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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suffered GERD, Finished Antibiotic But Symptoms Occurred Again. Have Intermittent Chest And Arm Pain. EKG Normal. Suggest?

Hi, I've suffered bouts of gerd over the years. A month ago I finished a double course of antibiotics and it triggered gerd symptoms again. They were severe enough to take me to the dr, who also did troponin and ekg in surgery. All good. However a couple of weeks back I began getting a searing pain in left bicep. Still getting intermittent chest pains at night, which I assumed was the gerd. However these arm pains, though intermittent and random became so severe and set in for a couple of hours one night, so went to ER. Again, troponin and Ekg all normal. Dr very confidently said, "It's not your heart". I accept that the arm pain could be from laptop use, but it has spread to my shoulder now, off and on, and also slightly in the right arm and shoulder. These pains are still intermittent, and not always at the same time as the chest pains I get. As you would imagine, I'm developing true anxiety when either of these pains happen. The chest pain is usually relieved eventually by gas being released in my gut, and I'm on Famatodine which has helped the heartburn. I'm a 57 year old woman with no other heath issues, no family history of heart disease and good BP and not overweight. I need some reasurrance. I know heart symptoms for woman can be vague and varied, but the ER dr was quite adamant that it was not my heart. However I hear stories of woman who go several times and are dismisssed. I'm mainly concerned by the random arm pain. It's not radiating, more from the tip of my shoulder into my bicep. Thank you for any reassurance you can give me.
Sat, 31 Aug 2013
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General Surgeon 's  Response
Hi ! As your troponin level and EKG both are coming out to be normal everytime you visit your physician, with all probabilities your pains are nothing to do with your heart. However, your level of anxiety clearly reflects your concern. In that case, I would advise you to visit a cardiologist in your area, who may after examining you clinically, may also go for some blood tests like blood sugar, serum lipid profile, and also a tread mill test (TMT). He may decide furhter course of action depending on the reports. Sometimes overwhelming anxiety can also give rise to such symptoms without any organic heart disease.
The pain in your arm may not be related to your pain in the chest. It could be due to any shoulder pathology which might have arisen due to your posture during continuous work on your computer. For this, there is no harm in visiting a physiotherapist, who may advise you for some regular exercises and other modalities of physiotherapy which may relieve you of this discomfort.
I wish you an early recovery.
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Suffered GERD, Finished Antibiotic But Symptoms Occurred Again. Have Intermittent Chest And Arm Pain. EKG Normal. Suggest?

Hi ! As your troponin level and EKG both are coming out to be normal everytime you visit your physician, with all probabilities your pains are nothing to do with your heart. However, your level of anxiety clearly reflects your concern. In that case, I would advise you to visit a cardiologist in your area, who may after examining you clinically, may also go for some blood tests like blood sugar, serum lipid profile, and also a tread mill test (TMT). He may decide furhter course of action depending on the reports. Sometimes overwhelming anxiety can also give rise to such symptoms without any organic heart disease. The pain in your arm may not be related to your pain in the chest. It could be due to any shoulder pathology which might have arisen due to your posture during continuous work on your computer. For this, there is no harm in visiting a physiotherapist, who may advise you for some regular exercises and other modalities of physiotherapy which may relieve you of this discomfort. I wish you an early recovery.