# Bloating and tightness in chest after eating!



## beth_crocker1 (Nov 7, 2000)

Sometimes after i eat or just when im bloated i get this tight feeling in my chest. It feels like someone is setting on my chest. I feel a little short of breath. Does this happen to anyone else with ibs?


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2000)

Well, the most benign thing it could be is a hiatal hernia. That can cause that sort of sensation.


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## beth_crocker1 (Nov 7, 2000)

Thanks Debbiek, I was checked for hiatal hernia . Ive has asthma since i was a kid, but i sorta outgrew it, im just wondering if its got something to do with that. Sometimes i will have a little bit of weasing also.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Some of the upper GI problems do seem to interact with asthma. Have you talked to a doc about the asthma lately, there are some newer treatments that are quite effective.K.


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## beach (May 12, 2000)

I actually always experience this. When I am bloated and constipated, my chest gets very tight and all of a sudden I feel like I am weasing just getting up stairs. It shouldn't be the case because I'm in really good shape. When it started, It got me very anxious because I felt like I couldn't get that feeling away until like the next day or two when the bloating would stop.What I try to do is drink peppermint tea and if I have the feeling I stop eating right away and let it subside for awhile. Hope that helps a bit.


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## beth_crocker1 (Nov 7, 2000)

Thanks beach, I dont feel so abnormal now. I also get that feeling a while after i have eaten. But not every time, just sometimes. I keep noticing little symptoms all the time. Its hard to believe that ibs can cause that many problems.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

One response to the why it can cause so many problems is to give you a better explaination of what it takes for your digestive tract to work.Think about the number of nerves it takes to sense and control everything in your body besides the digestive tract. Approximately that same number of nerves is needed to sense and control the digestive tract. The different parts of the digestive tract should be coordinated together so everything moves along in a proper fashion, and that only sensations that need the brains attention are communicated to the brain. Some of the sensory apparatus is necessary for the coordination, but it doesn't bother you with it unless something bad is going on. It is not uncommon for IBSers to be sensing things they usually stay under the radar for most people. Unfortunately your brain thinks these sensations must indicate bad things (as it is only bothered with things on a need to know basis, not on a continual basis).While it doesn't make sense from experience that digestion takes so much to get accomplished, the studies into the process indicate it is a complicated matter. And the sudden apperance of sensations that have never been there before can be unsettling. If you view IBS as a disturbance of the Enteric Nervous System (what scientific types call the nerves that control the gut) a lot of disparate things start to make sense.FWIW I find digestive enzymes (I take the combo put out by GNC) help control the bloated feeling, esp if I take them as I begin a meal.K.


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