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Severe Chest pain relieved by cold water
I hope I got the right Forum for this...
I'm a 51 year old male and for the past 16 months I have had a strange pain happen to me at random times. I call it a "severe flash pain" for lack of a better description. It is located in my chest behind the sternum and slightly to the right (not the heart side). The pain area radiates about the size of a softball and happens very fast with no or little warning. I have even been raised from sleep with this pain. I get it at work, at home, pretty much any time of day. I can’t seem to nail down what triggers the pain like meal time, too much stress, fatty foods, etc. The weird part is this: I get myself to cold water as fast as I can and drink it quickly. Almost as fast as the pain arrived…it goes away. The pain is severe and the rush to find cold water is in panic mode to be sure. I even had to get a cup out of the trash once since there were none around during an attack! I don’t think it’s a heart issue but I just don’t know. I do drink coffee in the mornings, don’t exercise much as I should, but I don’t know if that’s it.
DeBug
I'm a 51 year old male and for the past 16 months I have had a strange pain happen to me at random times. I call it a "severe flash pain" for lack of a better description. It is located in my chest behind the sternum and slightly to the right (not the heart side). The pain area radiates about the size of a softball and happens very fast with no or little warning. I have even been raised from sleep with this pain. I get it at work, at home, pretty much any time of day. I can’t seem to nail down what triggers the pain like meal time, too much stress, fatty foods, etc. The weird part is this: I get myself to cold water as fast as I can and drink it quickly. Almost as fast as the pain arrived…it goes away. The pain is severe and the rush to find cold water is in panic mode to be sure. I even had to get a cup out of the trash once since there were none around during an attack! I don’t think it’s a heart issue but I just don’t know. I do drink coffee in the mornings, don’t exercise much as I should, but I don’t know if that’s it.
DeBug
I have had similar problems in the past. It was all part of having GERD, where your stomach contents rise up past the sphincter muscle at the bottom of the esophagus and top of the stomach. When this happens, you can get some really intense pain in the chest, behind the sternum. My problem is that it can get so bad that my teeth on the right side start to hurt. When I first started getting it, usually a shot of Mylanta or something to stop the burn would help, but then that stopped working, so I had to graduate to baking soda, and when that failed to help, aspirin (much to my doctor's ire). If I wake up in the middle of the night feeling the burn, I just pop a couple of aspirin and go back to sleep.
I have been also getting this weird pain usually when I lay down and sleep I wake up with a crushing pain in my chest that feels like a chip is stuck in my esophagus and scraping. I found on my own that taking a drink of cold water immediately makes the pain stop and go away. Does this sound at all familiar?
1 Comments
Yes it sounds exactly familiar Kyle.... esophageal spasms due to refux ---GERD sounds most likely the culprit. Dietary changes.... or keep a diary of what you ate earlier in the evening.. how close to going to sleep did you eat... and to keep things down.. get a GERD wedge that will raise your chest higher than your stomach at night... it will take some getting used to sleeping elevated.... or put bricks- bed risers -- something to raise the head of your bed 6 to 8 inches...(this is what I have and no longer wake with it). This will help keep the acid down below the LES ( lower esophageal sphincter) at night.
Most find that this happens every once in a while and then can go away for months at a time only to show its ugly face again.
Best of luck to you!
Most find that this happens every once in a while and then can go away for months at a time only to show its ugly face again.
Best of luck to you!
Hi DeBug - Thanks for the update! I just wanted to say thanks to you (and everyone else on here) for documenting their symptoms, because I don't think I would have been diagnosed otherwise. I was just diagnosed with Achalasia - thanks to a barium swallow that I wouldn't have known to request if it weren't for the comments here, and a subsequent manometry test. I'm planning my surgery for next summer. The sphincter muscle at the bottom of my esophagus isn't working very well, but for me, the main issue is that my esophagus isn't contracting correctly and is EXTREMELY stretched out - it looked like a balloon on the imaging. So hopefully the surgery will help fix this. We decided Botox probably wasn't worth it.
To address Pulpo above, I have been taking diltiazem (120 and 180 mg) with no effect, so I stopped taking that and am also in the process of cutting out the ranitidine and omeprazole, none of which seem to do anything since I don't actually have GERD.
Oh, also, the Doctor said she frequently heard from people with achalasia that water (cold for some people, warm for others) helps the pain go away, so we're certainly not alone in that. I'm just glad I have a diagnosis and a possible plan forward!
Thanks again, and good luck!
To address Pulpo above, I have been taking diltiazem (120 and 180 mg) with no effect, so I stopped taking that and am also in the process of cutting out the ranitidine and omeprazole, none of which seem to do anything since I don't actually have GERD.
