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What Causes Heart Flutters, Pain In Larynx And Shocking Pain In Shoulders?

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Posted on Fri, 10 Apr 2015
Question: 1 year ago now, i started getting heart flutters about 10 a day, felt like my heart rythem was all over the place would last few seconds sometimes a minute, would happen 10-15 times a day. then just faded out now i get them once a week- once twice a day.
then i got pain in my laynx that has never left for a year now, i had electric shock type pains in between shoulder blades, and lft side of chest, and mid back. after few months of this i had nausea, vomiting which had streaks of blood in it. then horendous upper abdominal pain that lasted a month, which radiated through to my shoulders... now have constant upper back pain shoulderblades hurt to take a deep breath pain in left side at night and in morning, fades more thoughout day, pain in right side under ribs, which makes right shoulder ache, also liver function tests are slightly high ( always been normal till pain occured on right side then they were high) alt 85, then bk to normal on recheck, then high again, and so on..... im convinced i have pancreatic cancer, which a tumor is pressing on my vagus nerve... hence the throat pain, oh and flashes of ear pain in both ears mainly left, and the heart palps i was having st the begining. iv had ultrasound, ct to look for aortic disection, which noted pancreas as normal, mri, on pancreas and liver. and an endoscopy, to look at stomach.
all normal. my problem is iv read tumors in pancreas are hard to see on imaging studys due to location. and that ct has to be a 3 phase pancreas ct.
my doc went back over my scans, as things are always getting worse for me and he said my pancreas looks on the plump side, after he did a blood test to check for autoammune pancreatitis which came back clear, he said it can be plump if thrres s lot of healthy tissue.
im not buying that after all the pain and ongoing and new symptoms over a year. im convinced i have pancreatic cancer. i know im young 35 but i have read lots of things about people in their 30 getting it! (someones gotta be unlucky so "odds" mean nothing to me)
and if its a endocrine tumor the age range is 30 onwards anyway. my pancreas duct is not dilated or any abrupt cut off, but what if tumor is in the islet part of pancreas? my theory is i have a tumor in the pancreas tgats pressing on my vagus nerve causing all my odd symptoms, and constant upper back and left sided pain. i can nolonger work due to pain, iv never been docs for anything in the past other than s chest infection and 2 pregnancys, im not a hypochondriac. somthings very very wrong. if it was vagus nerve causing throat, heart and ear symptoms... would it be constant? my thriat pain is constant but my flashes of ear pains come and go, i can go for weeks without and then have days of it bugging me. and heart flutters are not what they were they seemed to have gone apart from the odd one or two now and again.
a year prior to my 1st symptom i had a suspected blood clot in my leg... i did a physical weekend challenge, which behind my knee started aching on day one I put this down to the fact I had runners knee in the past. after the weekend I woke up and my leg was twice the size with a red colouring on the back of my calf. I was sent to hospital where they did blood test for a blood clot which came back positive. I was given heprin injections until I could have a scan in two days time. when I had the scan I was told there was no clot. after about 2 to 3 weeks my leg got back to normal. I assumed it was just a lot of inflammation but now I'm thinking maybe it was a clot and was missed on the scan. as I know that clots in legs are linked to the pancreas cancer.
i've done a lot of research on the Internet as to why tumours would not show on a scan, i've read that sometimes the tumour can blend in with the normal tissue. is this correct?
also after the last few days I've been experiencing the same sort of flashes of pain in my joints like my knee and my elbows, mainly on my right side but sometimes on my left it could also be in my ankles my hips and sometimes my toes I don't know if this is all nerve linked this is all very strange. no weight loss as of yet.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Monish De (27 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
PET scan and blood test for ca 19.9

Detailed Answer:
Hi

I have gone through your history.

I would advise you to do 2 further tests.

1) PET scan

2) Blood test for pancreatic tumour marker Ca 19.9.

Sometimes tumours such as pancreatic tumours are not detected in normal scan and can be only be detected in pet scan as they show increased fluorodeoxyglucose activity (FDG) activity i.e. these type of tumours take increased glucose uptake in the pet scan suggesting presence of pancreatic cancer.

Tumour pressing the vagus nerve causes constant pain.

Regards

DR DE
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Monish De (27 minutes later)
if tumor was in ductal area of pancreas would tge duct show signs of disturbance or could that look normal to on a nomal scan?
could pancreas tumor affect Laryngeal nerve to cause the constant pain in my laynx? i have had the tumor marker blood test, which came back normal.
if you were my doctor would you suspect pancreatic cancer due to my symptoms?
my doc said id be dead by now, but i dont know what to believe???
doctor
Answered by Dr. Monish De (26 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
Not pancreatic cancer

Detailed Answer:
Hi

If the tumour was present in the ductal area of pancreas then it should show up in normal scan.

Laryngeal pain and your other symptoms do not indicate towards pancreatic tumour.

Since your pancreatic tumour marker blood test CA 19.9 is normal you are not suffering from pancreatic cancer and there is nothing to worry.

