Question:
Severe pain under breastbone requiring trip to ER. Could it be gas?

I had sudden onset of extreme pain under my breastbone. It hindered my ability to walk it was so bad. Some positions made it a little better but the pain was so extreme I began vomiting and blacking out. Could this be gas? I went to the Emergency Department where I had tons of tests and they know what it wasn't but not what it was. It's not: ruptured ovarian cyst; gallbladder (removed); appendix (removed); heart issue (EKG ok); perforated bowel or blockage (CTscan clear). I have to go on Wednesday for an endoscopy to see if I have an ulcer but I don't think they will find anything. I had this occur once before at 6 mos post op and they never figured it out then either. I'm now 2.5 years post op. Pain went away on it's own after about 6 hours (which was same as last time). Do we have more severe gas post-op that could cause such pain?    — Soobie (posted on January 16, 2006)

January 16, 2006
i had something similar and thought that i had a cyst too. could not do a lot of tests because they found out that i was pregnant. big surprise. i had an infection in my body cavity. but the pain never went away until they cut me. since they could not find my baby they did surgery. i had a healthy pregnancy no cyst but an ecoli infection in my body. i have heard of other people with the same thing. i do not know how they test for this since the did surgery thinking something else was wrong with me. you can e-mail me more if you wish. [email protected] tammi
   — tjjjx6

January 16, 2006
Hi Susan, I too, am having the same type of pains on and off ( everyday though ) for the last 3 1/2 weeks. Please keep me posted on what you find out. I have been to the dr's atleast 3 or 4 different times since my surgery and thought it was my gall bladder, but all the test come back fine. they chalk it up as "gas"... I just don't feel that for 3 + weeks I have this bad of gas.. Let me know what you find out..THANKS KELLY
   — kelkel319

January 16, 2006
I have the same pain often....I have decided it is GAS! I have been to the Er did all the test and nothing ever shows up. Mine usually last about 30 minutes and goes away but those 30 minutes I feel as if I'm dying! The only way I can get it to go away is lay on my bed in a fetal position and breath small breaths. Sounds dumb but it works for me. Also I keep GasX on hand at all times.
   — lifeisgood

January 16, 2006
Throwing out things I've heard of in the past only...no experience myself with this, but I have heard of pancreatitis causing similar symptoms, for one. Second, I had this kind of pain from getting a vitamin stuck in my stoma once. I normally don't get anything stuck, but this was baaaad. I took the vitamin and then ate an apple and the apple forced it through. Bad decision!!! I would just throw a guess out to say that if you are blacking out, it's probably not gas, but you never know. Only other thing I can think of is that my friend just found out she has gastrointestinal migraines. Very rare but they do happen. Our stomaches actually have cells identical to brain cells in them, so a few people actually get migraines in their stomaches which can mimic diverticulitis amongst other things. Oh - that's another thing...diverticulitis might be checked. Good luck to you!!! I hope you get resolution soon!
   — Dinka Doo

January 17, 2006
I had this exact type of thing happen to me and they diagnosed it as esophageal spasms. It's hard to diagnose since they come and go and they actually have to be examining your esophagus as it's having a spasm to see it. It was more of a "we know what it isn't" type of thing. I would tend to have them at night, and during times of stress. I haven't had one for ages thankfully.
   — mom2jtx3

January 17, 2006
Just wondering if it is connected to something you ate. I know a friend who had WLS has trouble with certain foods, and she is 3ypo.
   — Novashannon