Arm Numbness/Tingling, Chest Pain and Shorness of Breath

by John
(Pittsburgh PA)

Hey, I'm a 27 year old male. My issues started 2 years ago and have become much worse. It started with bloating, face and throat numbness and shortness of breath anytime I ate. Then it started happening all the time. No matter how much I ate or what it was. The numbness seemed to have subsided with the use of Maalox but the bloating became unbearable. My doctor and an ENT said it was GERD and prescribed acid reducer. This helped at first. Months later the same symptoms returned but this time I started getting left arm tingling and numbness and it felt like my throat was swelling shut. I had an endoscopy done that showed a small hiatus hernia. With diet changes the symptoms subsided. Now, all the same issues have returned again but I’m getting a piercing pain in my left chest that feels like a heart attack, arm tingling and numbness almost all the time. My chest muscles feel pulled and I have attacks now that feel like my heart is giving out. Please help! I want to know if this is a heart related issue or something I can correct. Where can I go from here?

I was diagnosed with slightly high cholesterol a year ago, but at the time I was only eating ground meat daily because it's all I could ingest without issues. I was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia and GERD. All blood work, ekg's and mri came back good. I'm not on any medication. I do smoke electric cigarettes daily. I stopped smoking real cigarettes about 6 months ago. I take Ativan maybe once or twice a week due to possible anxiety issues. It's not prescribed; I get it off a friend. I take Maalox or Zantac 150 sometimes. I only drink a few beers once a week or so. No family history of issues that I know of. I have cleaned up my diet extremely. The healthier I eat the more issues I seem to have and the more weight I gain. I'm not fat but I just cant seem to loose the extra 10 to 15 lbs I put on the last few months. My muscles all feel very sore and pulled, especially my neck upper back and chest area. Under my left armpit where my chest muscle is located is where the pain started and has gotten worse. The attacks, I’ve had 3 this week, feel like I’m getting very dizzy and about to black out, my heart does seem to beat faster but just harder and louder, a piercing pain comes in my chest and my left arm gets tingly and numb with the feeling like my muscles are contracting slightly. Even when the attacks aren’t happening I still feel soreness and slight arm tingling.
Your help is EXTREMELY appreciated.

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

John, these sound like symptoms of fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a condition that was first described for symptoms of fibrous tissue (hence Fibro) such as tendons and ligaments giving rise to pain in the muscle called myalgia pain. However, it is much more than this, it can affect most areas of the body and your symptoms are all consistent with this condition. It can be associated with IBS which commonly occurs alongside. No one knows what causes this condition

The condition is actually quite common (up to 1 in 20 of us experience some of the symptoms), but unfortunately there is no cure. There are various fibromyalgia diets as well as other fibromyalgia treatments that you will see offered, but the important thing is to try to adopt a healthy lifestyle, take regular exercise, counselling and sometimes medications to help with the symptoms. Ask your doctor about this and the help that is available to you where you live. Good luck.




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