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Dr.Saleem
Dr.Saleem, Doctor
Category: Medical
Satisfied Customers: 16614
Experience:  MBBS
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I struggle with heartburn and had a lot of it earlier today

Customer Question

Hi, I struggle with heartburn and had a lot of it earlier today after which it felt like I had a lump in my throat. This became very sore in the course of the day and it now hurts a lot to swallow or speak. It also hurts to breathe in a little as my chest muscles are sore. I was wondering what this might be and if I should seek medical help
JA: How long have you had the lump? Is it hard or soft?
Customer: I am not sure if it’s an actual lump but it feels like there is something in my throat
JA: Is there anything else the Doctor should know before I connect you? Rest assured that they'll be able to help you.
Customer: I have been abroad to Thailand and returned on Sunday
Submitted: 5 days ago.
Category: Medical
Dr.Saleem
Expert:  Dr.Saleem replied 5 days ago.

Hi! I am Dr Saleem. Welcome to JA.
Thank you for the question. I will be answering your query shortly.

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Customer: replied 5 days ago.
My own voice also sounds differently when I speak, like it’s slightly dampened.
Expert:  Dr.Saleem replied 5 days ago.

I understand your concern.

May I know your age please? Do you have any other chronic health condition?

Is there a cough?

Have you felt feverish?

Is the pain localised to one side of the chest when you take a deep breath?

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Customer: replied 5 days ago.
I am 29 years old. I have no health condition except for the heartburn. I don’t have a cough and I don’t feel feverish. The pain is maybe slightly more to the middle left of my chest when I breathe in deep
Customer: replied 5 days ago.
But if I breathe in normally it mostly hurts in my throat rather than my chest
Customer: replied 5 days ago.
I was able to cycle for half an hour without trouble breathing on my commute home
Customer: replied 5 days ago.
I did take some painkillers when I got home but They don’t seem to alleviate the pain when swallowing
Expert:  Dr.Saleem replied 5 days ago.

Alright. This sounds like a case of "pleuritic chest pain". It can be caused by pleuritis(inflammation of membrane around lungs), pneumothorax(air around lungs), pleural effusion(fluid around lungs) or rarely pericarditis(inflammation of membrane around heart). Pleuritis is most common and self limited. The other possibility is that of an upper respiratory tract infection /pharyngitis but that shouldn't cause chest pain.

It would be prudent to see a doctor and get examined. They can request a chest X ray and ecg as well to reach definitive diagnosis.

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Expert:  Dr.Saleem replied 5 days ago.

Please let me know if you have any other queries. Thanks.

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Customer: replied 5 days ago.
But the pain is located in my throat rather than lungs and it seemed to come as a direct result from the indigestion
Customer: replied 5 days ago.
The chest pain is only slight compared to that and just in the muscles on top of my chest. The pain in the throat is much worse than that
Customer: replied 5 days ago.
It was also quite acute how it started as a lump, before I had no issues except for some indigestion
Expert:  Dr.Saleem replied 5 days ago.

There's a good chance that your throat pain is due to pharyngitis. You should ideally get your throat examined because antibiotics may be needed. If it's due to reflux/indigestion then you may take Capsule Esomeprazole 40 mg once daily for a week but ideally you should be examined first because treatments are quite different for both conditions.

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