I also get that split second spasm just below the sternum at different times of the day even if i'am relaxed ? Don't know what this is but its not painful. Does anyone know what this is ?
Hello all,
I'm 45 years old, 5' 10" (178 cm) and weigh 188 pounds (83 Kgs) and have these chest spasms for about 3 months now a few times a day. Some days are worse than others. The first time I had them was 10 years ago as I went into a movie theater with friends. I was so scared, I had my friend take me to the ER. They did a ECG and determined nothing wrong with my heart. The ER doctor and nurse seemed to be very confident that it was Esophagal spasms due to certain acidy drinks such as Tomato Juice and coffee.
Since then I would have an occasional spasm (about a few times a year) and I would ignore it until 3 months ago. My Dad had just died after fighting Cancer and I was with him most of time so yes, stressed out and more depressed to be honest due to other circumstances.
I guess I'm sold on the idea of this being caused by stress but does anyone know what is happening phisyologically? Which part is spasming? Why that particular part of the anatomy? And why is it persisting for so long after the stressful period?
After two more trips to the ER and negative ECG, blood pressure normal I have done my own stress test by playing soccer vigourously a few times with no pain in chest or dizzyness and - in fact - no spasms during the games, I'm very much certain this is outside the heart but I'm also equally convinced it's not the esophagus either.
One thing I did is take a course of Omeprazole for 6 weeks. It did very well for my Iritable Bowel but nothing for the spasms. I'm going to try the Magnesium / Calcium suppls. next then Qzine 10 as recommended by several fellow sufferers.
Good luck and good health to you all
Tarek
Thank God it isnt just me. Im 26 and have had this problem for over 4 years. I have admitted myself to hospital around 8 times suspecting the pain to be a heart problem. Ive been to doctors numerous times with chest pains. Ive got numerous heart tests all proceeding to be the same with normal blood pressure and pulse, perfect heart etc. But ive noticed this last while it seems to come around after I eat or take a coffee. It is such a weird sensation that you proceed to panic and think something is wrong with my heart with pulsing. After reading this thread im so glad to see that is wasnt just me and actually puts my mind abit more at ease. As it was getting severe with waking me up in my sleep with the panicking. reading this really does make you go 'thats exactly the same with me' , 'thats what it must be'. Thanks
Story of my life!
Hello all,
It appears many of you have experienced my same delima. I am glad that people take the time to post it is very helpful. Obviously doctors do not research or read. As many of you have experienced I have had every test under the sun. About a year ago I started running and at the time was in not very good shape. It was a cold day and I had severe pain in my throat as I ran. Afterward I had a wierd hiccup like feeling in my chest that eventually went away. However shortly after I started getting spasms in my esophogus. I am sure this run is what initiated my probrem. I still run and have gotten in much better shape but I still have the spasms. My concern is that I started to get soreness in my sternum area which comes and goes. Really afraid of cancer, but I have had so many unsuccessful trips to the doctor I am reluctant to continue to go and pay so much money for the same answer. My other concern is that when I have the spasms my pulse stops but my tests, EKG and others always come back normal. Sleeping on my back and TUMS seem to help releave the frequency and reduce the soreness in my sternum. I will also try the vitamim supplements as mentioned in one of the other posts.
Hi every one i m 28 year male i am suffering from such a bull sh*t from last 2 years in this dec same as you people discussing---i have good health almost 6 feet height and 82 kgs weight---i remember when it happens to me i was taking to my friends and suddenly i feel my breath stop and feel dark i was thinking i m on the way to die-but after 2 to 3 seconds i feel fine and i go to the hospital where the doctor tell me its bcoz of anxiety--he give me omeprazole and i come back home i didnot take it serious so when i come back home i eat rice and i go to sleep believe me when i awake next morning i feel to bad i was thinking my breath will stop any time i feel like that several hours and finally i decide to go to hospital i discuss that with a doctor he laugh at me he say its my bull sh*t thinking and i havn,t any problem..believe me every day i sit in hospital for a week or two weeks i was thinking if i have attack some one take me to the doctor--any ways after a month i have the same anxiety attack while i feel irregular heart beat i go to emergency where doc check my bp and all and all there the doc tell me if i have a problem of heart or if its heart attack my bp will be up--i come back home and after 2 days it happen to me again i go again to the doctor in emergency where the doc tell me that i have 30 y experiance and he also tell me that i havn,t any problem its my thinking such a sh*t i become angry but i come back home hwere all my friends laugh at me i feel to bad-----i was thinking all day ad night about this i feel scared to much even i can not off the light of the room while i m going to sleep--- i go by my own and do ecg and while they are doing ecg i feel my heart beat become slow and i m quite sure that my ecg will b not a nrmal but when i go to the doc he tell me its normal--i go like that with anxiety problem for a month or 2 i have a hudge amount of burps--- but i can not do any thing---after few months i decided again to go to another doc where the doc do ultra sound and ecg for me but not thing i feel heaviness on my left side chest and when i m nervous or a little stress i feel my breath will stop any time----i change 6 to 8 doctor every one tell me that its bcoz of stress and anxiety---- i finally decide to go to cardilogist where the doc do echo of my heart and ecg (while in ecg i feel my heart beats is not normal but ecg result come normal) and they do for my liver test result comes normal---- for next 4 months i feel the same some time i think my heart will stop beating any time it was to scary-- some one tell me that take every night a ginger tea--- so i start it by uing ginger tea i feel a little bit fine--after using ginger tea i feel light and i feel my heart beats become fine----when i stop the tea after few days it start again now its 3 months already i go to the doctor where the doctor tell me that i have a stress and bcoz of that it happened--i have alot of stress thats true----doc tell me its not a serious i insist him to do endoscopy for me but the doc laugh and he say me that that my case is not a severe case endoscopy is painful putting tube to ur stomach by mouth-- any ways but insist him to give me some medicine for stomach----where on my indivdual request doc give me amoxicillin 500 mg +clarithromycin 500 mg (twice a day) for one week and also he give me (magnum Z multi vitamins tablets)---i use it and now its my 15th day i feel a little bit fine i have still feel some time that my heart beat become abnormal but its not to much panic before its a super panic now i feel a little bit fine hope it will work for me and for u all keep posting friend my suggestion for u people is that ist try on ginger tea hope it will help
