I am a 52 year old female suffering from episodes with strange symptoms. First one was 5 or 6 years ago and only occured yearly but now are every few months. They come on without warning and can last from 5 minutes to 1 hour then disappear just as quickly. Used to only be during the day but lately have been waking in the middle of the night with these. One moment I am writhing in pain, then it just goes. It feels like there is a tight band around my middle back and ribs, I break out in a sweat and feel slightly breathless. My left arm sometimes mildly tingles or aches. But the strangest thing is during these episodes I need to pass a lot of bowel wind. I have had 4 episodes in the last 24 hours which is the most ever.