Ok... so I've had symptoms for a month or so now... it started out one night waking up at about 4:00am not feeling right and just abruptly waking up... after calming down I went back to sleep... after that I had a tightness in my chest and would belch ALOT... especially after fatty foods. I went to the doc in the box because I started having a anxiety attack. I was under alot of stress because a good friend had just died of a heart condition. He gave me a gastro cocktail, which worked alittle... but because I was freaking out about it being my heart, he did a chest x-ray which was normal and an ekg which he said was normal but the notes said "sinus brachycardia, short PR interval". With a pulse of 53 bpm from the EKG and a BP of 156/88 (again freaking out though). He gave me a script for Zantac 150mg and sent me on my way. I took the Zantac but because of anxiety I decided it was causing me to feel very nervous. I switched to Pepcid Complete, and that seemed to help some. I'd still have an occasional time though when I would get excited or nervous and get a really sharp pain just below the tip of my sternum and in my lower/mid back area. I then when to my GP and she put me on protonix. That seemed to get rid of the really bad outbursts. But I would still feel slight pain below my sternum tip and it started to move to my upper sternum. I changed my diet drastically and stopped drinking caffeine. I got my anxiety under control and things seemed alot better. Until I started having pains in other areas of my chest. I have lost about 18lbs in a month due to not eating as much and no soda. Though I really haven't been exercising. Anyway, so one night I was lying down next to my girlfriend watching a movie and she put pressure on my left chest by laying on me. This sent pain throughout my chest. The next morning, while driving home I had a pain in my left chest and was fed up and scared and went to the ER. The hooked me up to a monitor and ran an ekg... while on the monitor my heart would be anywhere from 78-135. It seemed to jump up when I moved, but I was VERY nervous and uncomfortable. At one point it started beeping like mad, which freaked me out and caused it to shoot up to 163... I stopped breathing and it flashed apnea... I started controlled breathing again and it went down. When it was happening though I felt my heart pounding in my chest and stomach. They ran another EKG when my pulse was high, though it only registered at 91 bpm. Anyway, so the ER doc said he didn't think my pain was from my heart. My EKG and monitor showed t-wave inversions in inferior leads, insignificant Q's in infaolated?? leads, delayed intrinsiciod deflections in those leads, and an intermittent sinus arrythmia at rates up to 135. I would find that resting my pulse would be around 72-100 and just standing up and moving around alittle could shoot it up to 120-135... walking to work a few blocks at a brisk pace was 144. I also just finished a 24hr Holter today, during which I had chest pains, but they have never been accompanied by shortness of breath, sweating, lightheadedness. So we shall see about the results. I smoked my last cigarette last night at 4:30, haven't had one today and my resting pulse seems to be 60-72 and standing up and moving have been lower also, so goodbye smoking. I also have been to a GI specialist.. go through a gastric emptying scan: 89 mins, though on protonix and fell asleep during it... had an endoscopy: doc said he didn't find much at all.... thinks maybe I have gastroparesis. Some of my other symptoms include palps, where I can feel my heartbeat usually by my stomach or my lower back, and chest pains pretty much all over. I compare the palps to the feeling of your heartbeat when you cut your finger and can feel it pulse. I have become very aware of my heartbeat though and can hear it when I hold my breath. I also have tightness in my neck, usually the back of my neck, and in my back... lots of tension. So anyway, I've also come to find that my posture, movement, and neck position all seemed to aggrevate the pains below my sternum and in my chest. I have pain in my chest when I lay down, and it doesn't seem to be related to the little exercise I get, such as walking a few blocks to my work. It actually seems less when I stand up and move around. Excitement also seems to aggrevate it also though. But that's usually when I'm sitting... tilting my head back and bending my neck really triggers the pain below my sternum almost every time. I have no idea what is going on with me... but it's driving me crazy. I know I've had really high and low pulse rates at rest, though I quit smoking last night and my high rates seemed to drop today at a somewhat even rate... I think anxiety may have alot to do with this, because alot of it came on right after my friends death, and controlling anxiety seemed to alleviate some of the symptoms... but I know I still have the chest pains and they aren't phantom pains from just stress.. I'm worried about my heart, and hopefully the Holter will prove me wrong.. especially when my EKG's showed inverted T-waves.. however, the nature of the chest pains don't seem to me to be heart related because of how long they last and when they come and that they are still there when I lay down and don't seem to be brought on by exertion and can by intensified by movement or posture... I'm a 28 yo male... smoker, but quitting, have been very sedentary and immobile after being somewhat active... drank about 20+ ounces of caffeinated drinks a day... drank alcohol about 10-12 beers a week, but stopped that also... anybody have a clue??? Something is irritating the hell out of my chest area... and it's quit scary..