Hey all, I feel like I'm totally blowing up the discussion board lately. I just am full of questions.
A few symptoms I have and have had for quite a while but not sure if related to chiari or something else, anyone else experience these and have been linked to your chiari?
difficulty breathing. It comes and goes and is more like I can't catch or take a deep breath.
chest tightness/pain. if I had to guess the anatomy of it, I'd say diaphragm-ish and extends around the back in a band sort of. Doesn't feel to be cardiac.
but along with that, heart palpitations/irregular heartbeat
and my most embarrassing one - belching. after ANYthing i eat/drink, including water. I've been worked up for GERD, etc.. and take prilosec but it doesn't help.
You can post as many discussions or questions as you want:) There is no limit…I promise:) To answer your question…yes, chest pain and difficulty breathing are possible Chiari symptoms. You should still have it checked out by your doctor, because it could be something else. It’s never a good idea to assume. I have had difficulty breathing too. This is still a fairly new symptom for me. There is a list of symptoms on our resources page…you should check it out. I hope this helps:)
I did, but awhile ago. They ruled out pneumonia with chest xray and treated me with zpak for bronchitis even though I didn't have a cough. I also had an ekg done (after complaining about the chest tightness), it was abnormal with inverted T-waves, but they said it was normally abnormal..or rather, no reason to do anything about it.
It was at that point I started to feel like a hypochondriac/whacko..
Hi Adam, thank you. Question about POTS: does that also cause you to get extremely light headed when you stand from sitting/lying and have vision 'white out'? That also happens to me often. God this stuff is so weird.
How horrible to be throwing up in your sleep. Terrifying to say the least, I'm glad you've found something to alleviate that for you.
Sue, please do not worry about asking questions and please do mot feel embarrassed…chiari has many faces to it, talk to your doctor. I havre asthma which has been a serious issue since September.I have difficulty taking a deep breath at times, cough a lot, it feels as if something is in my throat, acid reflux which flares even worse if I drink anything other than water and lately when I eat as well.I also have the heart palpitations, blood pressure spikes it has been as high as 198/ something …sorry my memory is bad.
I get terrible chest like pains but they reside more in the sternum... I actually had one of these attacks while in the ER for CSF leak and terrible head pain.. Anyways, my blood pressure plummeted to 76/42 and that and actually been thee absolute worst one to date, they have waken me up in my sleep and stopped me in my tracks during the day.. They did and EKG and it came back normal and by the time they had given me a GI cocktail the pain had subsided.. So I went to a gastro and they did an upper endoscopy and all they found was that my esphogus doesn't shut which pre disposes me to acide reflux disease and to take 40mg of prilosec 2 times a day and that I am "probably" having an esophageal spasm... It helps but doesn't come close to alleviating all acid or chest pains...
And as far as the breathing thing, I know what your talking about, Infact for some reason or another, I catch myself holding my breath, weird i know... I also have random palpatations, not necessarily upon standing and of course I was told it's anxiety, but I disagree.... So even after my decompression I still have these symptoms..
Adam I just wanted to tell you that I'm positive that taking 2 prilosec a day is safe... I take 2 prilosec 2 times a day as per my doctors orders... And I'm very sorry to hear about the vommiting in your sleep.. how frightening..
I love that you're asking all these questions! Every question you post, it helps yourself and others who don't ask (or like me forget while I'm here LOL).
This breathing issue is so weird. I will be breathing just fine and then get that sudden urge to take a deep breath and just not be able to get enough air. After a minute or so, I'll finally get that deep breath and then I'm fine. But, I too have noticed I hold my breath without even thinking about it.
I've also been told my arrythmia is anxiety related, but it happens under all kinds of conditions for me. Yes, it absolutely happens if/when I've had an anxiety attack, but it will happen more than once while just resting on the couch. Now I'm not so sure it's completely anxiety related.
Like Adam mentioned, I get visual disturbances as well. Tiny firework looking lights darting all over the vision, things go light (not dark) then go back to normal. And Adam, I certainly hope the Prilosec is helping and continues to help. That would be a very scary thing to go through!
Similar probs w/ serious consequences myself. Sharp band of pain from diaphragm around back, breathing distress; passed out while driving; started w/ prolonged coughing spells but not around eating. Couldn't eat, coughing too much. After E.R visits, normal EKG readings, a Barium Swallow (Upper GI test) found a hylated hernia. Never had GERD s/s. Here's what worked Omeprazole (generic Prilosec) once/day; used Tesser Pearls (Benzonatate 100 mg). Symptom free until recently. Have hx of meds working then not. Had problems w/ primary MD refusing to prescribe. Saw Gastroentorologist. R/O more serious things. Said most likely secondary Chiari s/s; most likely either Esophagael spasm or Costochondritis. Prescribed Pantoprazole sodium 40 mg 2/day and represcribed Tessemer Pearls. Working so far. Last episode was quite bad. As for gas, I've found Beano (supplement) before a meal. If gassy afterwards Papaya either dried or in tablet. Hope this helps. Ironically this post is how I found this group. I know it's an older one but hope you get it.