Anyone want to have a guess at what’s wrong with me? Getting fed up now!

[40somethingJBJ]

Disclaimer: I am under the doctors, but these things take time, as we know.

I’m disabled - degenerative disc disease, fibromyalgia, a brain injury several years ago and I just generally hurt from head to toe and have no energy at all.

In the last year or so, I’ve felt like I have constant heartburn/indigestion, have been mainlining Rennie and have been having a lot of heart palpitations. I’ve mentioned it to the gp several times but they haven’t thought it’s anything to worry about, and have put it down to anxiety.

A couple of months back, I had a strange episode of heart palpitations where I felt like my heart had stopped, felt really light headed and dizzy and was shaking for about an hour afterwards. My face also often goes numb and tingly. I went back to the gp who referred me for blood tests.

Bloods have shown a huge increase in white blood cells, so I’m now under haematology to investigate this. I’ve had a telephone appointment with them, and am due for more bloods this week, then another telephone call at the end of the month. Man I spoke to suspects rheumatoid arthritis, but wants to rule out anything more sinister. Doesn’t think there’s anything that could cause my white blood count to be raised which could also cause heart palpitations.

Back to the gp for an ecg, which showed nothing. I’m now awaiting a 24hr heart monitor.

My symptoms are strange - some days there’s nothing at all, then today I’ve felt odd all day. I woke up in the middle of last night shivering and out of breath, with my heart racing. I put it down to a bad dream or something, had a glass of water and went back to sleep. I’ve had a heavy feeling in my chest all day, like I need to burp but can’t, and the palpitations have been awful. It feels like I have something too tight around my chest - not really painful, more like I need to take a too small bra off. My heart rate and oxygen sats are fine (I’ve got a monitor), but it feels like I can’t take a deep breath properly.

I’ve wondered about a vitamin deficiency of some sort and have been taking vitamins B, C, D and magnesium on top of my usual multivitamin. My thyroid is “low functioning” but not officially under active yet. Palpitations are sometimes worse after eating, but not always.

I just feel so utterly shit all the time and want to know what’s up. When I have a day like today, with awful palpitations and a tight chested feeling, it worries me that it’s something really serious, but surely a heart condition etc would’ve shown up on the ecg, so I’m trying not to worry too much, as I know anxiety will make it worse.

So, any guesses? I’m utterly fed up :(

Have they checked you for a hiatus hernia?
That can cause heartburn and can cause palpitations if it’s irritating the vagus nerve.

Gallbladder ? Feels like a tight band round the chest. If you’ve eaten fat it can kick off but sometimes kicks off anyway.

Risk factors are FFFFF - female, fat, fair, fertile (ie have had pregnancies) and 40s. I assume the fair means white by the way, not blonde ! I had the full house. Mind you so did my dad and he’s not fat or female and hasn’t been pregnant. It’s highly hereditable too.

No, not been checked for a hiatus hernia. I’ll mention that to the docs.

Yep, I fit all of those for gallbladder. Thinking about it, my mum had to have hers removed in her 40’s so that’s something to think about. Any of these are preferable from the heart attack I keep thinking I’m having!

My first though was hiatus hernia.

Do you get any pain or sickness with the tight feeling? If so does it radiate to your shoulder blade? Also is it worse after fatty foods? I had my gallbladder out last year. Wasn’t fun I thought I was dying and it was always the middle of the night that I woke up with it.

Have you looked into GERD at all?

Heartburn wise it sounds similar.

Not sickness as such, but I sometimes get stabbing stomach pain and have to run to the loo. I do get pain in my shoulder blades, but my back is in pain all the time and it’s hard to distinguish one pain from another to be honest.

When some people have gallbladder attacks they feel like they are having a heart attack. Usually after eating fatty foods I would have an attack alway middle of the night. First they sent me home with omeprazole as they thought stomach lining was irritated it wasn't it was my gallbladder

I don’t know about worse after fatty foods - it’s definitely worse after cheese, I’ve noticed that. Pizza, lasagne etc seen you set me off.

*seem to. Damn phone!

So I had some of those symptoms when I had low vitamin d and low ferritin. If you are deficient, practically none of the over the counter stuff will help as they do not contain a suitable enough dosage to supplement a deficiency & increase your levels. You can buy prescription strength tablets over the counter (without a prescription) but you should get blood tests to confirm your current level first.

Do you use ibuprofen? That can cause the reflux/heartburn

Some of your physical symptoms can be attributed to anxiety

Not looked at GERD, I’ll look into that too.

Gallbladder is looking like it fits a lot of my symptoms.

No ibuprofen. My vitamin D levels were normal on the recent blood test I had, but I’m having another one on Friday so I’ll see what that says.

Sounds like it could be gall bladder particularly with you getting stabbing pains and running to the loo. Would be worth asking for an abdominal ultrasound.
I was on the waiting list for one when I got admitted with cholecystitis (infection of gallbladder) the pain was unreal so don’t put off getting it investigated!

I’m definitely going to ask them to look into my gall bladder. I hadn’t thought about that, but it fits.

I had heart palpitations including after eating. I had the various heart checks which were all fine and didn't show up any problems. It took a while but I ended up being diagnosed with orthostatic intolerance. I have Ehlers Danlos syndrome which is probably part of it as I get all sorts of other issues but I think it can be common with fibromyalgia as well. I think basically my blood pressure at random times and my heart rate races which causes the palpitations. It might be worth asking about.

Ask them to check your b12 level, causes all sorts of symptoms. Is easily treated but very rarely checked as routine

Just looked up b12 deficiency and that fits pretty well too so I’ll ask for that to be checked. I do take a supplement but possibly not high enough.

Have you had hormone levels checked?

Well it shouldn’t take too long to get your B12 levels checked and then that’ll either rule it in or out.

No, not had my hormones checked. I did wonder about menopausal things as I’m in my 40’s.

Thanks got the help everyone, there’s some stuff I’d not thought of and will mention to my gp :)

I second the low iron/anemia.

One of my major signs is I'm crippled with reflux (probably because I barely eat when I'm anemic). I've also had the weird heart feeling. Do you get bad headaches or ringing in your ears? (tinnitus can be a sign of anemia.)

I get headaches and tinnitus a lot due to my brain injury so it’s another one that’s quite hard to narrow down.

Acid reflux or h pylori
Barrium swallow test and blood test