions with my therapist, and when I'm going upstairs to my apartment. When I had GERD, I thought I that I was maybe having heart problems and let my boss know that I was going to run over to the ER to get it checked out. She freaked out and got the paramedics and it was a big, expensive embarrassing deal over nothing. I felt like a huge hypochondriac. Anyway, I recently got a new job and now live in a new town. Because this feels like GERD again, I went to a new GI guy last week to get some Nexium. He had me do an EKG (normal, as far as I know) and he wants me to do a stress echo. I'm pretty sure it's GERD again. He put me on Nexium 2 times a day, I've been on it for eight days and it hasn't started working yet. The stress echo is scheduled for Monday. I's so out of shape that I get chest pains just thinking about it!   How long does it take for Nexium to work?  If the pains are gone by the weekend, do you think I still need to go through with this stress echo? thanks.

[Douglas Bogart, MD]

I don't think the stress echo is a bad idea and it might take a couple of weeks to see any change from the Nexium.  You are 48 and 48 yr. women can have heart disease.

[kenkeith]

Mental stress and physical exertion can cause angina (chest pain) due to the heart not receiving enough blood/oxygen.  Your doctor should have given you a free sample of a nitrate.  If there is immediate relief from the discomfort, it could indicate occluded vessels.  A nitrate pill diltates coronary vessels.  An EKG is not very reliable for ischemia dx.  A stress test is a better test for possible occlusions.

I would think the medication you are taking would provide relief within a short period of time...You should contact your medical advisor as it generally isn't wise to take medication if there is no benefit.

[Qpppppp1]

thanks for your response.  btw, that 7 foot 7 is a typo.  I'm only 5 foot 7.