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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
Sometimes I think I have also roemheld syndrome. But I 've sure had a cardiac spasm. I have it on DVD.
Drinking water or eating a bite activates your vagus nerve ( like vasalva). So you can handle bradycardia and high blood pressure. That it seems to be why it works.
As well I have spasm in my fingers, toes and arms like raynaud's without getting blue but very painful.The doctor saw it making a oscillography.
I hoped it would be another diagnosis but after 2 years I am hopeless.
I hoped it would be another diagnosis but after 2 years I am hopeless.
I am very sorry to tell you that it realy seems to be a prinzmetal angina. I am 37 years old. I have all this symptoms an I had an heart attack in 2015 and a s-icd implanted because a had a Torsade de Pointes with reanimation the same night. I also have a cardial bridge that will make the attacks worse when I laying on my left side. I'm on Diltiazem and ISDN and I don't have so many attacks any more and when I have one it's doesn't hurt anymore like the devil is inside of me and I try to relief it with a nitro spray. I often call the ambulance to be sure, that it get's better or sometimes when the spray doesn't work. Then they make an ecg but most of the time they don't see anything and this is normal for prinzmetal. When I had my heart attack the have seen nothing since they got in with a catheter. Then the doctor said: oh, look there you have a spasm! It's a little heart attack.
Please, when you have the attack, call the ambulance to take you with them. Maybe they catch the St-elevation.
The only thing I know to get out If you have prinzmetal, is to find a hospital that makes a test with acetylcholine.
Please, when you have the attack, call the ambulance to take you with them. Maybe they catch the St-elevation.
The only thing I know to get out If you have prinzmetal, is to find a hospital that makes a test with acetylcholine.
I’m so glad I found this thread! I have so many of the same symptoms that others have mentioned, I’ve been taking notes as I read – there are so many things I want to mention. Thanks Tuck for all of the thoughtful responses!
I’m a 36 year old female, I’ve been having these chest pains since I was in high school. I just recently discovered that cold water helps, so I’ve been dealing with the pain for a long time. Whenever I feel the pain starting, I’m in a panic to get cold water, so I now carry water with me at all times. If I don’t drink cold water (or before I discovered the cold water trick), the pain usually lasts for a couple hours, and it is incredibly painful to deal with – it feels like a heart attack. Cold water works better, although room-temperature water is usually ok. The drink can’t be hot, and carbonated beverages don’t help. There’s no regularity to the pains, I used to go months without them bothering me, but they usually happen several times a week, or even multiple times a day.
The pain can hit at any time of the day, whether I’m lying down or standing/sitting, it’s not related to exercise or anything I eat. It can wake me up out of a dead sleep. Sometimes I’m sleeping perfectly still when it happens, but I have found that it frequently happens when I switch positions, especially turning onto my left side. The pain is usually in the center of my chest, maybe a bit more on the right side, and sometimes extends to my right jaw if I don’t get cold water fast enough. I don’t smoke, and I rarely drink caffeine or carbonated beverages. I’m a bit overweight now, but when they started bothering me, I was in very good shape and exercised regularly. I don’t have any anxiety or depression. I’m not dehydrated. I have normal blood pressure. I do have gallstones, but my doctor doesn’t think the pains are related.
A few random things: I get gurgling in my throat every time I eat or drink anything. It’s not painful, or even really uncomfortable, just extremely embarrassing if I’m eating somewhere quiet. Also, and I haven’t seen anyone else mention this, but I have a really hard time burping – not just during the chest pains, but I pretty much never burp, even when I drink something carbonated. I always try to force a burp when I get the chest pain, in an effort to relieve the pressure, but even when I can get one out, it doesn’t seem to help at all.
I’ve had an endoscopy, and the doctor didn’t find any problems or any evidence of acid reflux. He diagnosed the pains as esophageal spasms. I’ve tried a couple different medications: I take ranitidine and omeprazole daily, although I’m not sure they help. I take Maalox and/or Tums when the pain hits, with no effect. I’m currently taking diltiazem, and didn’t think it made a difference – but when I went off the medication and switched to a low level of an antidepressant, I found that the pains were a lot worse and cold water didn’t help anymore. I’m not sure if it was a negative reaction to the antidepressant or if the diltiazem helped more than I realized, but I quickly switched back to diltiazem and the cold water helps again. I didn’t discover the cold water trick until after I’d started the diltiazem, so I’m not sure if cold water would work if I were off the medication, and I’m not about to find out.
