I had to go to the Emergency Room in hospital last night...

Gee, I never have any trouble getting seen in the ER - I just make sure to wear the windbreaker my friend who works for the government gave me. It's got this neat badge silkscreened on the front and the letters INS in big letters on the back. By the time I've finished checking in with the nurse and turn around the line's disappeared.

Charli - glad to hear you're doing well.

Best wishes.
 
Get well soon, Charli!

yikes, about once a every month or two I have some sort of attack where it feels like a heart attack every time i swallow (but only after swallowing) and the above description is why i never go to the ER for it.

i get that too, its a cramp of your interior back muscles. the ones that hold your esophogus. that means get more excersie.

I dunno about that, but...

Over the years, I've had two surgeries to dilate my esophagus due to acid reflux. The symptoms prior to the procedure were a tightness in the chest (similar to a heart attack?) when swallowing food. There is a 'sphincter' at the bottom of your esophagus that serves as a door to the stomach and helps keep acid from traveling upstream. Acid can irritate the sphincter and burn some of the esophagus lining in that area. Scar tissue builds up there as your body attempts to heal itself. The scar tissue can constrict the opening to the stomach and, when eating, this can cause an involuntary contraction at the bottom of the esophagus. At the same time, your esophagus is trying to squeeze from the top to push food into the stomach. The food gets caught between the two constrictions producing a painful tightness in the chest area.
 
Hope your better. Have to say morphine is bad stuff. 7 days'll addict ya.

If the pain persists better go back to the doctor ofcourse.
 
At the same time, your esophagus is trying to squeeze from the top to push food into the stomach. The food gets caught between the two constrictions producing a painful tightness in the chest area.

I kind of don't think this is it, because I've had like every acid reflux test done (endoscopies, barrium swallow, etc. etc.) and nothing showed up, plus this doesn't happen when I eat usually an hour to 3 hours after or even longer. The interior back muscle thing sounds like it makes since cause I've had back problems for the same time period since I've had the attacks. I need to research this more.....

ps. sorry if i'm hyjacking this thread
 
Sad, Terry and An - thanks.

Iti's interesting hearing about all of you guy's experiences in the ER.

Jack - I'm 45, don't smoke, drink or do drugs so my organs are in very solid shape. My biggest problem is my joints because I fenced and played rugby at 40, so I tore up my body joints really good. The only time I've been to hospital was three years ago when I had a bout of food poisoning.

Funny note, the doctor noticed I had some scarring on my right hip and asked what happened to me. I looked at him, waited a moment, then yelled -

CHILD BIRTH!

It took a moment for it to register that I had stretch marks. The assistant laughed, he thought it was funny.
 
Back
Top