Hooray, found a moment to launch my first content post to this Care-giving & Educational Stories Forum. Details below.

Check out this article in the Journal of the American Medical Association:

The web link above lets you read only the first page of the article. "Retrosternal" pain = pain behind the sternum, and for "epigastric pain" location, see the part of the diagram marked "Epigastrium" in the diagram on this web page.

The rest of the article explains how with that 15-year-old male (and others), swallowing a cold carbonated beverage can (and did!) tear the lining of the patient's esophagus! Faster drinking seems to increase the risk. Other causes of "esophageal perforation" include vomiting / retching, an obstructing foreign body, and other ways to have a cold carbonated beverage such as cold Alka-Seltzer. Seems to be quite rare, but wow, it can happen!

Treatment: the young man was admitted to the hospital, given nothing by mouth for some days (I'm guessing he was hydrated and nourished intravenously), healed up and gradually began eating again.

- Matt