Submitted by Dr T on March 21, 2012 – 8:23am
Question:
I’m 19 years old, and I was diagnosed with GERD in 2010. I’ve had it on and off since then but sometimes the symptoms get really bad. I want once chest pain so bad because of the acid reflux, that I went to the ER. They performed an EKG, as well as blood pressure tests and heart rate tests, and all were perfect; that was June of 2011. In March of 2011 I had an upper endoscopy done that’s when they discovered that I had a hiatal hernia, as well as some minor inflammation in my stomach and esophagus, but they took a biopsy they told me everything was just fine. Before they did the endoscopy I had an EKG, once again it was perfect.For the past week however I’ve been getting these weird spasms in my upper chest. I’m hypersensitive so I feel that they’re in my esophagus, but I’m also very concerned that it could be a heart palpitation. I get these spasms while I’m standing, walking, sitting, or even laying down and they last for about a second. Sometimes they’re even worse when I’m sitting and not as surprising/uncomfortable when I’m walking or standing. It feels like a twitch that’s slightly painful.I have very bad anxiety (I get panic attacks alot), my GERD gets pretty bad occasionally like it is now, I have no family history of heart disease, my Cholesterol is at an ideal level (as told by my GP), BP is 110/70, I don’t exercise a whole lot but everyday I walk at least a mile and a half. Should I see a cardiologist to be sure that this isn’t my heart?