Just in time for Valentine's Day--HEART burn!

So I have been pretty much miserable since 1am Sunday night when I woke from my deep sleep with pain in my chest. I have never felt anything like this. It was sudden, harsh and terrifying. I honestly thought perhaps I was dying. The pain was solid, consistent and not going away. It felt vaguely like someone reaching into my rib cage and grabbing my heart and squeezing, meanwhile fist-pounding my sternum with his or her knuckles.

I was going to go to the emergency room after 8 hours of the pain, however I was conviced it must be heartburn. The symptoms seemed similar and I could  not believe I would have a heart attack at 30 years old. Also, in the morning after writhing in pain all night, I was offered Tums by my fiance and they seemed to settle me a bit. So I went with that diagnosis. 

However after 1.5 days, I am still experiencing excruciating pain the likes of which I have never encountered before. Every time I eat or drink (and I am talking water, chicken broth and crackers, folks) the substances, once they hit my sternum area, immediately send me into convulsions of pain. I tried pounding my chest with my fist like in the SNL "Da Bears" skit. But it is no use. Nothing curbs the pain. 

The only variable from the night this all began was an antibiotic I took just before bed that I have been on for over a week. I took it right before laying down for bed. Now, I went right to my pharmacy notes when the terrible pain came on. It only lists stomach problems as possible side effects. A friend recommended I go online and search around for this particular drug. And guess what Wikipedia told me?

If a person takes this drug and lays down less than 30 min afterward for an extended amount of time, they will experience SEVERE heartburn for 3 days. 

Seriously? Seriously. 

Yet the bottle says nothing about this. Nor does my info sheet from the pharmacy.  Brilliant.

So now I am halfway through what feels like punishment for all the sins of all the men in the universe. And all my attempts at remedies seem to calm it slightly, but then it comes back even worse than before.

I am reduced to eating like a bird and being hungry and irritable and in pain all day and night (Unless I am laying down with a heating pad on my chest and I am on my left side--then I am all right). I can't concentrate at work and I want to go home but there is too much to get done before tomorrow comes. 

Well, I guess it's time to stop whining. And hope that this passes sooner rather than later. 

I will never blow off someone else's heartburn complaints ever again. My empathy for someone who deals with this all the time will be deep and fierce. I promise!