Fullness inside my chest?!
Question: I have had a feeling of fullness inside my chest for the past 3 - 4 weeks. This feeling has gone away every now and then recently but for the first two weeks it was constant. I also have noticed an awkward feeling inside my mouth and saliva seems to be building up on the left side of my mouth more often... I went to the ER a few weeks ago - they said nothing was wrong with my heart... an enzyme reading was high and my family doctor told me to take coenzyme q-10... I have been taking it and I have started to feel better but I still have this fullness in the left side of my body/chest (it has rotated all around my chest... last night it was sort of on the right side)... do you all think that the hospital was wrong, or do you know what is wrong with me? This pain started after I smoked a pipe rather quickly.
Answers: I have had a feeling of fullness inside my chest for the past 3 - 4 weeks. This feeling has gone away every now and then recently but for the first two weeks it was constant. I also have noticed an awkward feeling inside my mouth and saliva seems to be building up on the left side of my mouth more often... I went to the ER a few weeks ago - they said nothing was wrong with my heart... an enzyme reading was high and my family doctor told me to take coenzyme q-10... I have been taking it and I have started to feel better but I still have this fullness in the left side of my body/chest (it has rotated all around my chest... last night it was sort of on the right side)... do you all think that the hospital was wrong, or do you know what is wrong with me? This pain started after I smoked a pipe rather quickly.
Hi....I've read and re-read your question and am trying to understand.
This "fullness"....does it feel like "heaviness"? or "pressure"?
Very often pain will "project" itself. Like if you have appendicitis, oftentimes instead of the lower right part of the belly hurting, a person will feel pain in the opposite corner or close to the navel.
Anyway, so darn many times and I don't know why, but doctors think every pressure, pain, fullness or heaviness in the chest is heart related.
So many, many times a person suffers from GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) In short, the acid that is supposed to stay in the stomach backs up into the esophagus (the pipe that runs from the throat to the stomach. You generally cannot feel anything there after you swallow your food. Oftentimes when you swallow pills, you (and others of course) will take them with a lousy swallow of water. Thinking when they don't "feel" the pill in their throat, that it has gone down to the stomach.............................NOT!...
It is laying in the esophagus and melting! Do this very often and you will erode the esophagus too.
Believe it or not, smoking anything, pipe, cig., cigar, and whether you inhale or not, a certain amount of the smoke is "swallowed" and it affects your esophagus and stomach.
So, taking all this in consideration, I would go to the drug store and buy some Pepcid. Get the 20 mg. tablets if you can. If you cannot, get the 10 mg. and take 2 at each dose.
Generic is fine, and "cheaper".
Take 20 mg before you eat in the AM and again about an hour before bedtime. Do this for a month. After a month, take the 20 mg. at bedtime only.
You should be able to feel a difference in less than a week.
Do not take these pills WITH an antacid. The antacid will cancel out the Pepcid. Separate the two by 2 hours.
You can chew Maalox (my preference because of the simethacone to relieve gas pressure in the Maalox) 2-3 tabs after meals if you need to.
I don't know what kind of "enzyme" readng that was high. I am surprised to hear a MD recommended a supplement. I'm impressed. Most MDs don't like supplements.
Anyway, this is all I can think of that may help you. Espec. since you are having an awkward feeling inside your mouth which can form just before a person vomits. I really think your problem is stomach related rather than heart or lung.
Give a try on what I suggested. But I'll go one step further. If the Pepcid helps some, this is great. BUT Pepcid will stop the excess acid production which is burning your esophagus, but will not do much to heal the damage that may already be in place.
That "little purple pill" called Nexium is a Godsend!!!
If the Pepcid helps, you need to see your MD asap, tell him what you've done and ask for a Rx of Nexium. He may want you to be "scoped" and have a look before he prescribes. Don't know.
Also, when you go to sleep at night, get a couple pillows under your head and shoulders if you don't have a bed that rises at the head.
Don't eat or drink within 2 hours of bedtime. Thus, you won't produce acid to back up as you lay flat all night. That is another reason to prop up your head/shoulders.....keep what is in your stomach IN your stomach! You may have a hiatal hernia which also doesn't keep what's in your stomach there any more.
Hope this helps
I am an RN
could it be stress related?
sounds like you need to see a doctor again
look up what illness they give a person taking coenzyme
or try www.webmd.com
message board
Is it fullness or heaviness, like a feeling of something pressing down on your chest? If it's more like heaviness, I would go get a second opinion, especially if you are older. Sometimes heartattacks are hard to identify and ER is one thing a cardiologist is another. Plus the ER does not specialize in Cardiology. Please......go get checked again, you don't get a second go around.
After you know what it is, put down the pipe and get out and walk! Take care!