Hiccups for 5 days with occasional chest tightness

Hiccups are a way for air produced in the stomach to be released from the mouth. Children and adults will hiccup after eating, and these hiccups are usually not very serious. However, some people will experience hiccups for a long time when their stomachs and intestines are moving, and this kind of hiccups needs people's attention. Some people have hiccups for five consecutive days, and occasionally experience chest tightness in between. So what is the cause of this phenomenon?

Hiccups and chest tightness may be caused by this disease

Many urban white-collar workers often have irregular meals and are often under stress. Especially in the technology industry, people only have half an hour to eat, so the proportion of gastrointestinal problems is naturally increasing. According to statistics, the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease in the Chinese population has increased more than five times in the past 20 years, and approximately 25% of the population suffers from the disease. Therefore, when many people experience hiccups or chest tightness, their first reaction is that they have gastroesophageal reflux disease. But in fact, you may be suffering from another disease that seems to have nothing to do with the symptoms - anxiety disorder!

Domestic and foreign studies have shown that more than 40% of gastroesophageal reflux disease patients have reflux disease without skin breaks, that is, they have obvious typical symptoms, but no esophageal damage under gastroscopy. This is a very strange finding because the pH of stomach acid is very low, and the strong acid should cause significant erosion in the esophagus or throat tissues that do not have much protection.

In clinical practice, many patients with generalized anxiety disorder experience bloating, hiccups, chest tightness, or a clogged feeling in the throat. Some of them have been diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease without skin damage by the gastroenterology department. Although they have received medication for a period of time, their symptoms have not improved significantly.

Generalized anxiety disorder can cause autonomic nervous system abnormalities and muscle tension, resulting in bloating, hiccups, chest tightness, or a foreign body sensation in the throat. They may also experience some acid reflux, but it is less common and less severe. A study in Hong Kong also found that among patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease, the rate of patients with generalized anxiety disorder was as high as 14%, but this number may actually be as high as 40-50% (due to some problems with the current diagnostic criteria).

Therefore, patients with bloating, hiccups, chest tightness, or a foreign body sensation in the throat should consider generalized anxiety disorder and seek help from a psychiatrist or psychosomatic physician if they have the following symptoms:

1. The so-called acid reflux and heartburn are not obvious and frequent, but there is often bloating and a foreign body sensation in the throat.

2. Gastroscopy did not reveal any obvious findings, and the therapeutic effect of specific drugs to suppress gastric acid was poor.

3. Combined with tension, excessive worry, tight shoulders and neck, headaches, dizziness, irritability, and difficulty sleeping.

If you experience any of the three symptoms listed above, you may want to consider treating your anxiety rather than your GERD.