upper stomach feeling/leading to possible afib feeling

I don't know what is happening i played golf this morning and around 14 i always seem to get stomach discomfort stress I went to a doctor and
he said i have a hernia up there he could feel it(i wonder if you can) Hiatal Hernia i guess and it right below the sternum however i am suspect to
anxiety and i start to feel like i am going to get afib. I have one of the Alive EKg things for smartphone and it says normal and i have blood pressure gauge
that says my pressure is good and no irregular heartbeats but i still feel strange in the middle/lower part of sternum. I hate this feeling and i am sure that anxiety
has something to do with it. I asked the doctor what i could do for the hernia he said nothing unless it gets larger then see a surgeon and maybe surgery for that.
i am sitting in a recliner now and feeling ok but if could come back at any time. Has anyone experienced anything like this before. I swing pretty hard in golf and i am
70 years old not sure if that does anything. Had an ablation in 2008 at University of Pa. and i take 50mg of flec morning and evening and toprol 25 er once at night
would appreciate some help and thoughts

I had diagnoses of a hiatal hernia & anxiety a few years before I had my first afib episode. I know folks here have talked about both being a factor, and I have no doubt. The hernia is still there, but the anxiety is long gone (drugs for a bit & a whole lot of therapy - enough so that I'm happily in the job that caused all the anxiety).

Best to you.
Nancy

If you go to Youtube and enter hiatal hernia self adjustment you'll see videos on how to treat the problem yourself.

Hi Steve - I tried to find online the report I referenced in a 2003 post on Hiatal Hernia and Vagus Nerve Impingement...by Steve Rochlitz, PhD. I found a few links that you may want to follow but not the entire report...although I didn't have much time to search more. However, did find my post from back then and I've included it here. Read for generalities that might relate to your symptoms. You may recall my posting about my own diaphragm/stomach involvement and the chiropractic treatments I had back then that reversed my Afib from daily or every other day to zero after a week or so of treatment.

At the end are also some related links that may also help find the original Rochlitz report.

Take care.

Jackie

Acid Reflux, GERD, Hiatal Hernia and Vagus Nerve Imbalance (2003)

Once in a while when researching out there in Cyberspace, I stumble onto an article with amazing relevance to the afib condition. This frequently happens when I’m looking at an entirely different topic. The article I found is an extremely interesting viewpoint on vagus nerve imbalance and how it is influenced by hiatal hernia and the role of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). I was especially fascinated by the similarities in my history since I traced a good deal of my break-through arrhythmia while on Flecanide to a diaphragm involvement diagnosed by my chiropractor with specific testing.

The article is long but contains many references to vagus nerve impingement and activity that we afibbers can use as information concerning why we are affected by postural changes, bloating after meals, etc. If you can’t get through the entire article, be sure you read the last couple of paragraphs that discuss Heart Rate Variability and the state of the vagus nerve.

The article, A Missing Link To Chronic Illness, Allergies and Longevity?: Vagus Nerve Imbalance/Hiatal Hernia Syndrome, is written by Steve Rochiltz, PhD, (credentials at the end) was published in the Aug-Sept. Issue of Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients…. well respected and time honored publication for alternative medicine written by researchers, health practitioners and patients. Dr. Rochiltz references work by Dr. Theodore Baroody, DC, ND, PhD Nutrition and Baroody’s book, Hiatal Hernia Syndrome: Insidious Link to Major Illness.

While describing symptoms of hiatal hernia, this report points out many similarities to complaints and symptoms afibbers write about all the time. Following are some excerpts that may serve to entice you to go to the article and learn more.

Jackie

[Statements are direct quotes from the report by Dr. Rochiltz]:

Could there be a factor either unknown, or not fully understood, by both mainstream and alternative medicine, that can initiate much chronic illness including allergies? Could there be a very dangerous condition in the body that can cause virtually every other organ of the body to malfunction? Could 85% of the population have this undetected condition? The answer is decidedly yes to each of these questions. At the end of this article, surprising, new evidence will be revealed that this factor may even be a predictor of life expectancy.

The biochemist Carey Reams, PhD, said, “illness begins with the Vagus Nerve.” The Hiatal Hernia Syndrome (HHS) by pinching the Vagus Nerve causes Vagus Nerve Imbalance (VNI). This imbalance is usually a hyperexcitability, but a decreased energy state is also possible at some point in time. In a Hiatus Hernia, or Hiatal Hernia, the upper portion of the stomach protrudes through the opening (hiatus) in the diaphragm muscle. I urge the reader to go beyond any preconceived notions that this condition only causes GERD (acid reflux) and minor discomfort, and to read this article in its entirety before judging this work. My own recent research will be described for the first time, after reviewing one pioneering clinician's findings.

