hernia

can a hernia cause difficulty breathing? if i eat small meals my shortness of breath is very slightly better. also bending or leaning forward or sitting up like a sit up makes it worse. arching my neck back helps. ive had all the testing (hrct,echo,stress,pft,xray,blood) and they say my heart and lungs are ok. ive had an ent look at my throat. i sleep fine. i have pain right in the middle of my chest and back. on my stress test scans they said my stomach was in the way on some of the shots. i feel like my chest muscles are always sore and are caving in. they want me to go to the cleveland clinic. i think they should check everything they can first as far as my stomach or possibly a muscle strain or something. do you think this is a hernia possibly?

[National Jewish]

You will need to be evaluated further to know for sure if a hernia is causing your shortness of breath.  All of this could be sorted out by following the advice that you have been given to go to the Cleveland Clinic.  However if you prefer a gastroenterologist in your area would be the type of specialist to check everything first as far as your stomach.

A hiatal hernia can crowd the chest area giving the lungs less room to work.  Eating smaller meals can help since a full stomach also crowds the lungs causing increased shortness of breath.  In addition to shortness of breath, this could cause the pain right in the middle of your chest and back.  Often this is worse with any movement that would cause you to bend forward at the waist since it further crowds your lungs into a smaller space.