Chest Tightness+Shortness of Breath+Throat/Neck dry+Gassy Feeling

[ap10046]

Hi,
I am a male, 32 years old and in good shape, maybe a little overweight.
About a year ago, I got up at night with a sharp constant stabbing pain in my back, right middle, that kept becoming worse, till the time I couldn't even take a breath..I was taken to the ER, where after a painkiller, the pain subsided but after leaving the hospital the next day, I developed a cough that persisted for about a month or so..
Ever since then, I have had this tightness and heaviness in my chest and I feel I can't satisfactorily take a deep breath without straining myself. My chest also pains and hurts (dull) almost the whole day..lifting my arms above my head and stretching seems to alleviate the symptoms and I feel better when I feel a "pop" or "crack" in my sternum. is this common?
I also get palpitations sometimes that come and go throughout the day.

I have been to one of the most highly reputed MDs here and after a battery of tests, apart from high blood pressure which I have always had, I was deemed fit and normal..I am on Hyzaar for my blood pressure and was told to take an antacid..Nothing has helped and I even feel this burning sort of sensation at the back of my throat and when I take a deep breath, I get this "cool" feeling down my windpipe..I also feel very gassy all the time and a burp seems to offer relief, albeit temporarily.

No one has yet offered a rational explanation and this worries me..I never felt like this and it has adversely affected my life...It is constantly on my mind and im thinking about it all the time.
I feel like im walking around with a 10lb weight around my chest...
Please can someone offer an explanation or if they are suffering from similar symptoms, I would be forever grateful...
Thank you.

[Traci0928]

I can relate to some of what you are going through. I was officially diagnosed with high blood pressure a few months ago and am taking 25mg of HCTZ and also 50mg of Atenolol a day. But was still having chest tightness/pain coming and going, sometimes a shooting pain under the breast bone or in the middle of my chest, an occasional back pain here and there. Sometimes this lasts a short time, other times it seems to last for hours. Also at times I have a heaviness in my chest that makes me feel like I'm short of breath, but yet I'm not.

When I went back to my dr a week ago for a check up she said that I was having acid reflux and to start taking Prilosec every day for the next 6 weeks. Said acid reflux can mirror heart problems, etc. ( I also had an Echo, Stress test and chest x-rays - all fine ) I started taking Prilosec and its starting to help some. You might want to try this as well to see if it will alleviate some or all of your symptoms. I know how it feels to be stressed out about feeling like **** all the time - its like you can never stop thinking about it which just makes you stress more.

[amberflameprotection]

I have had that and it lasted months!  It is Pleurisy...look it up online.  Everytime I get a bad cold or virus, it seems to come back at the tail end of the cold.  Almost feels like heartburn, but not really.  It seems to run in my family as well.  Inhalers with steriods will help a little over time.

[AJWS6]

Your not alone, I too have these symptoms and doctors are trying to figure what is causing it.  I know exactly the feeling of having weights on the chest and back pains, mine is lower left.  The good news for me is, it's not cardiac, I've had stress test, ultrasound, and heart cath all return normal.    

I've been told it's acid reflux, anxiety, bronchitis, upper respritory infection, smoking too much, asthma, pleurisy, costocondritis, etc.....  taken alot of different meds that didn't help.  It's frustrating, but the chest tightness is always there, actually it feels as if I have a super tight rubber band around my chest.

Although I still don't know the cause, what helps me is acupuncture, after a few visits my heart palps and back pain went away, still working on relieving the chest pain.  I've also read elsewhere that a chiropratic can help relieve these symptoms with back adjustments, I haven't tried that yet.  Hope this helped.  
AJ