hey i know this post was along time ago but im going through the same thing i had a massive anxiety attack after the first time it happened and then now its been 3 months and my panic attacks have gone but i still have this feeling i live in ukno doctor has a clue whats wrong with me and puts it down to anxiety and stress but anxiety and stress are caused by this feeling so it really does not make sence its driving me crazy no knowing whats happening or whether its seriouse i do have acid reflux and i burp constantly not full on burps not noisy ones just like i may have a habbit of burping or something but there silent burps i dont know if its the same thing exacly as you all describe i describe it as a thump/jolt in my chest/sterum or throat it makes me either take a involtray breath or feel i cant get a breathe in its happening every couple of minutes now and sometimes it feels like a guess of air comes up or my sterum spasms and ill suck a breathe in and it will go to come out too fast but only get half way out before its sucked back in again so kinda like a double breathe im going crazy im 22 im not over weight if anything i may be border line under weight i have asthma but i take my asthma inhaler twice on the night before sleep .
the doctors are ignoring me i went to hospital where they said possible anxiety or stress im getting told to basically deal with it but i cant it happens anywhere i could be working out with a friend drinking or eating it will still happen its a thump then the breathing thing so if it is the same would anybody give any insight what i can do please im really going out of my mind .
thankyou
If you have gastritis or acid reflux or bloating etc, your stomach nerves are agitated and they induce what my doctor called 'barfing'. You can feel it on your pulse. It can go on for weeks till the stomach or oesophagus problem resolves. It feels like a thud or a missed beat or a continuous flutter. The cause can be anxiety leading to acid reflux. Or the other way around- agitated nerves due to stomach problems.
Have you been checked for MVP? (Mitral Valve Prolapse) That's what I am guessing causes my feeling of spasms. I am a 60 year old female and I was diagnosed with MVP years ago, after some chest pain and dizziness. An echocardiogram, or heart ultrasound, revealed the condition. Now, many years later, I am having heart palpitations, feeling like my heart is racing, and the feeling of spasms. I am due for another echocardiogram to see if the condition has changed, I think. Best to you, in discovering the source of your problem.
I am 43 now and have been having this problem since is was 21. I am extremely bad at the moment and no matter how many years you have this problem it is very scary. I know I cant get it sorted, as I to have been through every test. However I strongly believe that stress, bad diet & alcohol makes thing worst. Stay healthy and whats what we eat & drink. My son has just told me that he to feels the flutters and he is only 16.
Praise the Lord that I found this post!!! I, too, have been plagued by these bizarre "spasms". They started a week after I turned 50 (8 months ago). The same jarring spasm in my upper chest / throat that causes my heart to hiccup, pulse to race and panic to set in. Immediately after the "episode", it feels like when you get the 'wind knocked out of ya'. It usually causes me to have to bend over a bit then sit down. I am a nurse so of course I think the "worst case scenario". My 24hr Holter monitor revealed nothing and my 45 minute heart dopler test revealed nothing, as well. The cardiologist said my heart was "good". In my own research over these past 8 months, I have come to suspect mine, anyway, has something to do with fluctuating hormones. My thyroid tests and CBC have been within normal limits. I do, like most of you, suffer from panic and anxiety attacks and I KNOW this must have something to do with it. I have started taking L-tryptaphan for serotonin deficiency and have seen a little improvement with my sleep patterns and I feel a bit calmer. Just a week ago, I started taking L-arginine (natural vasodilator) because I thought this may actually be an arterial spasm. However, if it were an arterial spasm, there would be pain; I don't have pain with this. Just yesterday, I had several of them in the morning and they were so severe that I could hardly walk across the room. I took 1000mg of L-arginine along with my 50mg of metoprolol and 1mg of clonazepam...spasm free the rest of the day. I'm going to start taking 1000mg (2 capsules) of L-arginine first thing in the morning then 2 more in the evening and we'll see if there is a breakthrough. I might add that I have changed my diet by removing processed foods and starches. I hope this will help, as well. I will also add that this problem has effected me socially, too. I only go out if I have to and all my activities are carefully calculated...this is no way to live and I feel it has robbed me of my joy.
Sorry you have these symptoms. I have similare symptoms on and off for 50 years. A twitching, constantly, almost unbearably, of my chest muscles. It seems to be related to severe anxiety, but this intellectual analysis is not solving the problem. Sometimes I feel like I am going to burst, but am unable to do so. I have turned to "spiritual methods" - praying, seeking acceptance of things as they are and mindfulness. It is too early to tell, but I believe I am on the right track.
As simple as this might seem, I think the answer is in patience, acceptance and mindfullness. That is living in the moment so you are so focused on this difficult problem, which I have for 50 years. Nothing works - drugs, therapy etc. I am convince that a spiritual solution is the key and that takes faith, self compassion, self forgiveness and acceptance. It may take a while, but I think it is worth it.