My doctor has diagnosed me with esophageal spasms, but I also get a different pain when I eat that I think is a true esophageal spasm – pretty much every time I eat a meal (but especially if I eat quickly), the food gets stuck and I’m in horrible pain. I have to step away from the table pretty much every meal, and it often takes me an hour or more to eat a meal. The pain is different than the previously described chest pains, and not only does water not help these, it makes it exponentially worse. In fact, I can’t drink anything at all when I eat. I’m not sure if these two different types of “esophageal spasms” are related, since they react completely differently to drinking water. I’ve only had this pain for the past couple years, and it’s definitely getting worse as time goes on.
I’m so glad to find that I’m not alone in this! I’ve found some good ideas to ask my doctor about at my next appointment, hopefully we can find something that helps, but just finding out that cold water helps is a huge relief.
I’m a 36 year old female, I’ve been having these chest pains since I was in high school. I just recently discovered that cold water helps, so I’ve been dealing with the pain for a long time. Whenever I feel the pain starting, I’m in a panic to get cold water, so I now carry water with me at all times. If I don’t drink cold water (or before I discovered the cold water trick), the pain usually lasts for a couple hours, and it is incredibly painful to deal with – it feels like a heart attack. Cold water works better, although room-temperature water is usually ok. The drink can’t be hot, and carbonated beverages don’t help. There’s no regularity to the pains, I used to go months without them bothering me, but they usually happen several times a week, or even multiple times a day.
The pain can hit at any time of the day, whether I’m lying down or standing/sitting, it’s not related to exercise or anything I eat. It can wake me up out of a dead sleep. Sometimes I’m sleeping perfectly still when it happens, but I have found that it frequently happens when I switch positions, especially turning onto my left side. The pain is usually in the center of my chest, maybe a bit more on the right side, and sometimes extends to my right jaw if I don’t get cold water fast enough. I don’t smoke, and I rarely drink caffeine or carbonated beverages. I’m a bit overweight now, but when they started bothering me, I was in very good shape and exercised regularly. I don’t have any anxiety or depression. I’m not dehydrated. I have normal blood pressure. I do have gallstones, but my doctor doesn’t think the pains are related.
A few random things: I get gurgling in my throat every time I eat or drink anything. It’s not painful, or even really uncomfortable, just extremely embarrassing if I’m eating somewhere quiet. Also, and I haven’t seen anyone else mention this, but I have a really hard time burping – not just during the chest pains, but I pretty much never burp, even when I drink something carbonated. I always try to force a burp when I get the chest pain, in an effort to relieve the pressure, but even when I can get one out, it doesn’t seem to help at all.
I’ve had an endoscopy, and the doctor didn’t find any problems or any evidence of acid reflux. He diagnosed the pains as esophageal spasms. I’ve tried a couple different medications: I take ranitidine and omeprazole daily, although I’m not sure they help. I take Maalox and/or Tums when the pain hits, with no effect. I’m currently taking diltiazem, and didn’t think it made a difference – but when I went off the medication and switched to a low level of an antidepressant, I found that the pains were a lot worse and cold water didn’t help anymore. I’m not sure if it was a negative reaction to the antidepressant or if the diltiazem helped more than I realized, but I quickly switched back to diltiazem and the cold water helps again. I didn’t discover the cold water trick until after I’d started the diltiazem, so I’m not sure if cold water would work if I were off the medication, and I’m not about to find out.
My doctor has diagnosed me with esophageal spasms, but I also get a different pain when I eat that I think is a true esophageal spasm – pretty much every time I eat a meal (but especially if I eat quickly), the food gets stuck and I’m in horrible pain. I have to step away from the table pretty much every meal, and it often takes me an hour or more to eat a meal. The pain is different than the previously described chest pains, and not only does water not help these, it makes it exponentially worse. In fact, I can’t drink anything at all when I eat. I’m not sure if these two different types of “esophageal spasms” are related, since they react completely differently to drinking water. I’ve only had this pain for the past couple years, and it’s definitely getting worse as time goes on.
I’m so glad to find that I’m not alone in this! I’ve found some good ideas to ask my doctor about at my next appointment, hopefully we can find something that helps, but just finding out that cold water helps is a huge relief.
1 Comments
Don't take anything that irritates your sympaticus nerve like any drugs or antidepressants and no choline/lecithine/and licorice. Sometimes you don't know them as triggers because the pain comes a day later.
Gosh it's in my ears, too. So glad I found this thread, makes me feel better. It's hurting as we speak. Off to find some cold water....
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