Upper left abdominal pain with heart symptoms

[KevinJCHS81]

My 1st ever question, I will TRY to not be too wordy.

I have been experiencing these symptoms for over 2 years. Until today I was highly confident that my problems were due to high blood pressure and/or some kind of heart condition, combined with being over-weight and out of shape. Today my new Doctor has started suggesting problems related to my stomach.

I have been to a Cardiologist and had a stress test, halter monitor, Ultra-sounds and changes to my blood pressure meds. None of these tests showed anything unusual.

Symptoms:
1) heart feeling like its racing, beating hard or fast, for no apparent reason. Sometimes my heart feels like it is beating strangely (occasional flat heart beats, it almost feels like a skip). Of course none of these things I’m feeling show up on tests. This symptom can also be brought on by exertion, stress, eating, loud environments, etc… This is easily the Overriding symptom which leaves me worrying about having heart problems and a fear of exerting myself. This symptom, when it is bad, is pretty debilitating, but the severity of this symptom ranges greatly from no symptoms at all for several weeks, to scaring the **** out of me and rendering me completely unproductive.

2) Unusual pains and discomfort: Pain in the upper left abdominal area right along the rib cage and pain in my shoulder (mainly my left) right at the ball and socket (top-front of the shoulder).  Sometimes I get a radiating pain along my entire left side of my rib cage.

3) I have recently started experiencing back pains and pains at the bottom of my back left rib cage area.

4) High blood pressure: I have taken blood pressure medications for about 15 years now. I am currently 46 yrs old.

5) Acid Reflux: I have taken Prilosec for several years now for an Acid Reflux type condition. Today my new Doctor put me on Nexium to try for a while.

My new Doctor may already be steering me in the right direction, but if my symptoms ring a bell with any of you folks, please feel free to point me toward some tests that may be helpful.

So much for not being wordy, sorry!

[bigkev414]

I think they will edit c.. p out, but at least we all know that you are not constipated!

[KevinJCHS81]

Thank you for steering me toward new ideas / places to look. As a lot of people on here can probably attest to, a little bit of Hope can go a long way for someone who is experiencing disabling symptoms and basically being demoralized by their Specialists who say there is nothing wrong (or) it is outside their realm of medicine.

[KevinJCHS81]

“but the severity of this symptom ranges greatly from no symptoms at all for several weeks, to scaring the **** out of me and rendering me completely unproductive.”
Is the 4 letter word for “solid stool” that starts with “c” considered a bad word?
I saw that my word was replaced with **** and I got nervous and checked my saved copy of my post to make sure that I did not use the other 4 letter word which is definitely considered in bad taste for a forum.

[KevinJCHS81]

Yes, my Doctor wants me to get a 24 hour Holter Monitor. My Heart testing 1 year ago did not include the Holter Monitor, but my testing 2 years ago did include a Holter Monitor. From 2 years ago: the Holter Monitor did not show anything even though I was experiencing mild symptoms of strange heart rates/beats.

[bigkev414]

Sounds familiar to me also. Has the doctor suggested you wear a 24 hour holter monitor to see if your heart is actually beating irregularly? Sometimes I'm not sure whether its my heart rythum or stomach spasms - can feel similar except when I have SVT's, (racing heart rate)
The monitor is about the size of a KFC snack box (yep - I love food) and hangs on a strap around your waist and records what happens on a tape over a 24 hour period and they can tell what the irregularity is and try to treat it.

[RNRita]

They ring a bell here, for the most part.  Your vagus nerve is stimulated by both the heart and gastrointestinal tract.  When I get stomach symptoms, (upper left quadrant a lot of the time) I get PVCs (skipped heart beats) or racing.  I have splenic flexure syndrome, so this happens a lot.  You can go to the heart rhythm forum and find others.  The pain can radiate, but I don't have that.  I would always get your heart checked, but if you are told it is structurally normal, then I would say it is your stomach.