Several weeks ago, I got a massive jolt in my chest. Felt like somebody hooked a battery up to my chest and turned it quickly on and off. Made me twitch and go "holy fuck". I sat my head down and caught my breath and started to freak out a little. Then it happened again. And then again. No good, said my brain. We were visiting my Mom and were heading home and I thought "heh, no idea what that was, let's see how my body feels when I get home". On the ride home, my hands and feet went numb, I got light headed and started getting teeth-chattering chills. When we got home, we took my blood pressure (we have a machine for Katy's pregnancy stuff) and it was elevated – 160'ish over 100'ish. Sooooo, we go to the ER. It was hella weird walking in and writing "CHEST PAIN" on the form (NOTE: if you don't feel like waiting, write "chest pain"). A few minutes later, I'm in a chair getting an EKG. After the EKG says I'm NOT having a heart attack (yay), I'm observed for a few more hours, getting x-rays done and blood drawn and what-nots. Everything says "yer good". Soooo….. what the hell? Go to my doctor and he orders some test, so I have a stress test (run on a treadmill with EKG stuffs monitoring me) and a cardiac echo (ultrasound of yer heart). Those tests are all reported back as "normal". So, yay, probably not the ticker. Next is GI stuff, so I get an upper (and lower, ugh) GI done. The results: "severe reflux" and a hiatal hernia. I'm actually pleased with those results – better than heart problems and better than being told "heh, no idea what happened", now I have something to concentrate on fixing. I'm *not* so happy about what I have to do to take care of it – prevacid and diet. The diet blows, though. No fried/fatty foods (I'm generally OK with that, although it's vague and I like fried), chocolate (OK with that), alcohol (OK with that), no citrus fruits (fuuuuck that), nuts (fuuuuck that) or caffeine drinks (mega fuuuuck that). Apparently if I don't take this seriously and get it under control, all kinds of risks increase, such as the risk for esophageal cancer, which doesn't sound pleasant. So, time to get it under control. I'm now drinking caffeine-free diet coke and decaf coffee. And dreaming of eating a giant grapefruit. Oh wells, it could be a zillion times worse.
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stoutmuntz 
Glad it’s not your heart. I would have freaked out as well.
Glad it was the best of the bad things that could have been.Sorry to hear you can’t drink alcohol. I was hoping to cheer one beer for Neal with you soon. Anyway :)All best,Will
Hang in there man. Happy to hear it’s controllable.
wait wait wait!! please no diet coke!! that’s the worst! anything man made (such as the artificial sweetners in diet drinks) are extremely acidic for us not to mention the stuff that makes them fizz! The problem is that the acid in the digestive track is why too high. You need to alkalize. http://www.energiseforlife.com/list_of_alkaline_foods.phpthis site gives you a good break down of the acid vs alkaline foods. I swear if you stuck to that chart really strictly for at least a month, you could feel a hundred percent again and not need to take your pills (that is if after your cleansing month, you stuck to a moderately strict version). Also, raw un-refined honey helps a lot. A teaspoon in your herbal tea in the morning is enough (cause it’s expensive). Another thing that helps is aloe vera juice. Not the sugary drinks but the actual juice. It’s not very tasty but if you took a shot of it every morning, it will really sooth your stomach. Finally, probiotics!! Can’t say enough! They rock! If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know. I would go see a naturopath too if I were you cause they could give you the info I just did times a thousand. Don’t feel like the pill they gave you is your only cure cause you can cure most anything with diet change. The pills have their own side effects and a sound diet does not!
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis but thankfully it wasn’t something more serious. I was diagnosed with GERD and a mild hiatal hernia several years back. In my case, I found that with the medication I could still enjoy the items on the "no-no" list as long as it was in moderation. Eating at night was still a problem (anything after 8 pm, which you probably shouldn’t do anyway) and the medication, Nexium and then Prilosec, had some not so fun side-effects (email me if you want specifics). Ultimately weight was the biggest factor in my GERD, no pun intended. Once I lost the weight (about 30-35 pounds) I was able to go off the medicine and enjoy more of items on the "no-no" list.