This article will reveal how this condition, Vagus Nerve Imbalance/Hiatal Hernia Syndrome, which I will abbreviate as VNI/HHS, can cause so many other maladies and symptoms, and how it can cause many other organs to malfunction. Then I will describe testing to uncover the VNI/HHS, and finally how to treat this insidious malady with various modalities.

The physician, Theodore Baroody, D.C. after treating thousands of patients for many “other illnesses” calls the Hiatal Hernia Syndrome, “the Mother of All Illness.”

1 He states that nearly “every [non-infectious] condition (except trauma) is the direct result of some digestive dysfunction.”
2 He writes that the Hiatal Hernia Syndrome is “dangerous and brings about constant imbalances that lead to all maladies known to mankind.”
3 He has found that over 85% of all of his patients when tested have a Hiatal Hernia! He further postulates that about “85% of the overall populace” has the HHS! My own clientele, mostly sufferers of severe fatigue/fibromyalgia and extreme food, chemical, and electromagnetic s. Baroody's findings are described in his brilliant opus, Hiatal Hernia Syndrome: Insidious Link to Major Illness.

Simply put, if one considers finding the initiating cause of chronic, degenerative illness a key factor in medicine, this is one of the great works in the medical literature. I cannot blame the reader for any initial disbelief, as both Baroody and myself are often “mind boggled” to see again and again how seemingly unrelated illnesses or symptoms are often immediately relieved when “the stomach is brought down.” The difficulty in seeing all this clearly often arises because many factors can prevent the stomach from “staying down.” But Baroody's, and my own, improved techniques can help make this change last, and thus the improvement in these many, seemingly, unrelated conditions will be clear. Also, I might not have believed this myself if I hadn't, (unfortunately), lived through it; and, as a physicist, insisted on uncovering the most primary causes of my own problems.

As stated above, Hiatal Hernia refers to the stomach's protrusion through the opening, (hiatus), in the diaphragm muscle. Wellness can ultimately only return when the diaphragm's hole, (hiatus), has been repaired and the stomach can no longer jump up. This can take months of continuously doing everything just right. The key to an enlightened understanding of the VNI/HHS is that the amount of stomach protrusion is often irrelevant. In many people, serious illness begins unfolding even if the amount of protrusion, (the Hiatal Hernia), is “small,” as found, for example by X-ray. In many sufferers, any such protrusion causes major hyperexcitability of the Vagus Nerve! The extensive sensitivities have the Hiatal Hernia Syndrome over 90% of the time. It's no coincidence.

Vagus Nerve is so diverse and so interconnected to so many organs that it has been nicknamed the “wanderer.” The slightest upward displacement of the stomach through the diaphragm disorders the Vagus Nerve. Immediately the stomach no longer is able to produce the proper amount of hydrochloric acid. The entire digestive process is then adversely affected. The final result is often that the entire body will become too acid.

From an imbalanced Vagus Nerve, any other organ can begin to malfunction depending on genetic weakness and various other factors. Of course, the diaphragm itself will directly be affected and breathing normally no longer occurs. Other openings in the diaphragm itself now stretched or torn allow the major blood vessels to and from the heart to pass through it. Thus, spasms in the abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava can occur.

Indeed, Baroody found kinesiological (muscle) tests for two separate “stuck diaphragm” conditions related to abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava imbalances

4. The heart itself can be crowded, and pressed on, by the stomach being “where it doesn't belong.” These last factors and the direct hyperexcitability of the Vagus Nerve's connection to the heart, leads to many Emergency Room visits and “pseudo-heart attack” symptoms of chest pain, difficulty breathing and left arm numbness. The reader, if experiencing these complaints, should seek emergency medical care, and not assume they are arising from the HHS. There is a remarkable similarity between Hiatal Hernia Syndrome and angina. Both can cause similar symptoms and both can occur after similar events such as overeating, exercise, and heavy lifting. My own hypothesis is that the Hiatal Hernia Syndrome, if uncorrected, may sometimes eventually become true angina.

The Hiatal Hernia Syndrome is the earliest cause of GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease) virtually 100% of the time, though the orthodox literature often only denotes “an occasional link.” But I believe, many people have Hiatal Hernia for some time before GERD develops.

Baroody notes that lifting, bending, sneezing, coughing, stress, and many other factors can immediately push the stomach up through the diaphragm. Other foods that can be problematic for this syndrome include dairy, wheat, vinegar, citrus and other fruits. Avoid food or drink that is too hot or too cold.

