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Aberrant right subclavian artery

CAn somebody please please help me!! I am so depressed about this. I am a 21 year old female.  It has been over a year that I have been having these strange symptoms..it started happening about 6 months after I had my first child. I feel like something is stuck in my throat ALL DAY. It never goes away and I have this feeling of pressure in my chest. And if I even get a TAD bit nervous,I will feel this feeling LIKE a palpitation,but it moves up in my chest. Sometimes its where my heart is,and sometimes its in the middle of my chest. I am just not sure what it is and where its coming from. It will sometimes just come out of nowhere but it scares me half to death because it makes me feel like my heart has stopped. I have to jump up it freaks me out so bad. Also at night when I am halfway asleep,the pressure gets worse and I feel like I have electricity shaking my body. It is so weird.  I have been to the doctor ALOT because of this but they have just kept blowing me off and telling me its anxiety. I have had a 24 hour holter monitor and chest xray. It all came back normal. I finally got a throat/upper chest CT with dye and the results said that I had an aberrant right subclavian artery. The doctor says this is whats causing my symptoms. But as for the whole palpitation thing and the pressure in my chest..I am not sure..I dont think he knew. I am scared it is my heart. Or there is something else...I cannot find an explanation for it. And I hate feeling like I am being strangled all day. There is no surgery to fix this without the risk of losing my right arm or stroke. Is there anyone out there that has this problem..or any explanation? I also want to know why I am having these symptoms now..when I have never had them before in my life. I am scared I will die or something will happen to me. Thank you..!!
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Avatar universal
i also have an abarrent right subclavian artery which became symptomatic over a year ago , some doctors have suggested i leave well alone but only because i have been clinically diagnosed with a connective tissue disorder which complicates any surgery , but if you do not have a connective tissue disorder then you should have no problems with surgery, you just have to research the right surgeon, one that had done this proceedure before.If you want to discuss anything please leave me a message.
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Avatar universal
For the past 18 months- I have had a ct chest scan due to finding a small lung nodule on my right side- I have breast cancer. During this time the aberrant right subclavian artery diagnosis has come up in the ct- but keep asking my doctors about it- they said I was born with it and I shouldn't worry about it- I keep telling them I have had many ct chest scans and had never shown up before- why now, I also have problems choking on my food, acid reflux, trouble swallowing, chest pains but my stomach doctor keeps telling me it is because of my gerds- but I am taking medicine and it is not helping- I have a strange feeling it is due to the aberrant problem. I need to know what doctor due I need to see if this is related
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Avatar universal
My mom is having these same symptoms but she starts to choke on a small crumb from a piece of toast.  It is sometimes so bad that she can't breathe. She has an aberrant right subclavian artery that was found by mistake all because her right arm was not getting any blood and her pinky turned blue.  The choking was a symptom she has had for a long time but never knew it was related.  She had bypass surgery from her caroti
d artery to the right subclavian artery to give her right arm the blood flow and in about 6 weeks she will have the surgery to repair the aberrant right subclavian artery...  The Surgeon is placing
a stint on the aorta to cut off the blood supply to that part of the aberrant seeing how she will not need it because of the bypass.  This will make it deflate and take the pressure off the esophgus and allow her to live without the extremely scary choking episodes.  There is a surgery to correct the issue but a surgeon may not want to touch it unless it is serious enough like my mom's
situation.  I hope there is something the Dr. can do for you.  If not seek a second opinion and see what a different Dr. might say.  Good Luck
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Avatar universal
The doctor did not give me any risk numbers. It was actually a general surgeon and he said he is not touching it..The risk it too high. I would just hope there is something that could be done..I appreciate your post though. You are very right. :)
Helpful - 0
612551 tn?1450022175
COMMUNITY LEADER
You said: "There is no surgery to fix this without the risk of losing my right arm or stroke. " Are you saying this relative to a cure for your choking problem?  The aberrant right subclavian artery?  That being the case, and I am surprised about the dire risks there seems to be no escape.  Did your doctor give you any risk numbers?  For example, ablation procedures to cure AFib have a 1-3% risk for serious complications, including stroke, so one doesn't go for this procedure unless they are suffering badly from the AFib. In my case my symptoms are too minor to take the risk.  It seems you may be in a similar situation.   A factor in my case if I have far fewer years of life expectancy, so the payoff of a cure is less, whereas in your case an improvement could add to your quality of life for 60 or more years...a different situation.  These are matters one has to decide with the help of their loved ones, and with a serious consideration of just how hard living with symptoms are, and knowing that medical science will continue to improve with the passage of time.
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