Horrible hiatal hernia symptoms
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Hi everyone. My name is Jake, I'm a 27 year old male. I have chest pains daily. They last for seconds, minutes, hours, or throughout the day. Sometimes I get them as soon as I wake up and almost always after eating. They’re usually localized to one small area. They feel sharp and stabbing, sometimes dull, usually on the front left chest but sometimes it happens on the front right chest, middle of my chest, or on the sides under my arms. I have had 3 EKGs, two chest x-rays, an echo, a stress echo, all came back negative for heart disease. I also get palpitations like my heart is pounding when I lie down flat. It feels like my whole chest, back and abdomen are throbbing. It sometimes happens after eating too. Sometimes it feels like a lot of pressure in my upper chest and neck too when the palpitations happen. I was also having tachycardia when all of these symptoms started last summer. My heart rate was 100-120 at rest. My primary Dr. prescribed propranolol for chest pains, palpitations, and tachycardia. My HR is now 60-70 at rest. I’m still having chest pains and palpitations.
I’m also experiencing tightness, soreness, and pain in my throat and jaw like something is stuck in my throat. It’s worse when lying down or sitting up and putting pressure on my upper back, sides, or chest (pretty much my whole ribcage). It makes me cough and it feels like I can’t breathe fully, but I have no trouble breathing. It feels like something is in my chest, putting pressure on my throat and upper back between my shoulder blades and at the base of my neck. I have no relief with allergy medication or my rescue inhaler.
I have acid reflux and indigestion daily and regurgitation 2-3 times a week. It has gotten worse over the past 2 weeks. I had been taking Prilosec OTC for about a year before my GI doctor started prescribing it to me. She had me on Rx Prilosec for 3 months then she switched me to ranitidine for 3 months and Prilosec again for 3 months. I’m due to go back to her again soon and she said she wants to have me do one more 3 month round of ranitidine. I had an upper endoscopy done at the end of November last year and it revealed a hiatal hernia. I also had a barium swallow under fluoroscopy which also confirmed reflux, indigestion, regurge, and the hiatal hernia. After the last 3 months of ranitidine, my GI doctor said that’s when we’ll discuss surgery for the hernia repair if my symptoms don’t get better. The Prilosec isn’t working as well as it used to. I have eliminated all trigger foods from my diet, no citrus, chocolate, caffeine, tomato, pineapple, spicy foods, fried foods, garlic, bananas, alcohol, etc. I reduced sugar and carbs as well and I’m eating smaller meals throughout the day. I have nausea everyday. I almost always get nauseous after eating anything and stomach/abdominal cramps and pains.
I’m always fatigued despite a full night of sleep. I’m also getting headaches and upper back pains in between my shoulder blades and upper back. I’m just not feeling well overall, especially when all symptoms occur together. It’s difficult to function throughout the day some days. I’m just feeling miserable. I know all of these symptoms are caused by the hiatal hernia but they’re unbearable sometimes. My primary doctor said the hiatal hernia is most likely irritating my vagus nerve which controls heart rate, digestion, some muscles in the neck, throat, chest, and abdomen, which explains a lot. I just get panicked sometimes especially when I have chest pains and abdominal pains even though it's unlikely it's my heart or some other life-threatening condition.
Does anyone else have a hiatal hernia with symptoms as severe? Do you have anything you do for relief? What about the hernia repair surgery, has anyone had a nisson done or the linx? Any advice or anything would really help.
3 likes, 66 replies
chris21205 jake62038
Posted
hi Jake, im a 40 year old male and everything you have described happens to me.
I was diagnosed 2 years ago with a hiatus hernia from a scan I had.
Before the scan, I was in A&E for heart attack which they then said was a panick attack. This happend a few times over the years, had ECGs and so on, I have since been told numerous times I have bad anxiety and even been prescribed Propranolol to stop the night palpitations, but i never took them, i just stopped drinking alcohol instead and that kind of stopped them.
slowly been getting worse over the last year and now have an endoscopy booked in so see what they say. Fed up of being in pain now.
so in short, 100% now how you feel and its horrible.
not sure what can be done about all this but if an operation can be done, count me in 😢
julie61764 jake62038
Posted
I feel all of you. I have dealt on and off with a hiatal hernia, ulcerative colitis, arthritis, fibromyalgia, dysautonomia, scoliosis. no one has really been able to fully help me with any lasting relief I have been given anti depressants anti-inflammatories anti-seizure meds acid blockers you can name it a lot of the stuff made me way sicker. currently on a low dose of propranolol and Zoloft for heart palpitations and vibrations I have experienced freezing temperatures numbness burning pressure in my chest my food doesn't go down sometimes nauseous for hours after a few bites of food waking up throughout the night exhaustion spasms in my chest that feel like my insides are knotting up into a ball the ppi's worked for a while but then I started to get yeast infections and all sorts of bacterias and viruses it was messing up my immune system and balance. off of all those now I was drinking an aloe vera drink with digestive herbs in it that seem to help it took about 2 weeks and then the reflux seemed to ease up I did get months to years of relief with this and I eat an extremely plain diet for over 10 years just recently started having issues again about 5 days ago and I forgot how much this sucks on top of all my other symptoms some days you just wish you were dead. I have definitely gotten relief from having Chiropractic adjustments they will literally dig their fingers into your diaphragm and yank your hernia down also sometimes eating an apple helps you burp really loud and then feel better. really that is the only suggestions I have otherwise I've just deal with these horrible nauseating spasms
jim28062 jake62038
Edited
My wife (78 yrs) suffers from hiatal hernia every few months. Last night was our 56th anniversary. at a nice restaurant we both had prime rib. She is careful to eat only small bites. Starting with a small salad, then after only two or three bites of meat, she had to go to the bathroom and cough it up. She could not eat anything else, even the soft baked potato and we left with a take home container.
I have occasional GERD but mine symptoms only result in the need clear my throat. Going back a few years, I did take a lot of Naproxen and Ibuprofen which cause an irritation in my duodenum. I completely stopped NSAID meds . Even with the irritation, I never get classical heart burn.
I have a RX for Omeprazole but hardly ever take it. Given the infrequent occurrences, she does not want to have the surgery. Would the Omeprazole help her or would she have to take it regularly?
ophelia835 jake62038
Posted
I was just diagnosed in February with small sliding hiatal hernia. My symptoms are neck, back, ear, reflux (pinching in the throat area), jaw, chest and occasional headache. I was put on Omeprazole and Pepcid. I also found a few weeks earlier that I have a degenerative disk C6/7 with a bone spur (which carries the same symptoms as the hernia). I'll be meeting with a neurosurgeon about ACDF surgery in March. I've been seeing a chiropractor for a few weeks but will now let her know about the hernia. Hope it helps. Mostly feel the pinching and neck pain at night. This really sucks because the pain was constant in the beginning. I thought I'd swallowed something sharp. Have your doctor to do a CT scan to rule out the degenerative disk. The neurosurgeon is ruling out everything before surgery (I've seen Gastro, Chiropractor, and ENT).