Regards

DR DE


Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Neel Kudchadkar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Monish De (11 hours later)

i've actually had a call from the hospital today to book me in for an EUS, with this show something that a scan would miss?
even if the stands missed a pancreatic tumour.... my last MRI MRCP was seven months after my last lot of symptoms... would you have thought by then my scans would've picked up some sort of spread of the cancer especially to the liver??
would you have any thoughts of what my symptoms points towards as I think that it is clearly something chronic and progressing, and I keep thinking that can only be cancer, but are there any other things that can give symptoms like this?
i've also read that chronic pancreatitis and also be hard thing to detect... but again doesn't really fit through pain and pains.
just feels like something somewhere is pressing on my nerves and sending a lot of referred pain everywhere. put things in progress not to the point where I have constant upper back pain, domino pain I had for a month constant was worrying.
how reliable is the tumour marker blood test for the pancreas as I have read that this isn't very reliable.
and although normal scans wouldn't show the tumour would they show some signs of something wasn't right, and give some sort of clue to carry on with the investigation?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Monish De (6 hours later)
Brief Answer:
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography

Detailed Answer:
Hi

The common symtoms of pancreatic cancer are pain in the belly area or in the back, nausea, vomiting and pain that gets worse after eating and weight loss. One may feel very tired and not feel like eating.

The scans should have picked up spread of cancer in the liver.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) which is a chronic digestive disease were stomach acid or occasionally stomach content flows back into your food pipe causing irritation in the lining of your esophagus could cause symptoms such as yours.

You can take H2 receptor blocker group of drugs twice daily before food with your doctors advise to reduce acid production which may have led to such symptoms.

CT scans and MRI can detect masses in pancreas or dlatation of pancreatic duct or common bile duct but can miss tumours less than 2 cm in size.

I would advise you to do a endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography which demostrates subtle ductal abnormalities in pancreas and its sensitivity and specificity are in excess of 90% with biopsies detecting tumours smaller than 1 to 2 cm in diameter.

Discuss the test with your treating physician.

Ca 19.9 blood pancreatic tumour marker test is not very reliable test and it has sensitivity of only 20% and can be falsely negative.

Regards

DR DE
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Monish De (5 hours later)
thanks for your replys, i did have pain in the belly, mid belly and upper abdominal, for a month constant, which was terrible! but thats not come back ( yet) i have constant pain in the back now. and constant pain in left side. had the nausea went off food but only lost appitite for a few days, not had weight loss.
was checked for acid and was taking acid refulx tabs at the start of all this which did nothing.
would a tumor less than 2cm give me all this pain or could there be a few tumors less than 2cm?
is that the only reason a tumor would be missed because its small? in worse case sernario and this is pc, one would asume if the tumor isnt effecting the duct in anyway after 10 months of symptoms that it isnt the agressive ductal cell tumor, that it may be more of a slow growing one?
thanks for replying and this is my last question i promise!
doctor
Answered by Dr. Monish De (17 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
A few tumours less than 2 cm can cause such pain

Detailed Answer:
Hi

A few tumors less than 2 cm could cause you all this pain.

If the tumour is less than 2 cm then it could be missed in routine CT scan or MRI scan as it is very small in size and this is why i would recommend you to do a PET scan as pancreatic tumours show increased glucose uptake in the pet scan suggesting presence of pancreatic cancer.

If at all a tumour is present then it may be a slow growing tumour and it is not agressive ductal cell tumor and with proper treatment the disease can be kept under control and if detected early has 60% chance of a possible cure.

For your pain you can apply Buprenorphine 5 mg transdermal patch locally.

You can apply apply one patch to a dry, non-irritated, non-hairy area of your skin on your upper body such as your chest, upper back, or the outside of your arms.

Leave it in place for seven days and then remove it and replace it with a new patch, but apply the replacement patch to a different area of skin on your upper body. Avoid using the area from where you have removed the patch for at least three weeks. Continue to replace your patches once a week, on the same day of the week.

You need a doctors prescription for it.

Wishing you good health.

If you have no more clarifications then please rate the answer and close the thread.

Regards

DR DE



Note: For further queries related to kidney problems Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
doctor
Answered by
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Dr. Monish De

Oncologist

Practicing since :2004

Answered : 2229 Questions

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What Causes Heart Flutters, Pain In Larynx And Shocking Pain In Shoulders?

Brief Answer: PET scan and blood test for ca 19.9 Detailed Answer: Hi I have gone through your history. I would advise you to do 2 further tests. 1) PET scan 2) Blood test for pancreatic tumour marker Ca 19.9. Sometimes tumours such as pancreatic tumours are not detected in normal scan and can be only be detected in pet scan as they show increased fluorodeoxyglucose activity (FDG) activity i.e. these type of tumours take increased glucose uptake in the pet scan suggesting presence of pancreatic cancer. Tumour pressing the vagus nerve causes constant pain. Regards DR DE