Pressure Localized At The Center Of My Chest 24/7 -

Posted on Thu, 6 Aug 2020

Question: Pressure localized at the center of my chest 24/7 - doesn't ever go away (has been bothering me for at least 1 year). Difficulty taking deep breathes especially when the pressure increases, pressure increases when eating/drinking. Certain drinks/food appear to make it worse than other stuff - example water. Yet, water appears to increase the pressure i feel on my chest sometimes. When pressure increases a lot it leads to tingling cheeks and a harder time breathing. Jogging appears to alleviate the pressure and help me breathe. Occasionally I can vomit part of the food that I ate in small quantities like how a person would feel a burp and burp. This..."feeling" (being able to burp out food) happens the most when I'm out doing exercise. What is causing this?

Answered by Dr. Hari Charan Perigela (51 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
You should be investigated.

Detailed Answer:
Hi
As per your description, it could be Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Upper GI endoscopy should be done for confirmation.
Please do exercises in FASTING state.Do not eat and do exercises.
Regarding breathing difficulty,you should get basic investigation like Xray chest-PA view.At the age of 21, your Heart and Lungs will be normal mostly.But,any gross pathology in the lung can be seen in X-ray chest.In few individuals,even GERD can.cause some discomfort in the chest.
Nothing to worry.
Please consult a Physician and proceed further.
Till Endoscopy and Xray chest, you can take PPI inhibitor like RABEPRAZOLE and Domperidone combination capsule.
Hope I answered your query.If you have any questions,I will clarify further.
Wish you good health
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Kampana

Follow up: Dr. Hari Charan Perigela (4 hours later)

Thank you for your reply but I don't think that it's GERD since it doesn't explain why I have constant chest pressure that causes difficulty breathing or vice versa. It also fails to account as to why i feel like i have ants in my cheeks whenever the pressure on my chest increases.

I don't know if this is relevant but one of my eyelids feels heavier than the other and is always lower than the other. I wasn't born like this. Apparently that's called Ptosis / Lazy eye. It might be nothing since I read that it can be associated with age.

But since the tingling on my left cheek feels more present than the right cheek and it's my left eyelid that's drooping then I can't help but think that it might be connected?

I think i'm also experiencing double vision. It only happens when i'm focusing on far objects with both eyes though. If i don't focus on them I don't see them double, same with objects that are close or if i look with one eye. I noticed this around 3 weeks ago when I looked at the moon and I saw 2. The same happens if i focus on a star or a light in the distance. Then again this might be trivial since it's only for far away stuff.

So far i considered MS, Myasthenia gravis, Hiatal Hernia and a Tumor in my chest.

Hopefully I'm being paranoid and you must think i'm overacting which I dearly hope I am. But when you can't sleep because you have trouble breathing you start looking stuff up and looking at every "possible" symptom you have lol.

Please let me know what you think of this even if you think it's still GERD.

Answered by Dr. Hari Charan Perigela (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Your symptoms are more in favour of GERD

Detailed Answer:
Hi
ACID PEPTIC DISEASE/GERD will produce pain not only in the upper abdomen,but also in the centre of the chest.I have seen many patients with throat pain.Excellent results were seen with RABEPRAZOLE and Domperidone combination.
Regarding Diplopia and other symptoms over face, you should consult a Neurophysician.
Upper GI endoscopy by a good Gastroenterologist will confirm GERD.
Nothing to worry
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng