Chest pain during and after exercise, breathing difficulties, belching etc.

[Jonnyhabak1]

Hi guys, I’m 17 and a male, and I have recently been having chest pain and difficulty breathing for the last several weeks. It began as I said, a few weeks ago, and was just mainly breathing difficulties, feeling as though I was going to suffocate if I didn’t take a deep breath, and would continue for a long time. I attended the doctors surgery, and I was worried. I had high blood pressure, (and I am scared if I have hypertension) and he told me to make lifestyle changes, not worry and said I was anxious a lot, and prescribed me with a heart medication for no reason to apparently “ make me feel relaxed” and not worry a lot.

I then attended the hospital, where they ran a few tests, chest X-ray, blood test, and urine test, which all came back clear.

After my results, I felt at much ease, I stopped thinking about my symptoms, and they actually got better.

I eventually lost 6 kilos, and now my blood pressure is going down extremely.

A few weeks later, I’m getting the same symptoms again, where I’m having a little bit of chest pain when exercising, like heartburn, and sometimes it hurts my shoulder. I worry I will eventually die, of my heart will stop. I walk everyday, do exercise every day now, and am eating much healthier. Whereas back then I was very unhealthy.

There is not much other symptoms involved, I had recently heartburn, and I have belching a lot, even when I am breathing deep (maybe GERD) and I look on the net, and it makes me worried, but there are some positives that aren’t heart related. I just want to know what it is.

I have got really bad anxiety and I know that for a fact, and I really hope it is anxiety related, but I hope so.

Thank you, and I really need feedback, yous are all very supportive, and I need these types of responses for reassurance, thanks.

[Badbessie]

To be honest anxiety and hypertension go hand in hand. Often diagnosis is a process is a process of elimination. Your reflux or heartburn as you call it can often be made worse by stress and anxiety. The pain can also be extreme. A number of people take what you call heart medications to help with anxiety. They are called beta blockers and can help. As your GP as eliminated a lot of the physical causes perhaps now is the time to learn how to cope with your obvious anxiety. Perhaps discussing what help is out there with your GP may help.

[Jonnyhabak1 in reply to Badbessie]

Hi, but I have lowered my blood pressure recently, once I reached losing 6kgs, I immediately saw a blood pressure drop from 150 to 140, and now I get results such as 120 and lower, unless yes I get stressed or drink coffee it might go up immediately again. But I believe my unhealthiness before played a part in this, so it’s really confusing to know if it’s just anxiety or unhealthiness.

[Badbessie in reply to Jonnyhabak1]

Blood pressure goes up and down during the day as part of circadian rhythms. It's part of life and nothing to worry about. Stress will cause your blood pressure to go up. My blood pressure at rest is 120/70. If I exercise then it will go up to as much as 150/90 but soon returns to normal. The drops you talk about are nothing to worry about. I believe you need to talk to your GP.

[Jonnyhabak1 in reply to Badbessie]

I’m fine with the drops, I haven’t gotten positive drops ever since I first checked it at the gps, who said it was cause I was anxious it reached a really high level. And so I checked a few times, and it worries me as it just remained high constantly. Now I’m seeing drops. I just fear the chances of heart disease or stroke. I just wish maintinging it to normal was possible but it’s so hard for me.

What shall I mention to my go? My anxiety issues? Or something else?

[Badbessie in reply to Jonnyhabak1]

I would talk to your GP about both.

[O2Trees]

Well done with the weight loss and blood pressure drop Jonny. And doing regular exercise which is important for heart health. Anxiety and stress will worsen most things - it can affect your heart rate, heart rhythm and blood pressure - but it will also make GERD worse.

Re GERD, you could look on GERD sites and see what foods to avoid - start with those but over time you will learn which ones are your particular triggers as we are all individual. GERD can cause both chest pain and breathlessness so its important you get that under control. Don't eat later than three hours before going to bed, and if you can try sleeping on your left side (if you look at stomach diagrams you'll see that the entrance to the stomach is slightly down from the top on the right hand side, so left side sleeping will help gravity keep the acid in the right place). Squat to pick thing up rather than bending over.

Have you had heart tests? I ask because it's unusual for someone so young to be put on beta-blockers (assuming that's what you have been given, without full diagnostic tests for the heart, which you don't mention. If I were you I would want to be talking to my GP about the anxiety - it might be that CBT therapy would help and your GP might be able to refer you. Let us know how you get on.