Oh, also, the Doctor said she frequently heard from people with achalasia that water (cold for some people, warm for others) helps the pain go away, so we're certainly not alone in that. I'm just glad I have a diagnosis and a possible plan forward!
Thanks again, and good luck!
2 Comments
I've had chest pain that starts in the middle of my chest. It radiates to my back & goes round to my scapula area on my back. Then it's just one big pain. . It is intense pain. The pain is so bad I can't talk or do much while it's happening. It comes out of no place & is not related to any movement. It is not made better by ANYTHING. Purely accidental, in desperation, I got a cold drink and it goes away. It has to be a very cold drink. The pain is nothing like I've ever felt before. This has gone on for at least 5 years. I worked nights on a plastic molding machine. I do have a prolapse valve with abnormal ST wave. Whatever that means. I see my doctor regularly but I've never brought it up as it happens so random. I'm not a nervous person and live a good life. No street drugs. I'm on plenty of medications to include a water pill and a pill for regulating my "broken" natural pace maker. I was hospitalized for a very slow pulse/heartbeat. My heart seemed to have a disconnect with my pulse. They jabbed me with adrenaline and my heart/pulse didn't react to it. They talked about giving me a pace maker. My insurance lapsed mid hospital stay and suddenly I was home. That's ok I've no time for such things. I'm 55, white female, non smoker. I have COPD and use oxygen at night. I thought I was alone in the chest pain made better with ice or a very cold drink. The pain is quite incapacitating and I've no idea how long it may last as I discovered the whole cold drink cure. Ok, that's my story. Should I bring it up to my MD or let sleeping dogs sleep? If it's not fatal and ice makes it back off that's it Then, right? I have grandkids I'm raising on my own, chickens & pigs to tend as well as babysit children through out any given day. I kept charts and can see no given day or time, no situational depression. I'm happy go lucky yet I've kept this pain to myself. Honestly, I just had the severe pain and used a cold drink to reset my heart or whatever. The cold water really was a happenstance. Until the pain goes away I'm no good to anybody. Its awful and terrifying. What is it? I've been woke from sleep, crocheting or making supper. No correlation related to movement. I'll keep charting my pain to find a pattern. I'm unsuccessful thus far. So, anybody? What is it? Is it dangerous to ignore?
I don't have GERD or any such thing. If I get heart burn it's usually related to aspirin. I take a prescribed pill for that but over the counter chewable works for heartburn.
Treadmill test doesn't show anything if it is Prinzmetal angina. This is a rest-angina.
Regards.
Regards.
Hi All!
I wanted to leave another update as to my progress and symptoms. It's been over a year since I had surgery for Achalasia. The surgery helped and I now have those chest pains much less. When I do have them, they are not as severe. I still have water bottles placed all over the house and in my truck just in case. Cold water is still my best way to knock back the pain both before and after the surgery. I have taken on a dry coughs from time to time which can last for a few weeks or a few months. Not sure if that is related to the Achalasia or the surgery. I simply noticed that I started having them after recovering from the surgery.
I hope that each and every one of you finds relief in one way or another. I doubt that all of you have Achalasia, but be sure to rule that out if no other diagnosis pans out.
Best regards,
DeBug
I wanted to leave another update as to my progress and symptoms. It's been over a year since I had surgery for Achalasia. The surgery helped and I now have those chest pains much less. When I do have them, they are not as severe. I still have water bottles placed all over the house and in my truck just in case. Cold water is still my best way to knock back the pain both before and after the surgery. I have taken on a dry coughs from time to time which can last for a few weeks or a few months. Not sure if that is related to the Achalasia or the surgery. I simply noticed that I started having them after recovering from the surgery.
I hope that each and every one of you finds relief in one way or another. I doubt that all of you have Achalasia, but be sure to rule that out if no other diagnosis pans out.
Best regards,
DeBug
2 Comments
Antidepressants will make it worse because of the symapticus nerve. It is a trigger like very cold air, very hot air, choline and amphetamines.
1 Comments
Hope this thread is still alive. I have the same issues. Chest pains that only end if I drink something.I can drink Sprite...or anything. Two days ago I was in a Starbucks drive through and I could feel it coming on. I quickly ordered then the line stopped. The pain was so bad I felt like a heart attack was next. I finally made it to the window...my ice coffee stopped the pain. I really have to remember to keep a bottle of water at all times. My pain started about 10 years ago. My Dr took me through the treadmill test and said my heart was fine. He could not find anything. I moved and will see a new doctor tomorrow. I am so thankful I found this and I will show it to my doctor. It's real....we just don't know what it is....yet.
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