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?
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!
Treadmill test doesn't show anything if it is Prinzmetal angina. This is a rest-angina.
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
Antidepressants will make it worse because of the symapticus nerve. It is a trigger like very cold air, very hot air, choline and amphetamines.