Dr. Sugreev Singh
Internal Medicine
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Patient's Query
Hello doctor,
I am a 25-year-old female with good weight, and I eat extremely well and exercise regularly. I think I have had shortness of breath for months. For five months, I have been dealing with chronic shortness of breath, chest tightness, burping, etc. I went to the hospital six months ago, and they did a CTPA, blood tests, echocardiogram, ECG, Holter monitors 24 hours, urine testing, spirometry, spine X-ray, VQ scan, and chest X-ray, and all came back normal. I was diagnosed with costochondritis. I have been doing physiotherapy for it, but it has not been helping, and I always feel like there is air trapped and that I am constantly burping. More recently, I started becoming quite nauseous during the night, so my naturopath put me on Panaxea Core Ease which has helped that. Does this sound like GERD? I am unsure what to do as I have been to many doctors, and they tell me I am fine. The only thing is I was low in iron, and I am taking pills for that. I am so scared it is my heart or lungs, even though they checked. I would love some insight on my symptoms and what it could potentially be as I am not certain it is costochondritis, especially with the burping all the time. I should add I have suffered from anxiety for a while, and these symptoms started a few days after my mom had a heart attack.
Hi,
Welcome to icliniq.com.
Thank you for writing, and I understand your concern.
Actually, yes. Your symptoms are more properly related to GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), and the cause of GERD is poor diet and lifestyle. But in your case, diet and lifestyle are fine. So the cause can be stress here. If you stress about everything, then stress itself releases acids in the stomach, and we cannot control them. So due to the extra production of acids, GERD-like symptoms can be felt. Suffocation, increased heart rate, and anxiety-like symptoms can be experienced. So in my opinion that is the main cause. Acidity can be the probable cause. I think stress is a differential diagnosis. The probable diagnosis is GERD, and no investigations are required, as of now. It will be great if you tell me more about your stress:
1. Do you have any stress?
2. Do you keep thinking about things?
3. How many hours do you sleep?
Please let me know so I can help you accordingly. Because everything else seems normal to me. A symptomatic treatment plan will help your case.
Hope this answers your query.
Thank you.
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Internal Medicine
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