For years now I have had chronic stomach problems. I suffer from GERD, severe bloating and nausea. If that wasn’t enough - I also suffer from some alarming “heart issues” which have been written off by my doctor.
I can tell that these two problems are linked (ie. the more bloated I am, the more likely I am to have heart symptoms), but because of the severity of my symptoms I’m wondering if there’s an organic problem in my heart that the bloating is bringing to the surface.
I get runs of ectopics and feelings that my heart is struggling to find a rhythm. Sometimes it feels like it stops for a few seconds and then pounds so hard I lose my breath. But most worryingly, I get chest pains that spread to the shoulder, jaw and left arm with spells of dizziness and sweating.
This pain feels like a tightness and I’d rate it about a 6/10. It’s not stabbing or anything like that. At first I thought it may be heartburn but it doesn’t feel like a “burn” at all. Just tightness/discomfort.
I’ve had an echocardiogram which showed that my valves are all working correctly and structurally normal. A 24 hour holter monitor showed a run of SVT and PACs but otherwise unremarkable. I’ve had several EKGs - a majority of which said normal sinus rhythm, but twice it said “non specific ST and T wave changes.” My doctors shrugged this of as an anomaly, but it worries me.
I’m a 27 year old female, with a low body weight, normal cholesterol levels, no family history of heart disease and low blood pressure. I know the odds of me dropping dead from a serious heart attack would be extremely rare. However something about these symptoms doesn’t settle right with me. Something is going wrong somewhere.
So I guess my question for you is... Could stomach problems manifest in this way? Can they mimic symptoms of heart disease and arrhythmia? Could bad trapped gas or gerd cause shoulder/arm pain, etc?
Reply With Quote