Chest pains shortness of breath

[5ummer]

I am a 31 yr old female, I have been slightly asthmatic since I was about 10 hrs old... This last year and a half I have been quite stressed due to problems at work and was signed off... I then left my job and have put on a considerable amount of weight... I was about 12 stone and now weigh about 16 stone... I am not happy about this at all but just don't seem to be able to shift the weight, I feel like I have ballooned and have no control over it. At Christmas I had pneumonia and now I am experiencing shortness of breath and pains in my chest. The pains go from front to back, my chest feels tight and heavy and it feels uncomfortable to swallow food. I seem to belch a lot and get acid reflux. I am also experiencing a lot of cramps, numbness and tingling in my arms and hands and sometimes this extends to my legs and feet but I don't know if it's related. Any ideas?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From your symptoms the chest tightness and burping are due to acid reflux causing gastrointestinal reflux disease. The cause can be due to anxiety and stress related also. Eat small nutritious meals at frequent intervals instead of a heavy single meal. Exercise frequently and take your dinner atleast 2 hrs prior to bedtime. Also raise the head end of the bed by 2 blocks.

For now, please take some antacid or OTC medications like omeprazole and ranitidine. The numbness and tingling can be due to parasthesia which can be due to anxiety and stress, vitamin B 12 deficiency, thyroid causes like hypothyroidism or diabetes.

Eat a diet rich in vitamin B 12 levels like non veg diet and take some B 12 supplements for some days.
It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[Ahlamw3x]

ok, try and exersice more often, it helps ith gas, the numbness is probaly due to you aining weight, think of it as now there are more places for the blood to travel and the pump(heart) cant pump it fast enogh to all areas.next you are going to be getting constipation and irregular pooping,it all boils down to weight gain,try and exerscise, evn if just 10 mins a day,  it makes a diffrence, there was a time i was very asmathic over everything, the doctor got me to take beclomin for some time,unlike ventolin which is a reliever , beclomin prevents you from having astnma attack,but see your doctor first.and i insist exerscise!also add more fibre in your food,if you dont poop well,you get a gazzillion side effects,from acididty,farting,burping,numbness and all that.and try not to stress so much, it make syou eat more
good luck