GERD and Heartburn

Jayne, GERD can unfortunately result in esophageal spasms that can feel very much like someone is having a heart attack, or cause a feeling like an elephant is sitting on your chest.

Jayne, Please don't take this this wrong way, but do not listen to your insurance company for medical advice. That's what you're paying your doctors for. If the insurance won't pay, you may have to pay for it yourself.

I have an esophageal spasm that caused me to have severe discomfort with chest pain until it was diagnosed and treated. It didn't seem to matter what I ate or when I ate it. I also underwent many cardiac tests which were all negative. Ultimately I underwent a procedure which involved an NG tube while I was awake....quite unpleasant. I ended up with medicine to treat the spasm which has kept the chest pain at bay for the most part. Make sure you see your doctor and get treatment because you shouldn't continue to suffer with that chest pain.

I also had every test in the book for heart and I was told that Heart is not my problem. I had been prescribed nitro when the doctor wasn't sure what was causing my pain. I found out when my chest pain becomes more than I care to handle, I can take a nitro pill and within 60 or 90 seconds the pain is totally gone. I told the doctor what I was doing and he explained why and doesn't seem to see any problem with me using them, and even issued refills.

Gosh, I started out with horrible pain in my chest. Finally they diagnosed me with GERD, esphogeal dysfunction and gastroparersis. I had to have a hiatal hernia wrap around my stomach and esphogus. Nexium was not working. Now the surgery hasnt worked after 2 years. They have to redue the surgery or insert a tube which my surgeon is not wanting to do. I still have a lot of acid coming up and is going to cause barretts syndrome which runs in family. Esphogeal cancer. I have Crest sydnrome which is causing my problems which is part of Sclerderma and I have horrible spasms. Calcium channel blocker helped and probably will need to go back on it. I cant afford nexium any more and I said I had to surgery to prevent all this from happening. Surgery is usually successful but not mine.

Hi i was reading what you wrote I was diagnosed with GERD 2 years ago and i also had surgury but now i have been having really bad chest pains and underneth my left breast and in my upper back the pain is bad it fills like im on fire. I went to my doctor and they did chest exrays and they also did a endosopy and had to drink some really bad barium stuff to they have did all the test they can think of up here in roseau, mn and they cant find what is wrong so they want to send me to the cities to the university of MN but i cant get in there tell june 6 and they just keep putting me on pills i now take 5 pills and those are acid reflux pill and those are not helping i thought the surgury was suppose to fix this promblum but now 2 years down the road i am worse then before i was having all these problum

To redflorence,

I'm not sure the hiatal hernia wraps are expected to do the job for long extended periods. They do loosen over time I believe. Anyway, I used to take that expensive Nexium. But I lost my full time job awhile back and resorted to Prilosec OTC. Nexium may have a few more mg's but it is the same as Prilosec. Astra Zeneca just used it to replace Prilosec when Prilosec expired it's patent and went OTC. I've found it to work just as good as the Nexium did for me. In fact, I think a little better actually if I remember correctly when I was taking it.


I'll tell you a secret that I accidentally also found to reduce acid production. I quit eating out so much and used less seasonings, oils etc in my food. And low and behold. That's right. I was surprised. If you one to eat out with any regularity with all the stuff they put in food at restaurants, over time that just keeps your stomach on a slow burn, seriously and you don't even know it. I'm just speaking for myself, but it did make a difference for me! In fact I was able to cut back on the PPI's and go without it on occasion for a few days. I'm not saying it's guaranteed it will work for everyone, but using a lot of seasonings, oils and other stuff in food all the time should be something to consider looking at as a contributor to over-active stomach acid

Jayne, I was diagnosed years ago with GERDs, recently it's gotten so bad, I am also on Nexxium 40mg, it seems to take the fire out of my heartburn but I am still having the reflux, my chest hurts so bad too, I have had the endoscopy, CAT scan, chest x rays, and blood tests, I've been to the cardiologists and they cannot find anything cardiac array, I am sorry for your discomfort but I am so thankful I am not the only person with this, I thought I was crazy. I got on here looking for answers and found your posts, I am so thankful that someone else verifies what I am experiencing. Thank you for posting.

I went to the doctor over a year ago to explain the problem I was having. I told the dr. that when I would eat once I swallowed it felt like it got stuck and I couldn't breath, swallow or even talk. I would go to the bathroom and gag until I would vomit. Once I would vomit then things were better. The dr. looked at me like I was strange and said they have never heard of such a thing. She prescribed nitro pills for me. I took the pills once and it made me feel so wierd that I never took them again. For the next year I just suffered with the problem and tried to figure out if certain foods made it happen. I couldn't figure it out and things got worse so I just went back to the dr recently and she referred for me to have a barium swallow test. I recieved my results and I have a hietal hernia and my diaphragm is weak so I go back to find out what the next step is this Friday. Don't settle for drugs, request that they do more testing because you may end up with more problems in the end. I wish you luck.

I went to the hospital with chest pain, they checked my heart. I have been told I have GERD. I had been taking antacids all weekend and having trouble sleeping. Burning and feeling like my chest was tight. Then it got so bad, I called my primary care and described my symptoms and they said go to the hospital. My pain was at least an 8. I was prescribed Dicyclomine for the spasms. It makes me feel dizzy and crosseyed and headachy. I still feel like something is in my throat - moving - like liquid bubbling or something stuck. Can't eat or drink anything good - they said avoid chocolate, coffee, alcohol, fatty, spicy orange, tomato. Taking the generic Prilosec until I can get in to the Primary care Dr. I got laid off and I really don't need all these bills. Sleep with head of bed raised, don't eat 2-3 hours before bedtime.

I just went to hospital with crushing chest pain. Sometimes relieved my mallox and sometimes not. When I had the scope they hit my esophagus and put it in spasm. I felt like I was filling up with air and was going to explode. Couldn't burp etc. Surgeons said it never happened before and don't know. My primary was very reassuring.He warned me at times this would get bumped and do this again. When I swallowed a pill it started it up again. Chest pain brought me to the hospital.I do have heart problems so makes this a little different. Can GERD cause heart palpitations or a racing heart rate of over 150? I haven't seen anything on here about them.

Donna, GERD can cause a number of problems including heartbeat changes and esophageal spasms that can feel like a heart attack. Make sure your issues with GERD are discussed and checked out.

Where can I read about heart rates and Gerd. Haven't found any yet.

I am popping this in here because of similar symptoms... Sometimes when I start to eat, food seems like it gets stuck... can't breath... chest pain and sense of strangulation... weakness.... can't talk ...barely get to the bathroom to cough up food which is caught up in copius amounts of very sticky mucous which acts like a web in my throat... successful throwing up of this clear, sticky mucous finally permits me to breath and get myself together... Almost guaranteed to occur if I am very hungry, or if I head some warm chicken while drinking milk, and other times... Stress can also being it on...

You specifies you had a hiatal hernia, I have previously been pointed to globus hystericus ... does anyone know if this is a symptom of GERD???