Shortness of breath + Fast heart rate + ... ?

[Imanexx]

Hello,
I'm soon-to-be 19 years old. Normal BP. Normal Cholesterol and no Diabetes. Sedentary lifestyle though and following not the best of diets even though i don't drink Soda or many processed foods. I practically never eat out unless i'm on a vacation or going out with friends (thing that only happens once every two months or so) ... No history of heart disease unless the high cholesterol that caused my grandfather's heart attacks and the high BP that caused my grandmother's are to be considered heart diseases ? So we do have history of Cholesterol, Diabetes and High BP ... Do excuse my very long message and thank you for taking the time to read it.

First of all, here's a list of all of my symptoms. I'm going to mark the ones that are constant with a C. The other ones came and went :

C - Burning sensation (Upper Body mostly) (GERD ???)
C - Fatigue
- Electric Shock feeling (from shoulders to hands to fingers)
C (especially the back pain) - Back – Shoulder blades – Neck pain
- Numb left leg (once in the morning)
- Sweaty + Cold hands and feet
- Chest pain
C - Frequent yawning
- Rapid heartbeat sometimes (Mitral Valve Prolapse – Arrythmia ???)
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Tightness in head
- Upper Back + Chest shooting pains
- Sore jaw
- Feeling of swollen tongue when waking up
- Tight throat
- Numb fingers
- Cold sensation in the body
- Bloating
- Constipation
- Feeling a stretch when trying to do the deep breathing technique using the diaphragm. Sometimes I even feel things "moving"

So I can't afford going to all specialists all at once and up until now I went to see an Internist, a Pneumologist and a Gastroenterologist ... I haven't seen a cardiologist only because my parents find it hard to believe that I'd have any heart problems at this age ... But then again they doubted all of my symptoms ...

At first (one month ago), I experienced lightheadedness, fatigue and severe shortness of breath and a fast heartbeats (around 100-130bpm) ... I used to have difficulty having a satisfying deep breath since I was 11 years old but it wasn't this severe and I never had to treat it ! When I saw the pneumologist, he prescribed Symbicort that I didn't take simply because I couldn't understand how I was to take something as strong as Symbicort when the doctor didn't really know what I had and my Spirometry results were normal ... ? That's when I went to my GP.    She saw my Chest X Ray, my Spirometry results, my TSH and Ferritin blood tests and everything seemed normal so she automatically said it was anxiety. She gave me a benzo to take for 7 days, that "calmed" the symptoms a bit but I still had shortness of breath and fatigue. Oh and I don't have shortness of breath only after exertion. The heartbeats started to come down to 70-80bpm but my shortness of breath persisted. I couldn't really stop at the "anxiety diagnosis" because I was constantly checking my symptoms on Google and I read many people say that one has to rule out any dangerous disease before saying "It is anxiety". It's when I started developing new symptoms that I went to see an Internist. The symptoms were bloating, constipation, feeling full, the shortness of breath became more severe and a burning sensation in all my upper body. He gave me medication that got rid of the burning sensation, the bloating and the constipation but as soon as I was off Omeprazole, I started to have the heartburn again so I went to a Gastroenterologist.

I heard a lot of people talk about GERD and Hiatal Hernia, saying that they both can cause shortness of breath but do they cause it on a regular basis or just after eating ?
I am doing much better than a month ago (not always feeling tired or lightheaded and the shortness of breath isn't as severe as it was the first time but is still here). When doing an ultrasound, the GI said that the stomach lining seemed a little bit inflamed. She told me that we'll try to treat it and if it doesn't do anything, we're going to have to do an endoscopy to see if it isn't a Hiatal Hernia. And meanwhile she gave me a blood test to see if I have Helicobacter Pylori. But I'm still worried about my heart ... Should I go to a cardiologist or is an EKG enough to rule out undiagnosed heart diseases ? Can stomach problems really cause all of those symptoms ?

Thank you again !

[SassyLassie]

Hello,
Some of this does sound anxiety related, but, I know I hate it when folks tell me that as the feelings are so very real.
For peace of mind, yes, I would see a cardiologist, if he/she gives you a clean bill of health, then you will stop worrying. I know, I have traveled this route, it is no fun.

A hiatal hernia can certainly cause some of the issues you are having, in fact, it can mimic a heart attack in some folks, so the endoscopy would be a good idea as well.

[AndRynne]

Is there much stress and anxiety in your life? You might be well advised to have a word with a psychotherapist and stay on the Omeprazole.