was this a wine (sulfate) reaction?

[MandCmama]

I am not much of a wine drinker- at all.  Lately, though, I've tried some sweeter wines that I like. Mascato is one of them. I've started to notice a slight mild pain/pressure between my shoulder blades if I have more than 1 glass. Last night, I tried a peach dessert wine a friend of mine made at one of those do-it-yourself wine places. It was very good and I drank my glass faster than usual. Within minutes I had an intense pain between my shoulder blades. Then it moved to just over my breast bone. It did not radiate, but felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. I was breathing much more quickly and more shallow than normal, was extremely restless, and I was HOT. I really got scared and was freaking DH out a bit. My nursing student neighbor came over and took my BP which was slightly elevated (138/88...I'm more of 117/70 kind of girl). After about 1/2hour, all symptoms were GONE! I would have been so embarrassed if I had called 911! What WAS this?

[GoingNuts]

I have no idea what that was, but I don't react to wine well at all - especially reds.  After just two sips of wine a couple of weeks ago (I was tasting it before adding it to stew), I had a painful, stuffy nose, a migraine, and total brain fog.  I had to sleep it off for about an hour.  I felt better, with the exception of congestion, when I woke up.

IF you have GERD, wine can really relax the upper sphincter, causing an exacerbation of GERD symptoms.  BTDT too.

Sounds like you should probably avoid those wines, as this has happened more than once.  Bummer.

Good luck!

[nameless]

That would have freaked me out!

Given your description of elephant on chest and shortness of breath --- I'd make an appt. your general physician to talk about it. Sometimes alcohol can exacerbate existing issues, making them apparent. It could be sulfites or GERD...but even with GERD you'll want to get it looked at. Do you have any GERD or acid issues any other times? With my GERD attacks --- I actually want to take big deep breaths b/c I feel like it helps stretch out the tightness/pain and makes it feel better. Shallow breathing --- chest heaviness --- pain between shoulder blades --- those are alarm bells that need to be checked out.

Adrienne

[MandCmama]

I had GERD in college and was medicated for it. When I graduated and the stress let up and my lifestyle and diet became more "user friendly", it just kind of went away. This was NOTHING like that. About a year and a half ago, I kept getting chest pain that radiated to my hands and shoulder. I eventually went to the ER and was told I was fine. My family doc followed up with all sorts of testing- stress test, echo, lung CT (on the pill), etc and all was fine. She was thinking possibly esophageal spasms, but I didn't care to have the study done to confirm or rule out...as long as I wasn't going to drop dead, I was good, lol! This was nothing like that, either...Very intense and short lived...and SCARY!

[GoingNuts]

Um, I'd say bypass your family MD and get a thorough workup with a cardiologist.  Especially with that additional info, that sounds very scary - and similar to something I went through years ago that turned out to be coronary artery spasms. 

Let us know how you're doing!

[AllergyMum]

. My nursing student neighbor came over and took my BP which was slightly elevated (138/88...I'm more of 117/70 kind of girl). After about 1/2hour, all symptoms were GONE! I would have been so embarrassed if I had called 911! What WAS this?

Never be embarrassed to call 911 in a medical situation.  It would be better to be embarrassed than to have the situation get worse from lack of early help.  Medical people see all sorts of things all the time and in my opinion would not judge this situation as a reason not to call 911.  It sounds like it was really scary and I agree that you need to speak to your doctor about this to keep you safe in the future.

I know nothing about sulfates but I do know that there is egg in wine.

BIG HUGS to you!

[nameless]

. My nursing student neighbor came over and took my BP which was slightly elevated (138/88...I'm more of 117/70 kind of girl). After about 1/2hour, all symptoms were GONE! I would have been so embarrassed if I had called 911! What WAS this?

Never be embarrassed to call 911 in a medical situation.  It would be better to be embarrassed than to have the situation get worse from lack of early help.  Medical people see all sorts of things all the time and in my opinion would not judge this situation as a reason not to call 911.  It sounds like it was really scary and I agree that you need to speak to your doctor about this to keep you safe in the future.

I know nothing about sulfates but I do know that there is egg in wine.

BIG HUGS to you!

I agree with the above, most certainly! It's one of the reasons why women are more likely to die from a heart attack than men, b/c our signs are different and not quite typical --- but we know something is wrong --- but the embarrassment factor of "what if I call 911 then it's not a heart attack and just indigestion or the flu?" kicks in and the women is less likely to call for help until it is too late.

Adrienne

[maeve]

I'd go in and see your GP.  It's also possible that you had pancreatitis.  The symptoms sound very similar to the acute pancreatitis I had when passing a gall stone (the stone blocked the pancreatic duct).  It was extrememly painful and I thought I was having a heart attack.  The stone (and pain) passed several hours later while I was still waiting to be seen in the ER.  The doctors were able to tell from blood work what had happened.  I had surgery the following week to remove my gall bladder.  Were you eating anything fatty while having or just before having the wine?  Make sure you tell your physician exactly what you eat during these incidents.

The only way to know what's causing this for sure is to talk to your physician and get a full work up if necessary.

[Macabre]

With the exception of the pain, this is what my sulfite reactions are like.  And I also feel like I'm going to pass out.  And once I threw up. I feel my heart beat  really hard, and the elephant on the chest thing--yeah. It feels awful. And most of the time it's resolved within 30 minutes.

I cannot drink white wines anymore. Period. They are higher in sulfites than reds. And I can't drink reds from the US. And I've had the problem with an Australian Malbec, as well.