…… does hiatal hernia/vagus nerve pinching cause the Infrascapular Respiratory Reflex (IRR) to go bad? Or possibly the other way around? Philibert also has elucidated a cardiac reflex in the pectoralis major muscle. This reflex may cause or exacerbate angina, or other cardiac problems including myocardial infarction (heart attack).

(Be sure to view the long list of symptoms)
These symptoms or organ disorders can arise from direct over-energy from the Vagus Nerve's connection to these organs, or by secondary nerve imbalance as these other nerves interact with the Vagus Nerve, or from digestive disorder begun in the stomach, or by systemic pH imbalance.

But Heart Rate Variability and even stress, “stress vulnerability” and “reactivity to stress” have been demonstrated to be highly dependent on the state of the Vagus Nerve13. Thus we have come full circle and verified Carey Reams quote cited at the outset of this article. Reams stated that illness began with problems with the Vagus Nerve. HRV studies have now found that our life expectancies may depend on an optimum or balanced Vagus Nerve; and Dr. Baroody has found that the Vagus Nerve cannot be in balance unless the stomach is down and stays down.

Steve Rochlitz, PhD
President, Human Ecology Balancing Sciences
P.O. Box 2154
Cottonwood, AZ 86326
USA
website: www.wellatlast.com

About the author:
Prof. Steven Rochlitz, has taught both Physics and Kinesiology at three Universities in the USA. He has taught his Human Ecology Balancing Sciences Seminars, across four continents. He is the author of four health books. Clients have come to see him from five continents.

Since 1981, Professor Rochlitz has been one of the pioneers in the fields of Applied Kinesiology, cross-crawl, and human ecology. He created whole fields of knowledge with his Heart-Integration, Meridian-Integration and Meta-Integration Exercises. As well, he created methods to rapidly detect the cause and optimum correction scheme for much of chronic illness.
[www.wellatlast.com]
[www.wellatlast.com]


Theodore A. Baroody
M.A.,DC, ND, PhD Nutrition, Diplomate Acupuncture

Dr. Baroody was born in Sanford, NC in 1950. He completed an N.D. from Clayton School of Naturopathy in 1991 after years of clinical research in his practice, and received his Ph.D. in Nutrition from American Holistic College. He is a Certified Nutrition Consultant (C.N.C.) and professional member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants.
Prior to that, he studied in Beirut, Lebanon and at Colombo Americano, Columbia, as well as having traveled extensively in Europe and Asia to gather information on the healing arts and spiritual instruction.

He received his B.S. in psychology and his masters degree in educational counseling from Western Carolina University in 1974 and 1978. He received his D.C. degree from Life Chiropractic College in Marietta GA in 1981.
Presently Dr. Baroody uses nutrition, natural healing, electronic acupuncture, herbology, and kinesiology and practices chiropractic separately in the scenic mountain town of Waynesville, NC. Gabriella.

He is currently working on his sixth book to outline his comprehensive program for self-checking and health based upon his empirical clinical research in energetics. It will enable anyone, lay person or professional, to use it anywhere and to take mastery of their health.

Dr. Baroody lectures at conferences nationwide and often appears as a guest on radio talk shows concerning health topics.

THE RENEGADE PHYSICIAN
The late Dr. Carey Reams was both a physician and an agronomist. His medical degree, completed in England, included an undergraduate degree in chemistry. Upon returning to the US to practice medicine, Reams chose to retain his independence by avoiding membership of the AMA (American Medical Association), and this infamous establishment bastion would eventually secure their pound of flesh for Reams' "disrespect". Dr Reams was dogged throughout his life by the medical authorities objecting to his use of nutritional healing and nutrition-based, preventative medicine. His simple approach could successfully cure several major diseases, but his rebuttal of drug-based mainstream medicine eventually culminated in a Californian jail term during his later years.
Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
www.tldp.com

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Ah Ha... one last try... I do believe this link provides the entire Rochlitz report ..
[castlehighkingdom.proboards.com]

J.

thanks Jackie for the article i will share it with my doctor. I had hiatal hernia year ago when i was coaching basketball, teaching, on the board at the golf club, golf chairman at the golf club and other stressful jobs. I took a test forget which one and doctor said i had a hiatal hernia and said it was stress induced so i quit the stuff at the club and it went away. recently with the Thyroid problems i have been having constipation and the aggressive pushing down to deficate I believe has caused it to come back. I have appt with gastro guy in may and 2 days ago after getting bitten by an insect causing swelling i went to the urgent care and while there asked the doctor about my discomfort in the upper stomach area and said he could feel a small problem there said to do nothing unless it gets bigger then see a surgeon. So I will ask my gastro guy when i get home to get a game plan. it is close to and seems like i could afib but don't yet but also causes anxiety because of that. .