Uncommon chest-pain symptoms can be heart related
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am a 64-year-old male, 6 feet tall and 215 pounds. I have never been an elite athlete, but I always have participated in sports and exercise. Currently I walk, bike and rollerblade. Since I move slower than I used to, I spend more time at it. My problem is my breathing. Four years ago, I had a consulting job at higher elevations and had a difficult time breathing. When I went home, close to sea level, I was OK. Then I twisted my back and took three months to recover. When I did, my breathing had declined, and I have not regained my ability to breathe heavily. When I run now, I feel a burning sensation in my throat. Yesterday I ran about 50 yards to beat a stoplight, and the pain in my throat occurred. When I began walking, it went away. Something must be wrong.
About six years ago, my doctor had me take a stress test, and he said I did well.
If I don’t run, I fear my breathing will continue to deteriorate. Do you have any suggestions? — D.D.
ANSWER: I might be doing you a disservice, but you have to put up with my fear of the unusual presentations of heart pain. Heart pain — angina pectoris — is routinely described as heaviness, pressure or a squeezing sensation felt in the lower midchest area. It comes with exertion and leaves with rest or a diminution of exercise intensity. However, heart pain can present in many different ways. Some describe a burning sensation deep in the chest; others talk about throat pain. Or the pain might be nothing more than discomfort felt in the jaw, shoulders or arms. Often, these vague pains, not the standard descriptions of heart pain, turn out to be due to heart problems, and sometimes a delayed diagnosis of them leads to a tragic outcome.
This is a long-winded way of saying you ought to tell your doctor about your symptoms and that you might benefit from having another stress test. A lot can happen in six years, the last time you had such a test. At least, I will be able to breathe better.
If the breathing trouble and throat pain turn out not to be heart-related, than an investigation into other causes can proceed with less urgency. The cause might be nothing more than deconditioning, which perseverance will overcome. Or it could be something like asthma, which can be proven with breathing tests. Those tests could be the only way to give you a definite answer.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Before recent surgery, I worked out every day. Part of the workout included treadmill running. Some people have told me that treadmill running causes back pain. Is there any truth to that information? — S.L.
ANSWER: Did “some people” tell you their source of information? Treadmill running, like jogging or running on any surface, might aggravate existing back pain, but it’s not a usual cause of back problems. Hundreds of thousands of people are on treadmills every day throughout this continent. Those people range in age from teenage years to the 90s. I don’t hesitate to recommend you start your program again. Begin slowly. It didn’t cause you back trouble before. It’s not likely to do so now.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: In a recent column, you stated that it takes food four hours to leave the stomach. If a meal and a milk-and-protein shake are liquefied in a blender, how much time will it take the food to leave the stomach? — W.B.
ANSWER: A full meal takes three to four hours to leave the stomach. In around two hours, 50 percent of the stomach contents have entered the small intestine. In the remaining time, the rest leaves.
Liquids leave the stomach more quickly. It only takes 15 minutes for half a glass of water to pass through the stomach. Your liquefied meal would exit the stomach faster than a solid meal. How quickly, I am not sure. I imagine it would take only an hour or two at the most. Take this for what it is — a guess.
Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

Copy the Story Link