Strange feeling in upper chest

[dd14081]

My husband recently had a crohn's flare and was hospitalized. He thought he had an obstruction, but the CT scan showed no blockage and a little inflammation from the Crohns. They had him on 40 m.g. of prednisone while in the hospital for 4 days and his GI doc continued him at 40 m.g. for another 2 weeks. While in his second week of therapy, he developed this burning in his upper chest. At first it would only happen if he was active (e.g. riding a bike, mowing lawn). The burning would cease as soon as the activity stopped. Now it is happening with more frequency, even when he is sitting in a chair relaxing. He called his GI and he started to taper him down the next day to 20 m.g. for 3 days and then down from there over a period of two weeks, alternating from 20 m.g. per day to 10 m.g. per day. I guess my question is, has anyone else experienced this kind of sensation? He is not short of breath, has no cough or sore throat or anything. He is going for a chest xray today and we will go from there. I have seen people complain about heart burn, but he says its not heartburn. He was on Prednisone for 8 weeks two years ago and had no bad side effects from the drug. This is crazy!

 

[Samboi]

Perhaps get his gallstones checked.
I have been reporting "reflux" to my doctor for about four years now.
Turns out - it was gallstones.
Just had the gallbladder removed.
The pain was a burning sensation, across my upper abdoment and ribs, radiating across my back. They thought I was having a heart attack - got to go for a spin in the ambulance!
I was way of the mark though with my self diagnosis.
No wonder the bloody reflux medicine failed to work!

 

[dd14081]

Thanks for the comeback Samboi. We are still awaiting a call back from his GI doc with the results of the chest xray; hopefully it will be tomorrow (Friday). My husband will ask him about the possibility of gallstones. They checked his gallbladder back in 2004 when he had a resection and it was okay, but alot can happen in 8 years. Will ask if a flare can create gallstones.

 

[defgurl2004]

dd14081 -I've been taking Prednisone for almost a month now and I get the same thing going on in my chest. It's not a cold or anything and I'm not really sure what's going on. I know it's not heartburn because there is a BIG differents for me when it comes to that. Please let me know what you and your husband find out. I will be seeing my doctor on Tuesday and talking with her about it. It's starting to really get bad and really hurts.
Thanks

 

[dd14081]

Hello defgurl. My husband just returned today from a four day hospitalization. It turns out he had a minor heart attack and needed a stent. This was very scary because he did not have the classic heart attack symptoms; no shortness of breath, no nausea. Just the burning that would come and go. The feeling started while he was on the full dose of pred and when he called the GI doctor to tell him about his symptoms, the doctor gave him no indication that he should be concerned about a cardiac issue. In his defense, when my husband was explaining his symptoms to the doc, he told him I have no shortness of breath, etc. I do think that after he started the pred taper (he was down to 20 mg) and the symptoms got no better, he should have told him to go to the hospital. My husband ended up going to our family doctor who advised him to go to hospital. Luckily he had no permanent damage to his heart. What we have learned from this experience is any discomfort in the chest, we will go directly to the ER. Better to be evaluated than dead. He (we) were very lucky. Of course the cardio doctor could not tell us whether of not the crohns or the prednisone caused the problems. He said he might have had a small blockage and that one of those two things might have caused it to block completely. Apparently you can go from a partial blockage to a full blockage instantaneously. They just don't have a definitive answer. I wouldn't wait until Tuesday; have it checked out. They know immediately in the ER if you had a heart attack or if their are any irregularities with simple blood tests and an EKG. Good luck to you.

 

[defgurl2004]

Went to the doctor yesterday and she told me the pain in my chest is a minor cold. So Im alright. Glad everything was/went alright with your husband!