Hello all, thanks for taking the time to read this, your ideas are greatly appreciated. .
My situation is as follows:
50 year old male, non-smoker/non-drinker, BMI of 30, background of asthma (well-controlled), recent NSTEMI ("mild" heart attack - troponin leak and atypical chest pain, but no ECG changes, and a normal angiogram) and diastasis recti (fibers connectin abdominal muscles weakened, this diastasis recti developed around 4 years ago after an episode of severe abdominal bloating in the absence of bowel obstruction, ascites, or other identifiable intrabdominal pathology).
For the past 3 months I have had the following symptoms triggered by driving (especially bucket-type seats):
- Laboured breathing (but with normal oxygen saturation on portable monitor, and consistently no wheeze on auscultation of chest)
- Abdominal pain (worsening over this 3 mths, and sometimes radiating to upper left back)
- Sweating
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Occasional vertigo
- Occasional confusion. with my wife telling me I look as though I'm "out of it"
Of note, the lower the car's bucket seat, the worse the symptoms are. When I do get up out of the car, I feel dizzy, light-headed and feel as though I have laboured breathing. This attack can last up to an hour.
To date, I have had normal:
-> CT chest w/ contrast
-> Echocardiogram
-> Coronary angiogram
-> Chest Xrays
-> ECGs
-> USS abdomen (incl. gallbladder, liver)
-> MRI abdomen (incl. dedicated MRI pancreas)
-> CT brain
The only findings that have ever been found on bloods are a suggestion of chronic pancreatitis (based on serial lipase measurement, thought to be idiopathic (only a few small gallstones, I'm a non-drinker), and for which I take Creon - pancreatic enzyme replacement), some small benign liver lesions, and some stable subcentimeter benign looking lung nodules.
Excepting my current symptoms which have been triggered by driving over the past 3 months, I am otherwise well, a happy, positive guy, and it has both me and my GP baffled.I am an active person and have lost 20kg over the past 3 months through a healthy diet. For some reason, my symptoms have been worsening during this time - whether the two are related or not, I am not sure. Just mentioning it in case any of you cluey people might have any ideas.
At the moment, I am unable to work due to being unable to drive due to these symptoms and severe abdominal pain.
Many thanks in advance! If there is anything further that may help, any questions etc, I'll be able to answer. thanks again - Phil