[Jonnyhabak1 in reply to O2Trees]

Thanks for the reassurance, GERD seems to be what started it and yes I will try to get it under control. My gp that prescribed me with beta blockers was unsure whether he should give it or not, he was like it’s up to you, it will just relax you, but he has never prescribed those sorts of medications to other patients before. He must have not known what he was doing tbh, as my brother who is a pharmacist said he was an idiot for prescribing it lol. As far as testing for the heart, I went to the hospital, which they did a few examinations, such as X-rays, blood tests, urine tests etc which all came back positive. There was another suggestion of examination, but they said that would come back positive to. I even mentioned about testing directly for my heart only, but she said there is no point, there shouldn’t be anything at my age related to heart as you assumed. So they were completely confused, and let me go. Assuming it may just be anxiety.

Hope that helps clarify, atm, I just had a little pain on chest, that came for a few minutes that went, I was very worried a few minutes ago though, it’s just all confusing to me. I know that if it’s heart problems, they would only last for minutes but I have been having on and off for weeks.

Thanks

[O2Trees]

We are not allowed - or able - to diagnose on this forum. But for what it's worth, I agree with your brother, Jonny. Pharmacists usually know what they are talking about

[Jonnyhabak1 in reply to O2Trees]

Exactly. And this doctor usually has faults. He is ageing, and I’ll see another doctor, but I’m sure they’ll have a different approach and wouldn’t be happy by the other docs decisions

[Carnival567 in reply to Jonnyhabak1]

One thing you could do as you are very anxious is to ask your doctor, preferably the younger one, to check your blood pressure in both arms and your legs, and to check your femoral pulses. It is a very long and unlikely shot but as you are 17 I think it is wrong of your doctor to dismiss heart problems completely. It is entirely possible that you may have a heart problem that you were born with that went undiagnosed when you were a baby. If so it will be relatively mild and can be dealt with, I had heart surgery at 17 in 1961 so I have survived pretty well until I developed bronchiectasis 5 years ago which has nothing to do with my heart. I am 74 and have lived a normal healthy life on the whole. Don't smoke, try not to drink too much, be sensible about what you eat - not too many chips and burgers. And the more anxious you get the worse you feel, so try to get some non-drug help with that. This is Grandma speaking! I hope you feel better soon. 17 is an age when life can be very stressful, but it does pass. All the best, I hope things improve for you soon.

[Shancock]

GERD commonly makes you feel out of breath more commonly after eating but it can effect you in the day too. I would ask your GP about trialling a medication like Omeprazole to see if that helps you a little it must be taken about twenty mins before dinner though or it won't work, and trying Gaviscon after meals too, maybe that will help you slightly.

[Jonnyhabak1 in reply to Shancock]

But do gerd symptoms last for a long time? Cause I have been having these symptoms for quite a few weeks, I definitely started with the exact gerd symptoms, such as acid rise up. But that went now. The only symptoms I get related to gerd are heartburn & belching big.

[Shancock in reply to Jonnyhabak1]

I have GERD constantly and have had for last few years it's slowly getting worse, sometimes Inhave acid occasionally can be just heartburn, can be upper back pain, coughing short of breath. There are lots of symptoms and if due to a relaxed LES in the oesophogus then it won't usually go away. There are treatments so it's worth trying to see if it relieves it if so then it's probably that what's causing your problems. GERD can also irritate and even cause asthma too.

[Jonnyhabak1]

Does anyone know why my left arm blood pressure is much lower than right?, sometimes just a bit lower then my right arm? It is never higher then right? Why is this?

Thanks

[Ergendl in reply to Jonnyhabak1]

Are you right handed or left handed?

[Jonnyhabak1 in reply to Ergendl]

Right handed

[Ergendl in reply to Jonnyhabak1]

My blood pressure monitor instructions say I should always use the non-dominant arm, for more consistent results. I should pause and relax before taking a reading, sit upright and slightly forward and I shouldn't talk while using the machine. If you are using a home BP monitor, do check your instructions.

[Jonnyhabak1 in reply to Ergendl]

Yeah, my right arm results are just ridiculous sometimes compared to my left, which seems way more correct. And I think it’s also more accurate, as it’s on the heart side. So its easier to determine the results, and they seem more normalised, never goes above 150, when the other arm does

[Jonnyhabak1]

I’m sick of it, if I eat one little bit of unhealthy food, just for once, it just increases I don’t want to take medication

[Grammyluvs]

I have pains in my back and shoulders and under my ribs when I have indigestion. My Dr calls it trapped gas. After I belch a lot it goes away. It scares me because I'm 74, a woman and we have different symptoms for heart attacks. However, like you my heart is great after going thru numerous heart tests.

[Hidden]

You say your healthy. Do you smoke? If so please stop! Just keep checking win with your GO, and if needed get a second opinion. You are awfully young but illness doesn't discriminate against age so understand your concern. See your doc, deep breathe, and no smoking! Maybe ease up on caffeine if you drink monsters etc