Oh joy, different sx to add to the list!

I've always been a side sleeper. Used to be my rt side til injury made that impossible. Now with the SCS I can lay on that side a while at least, but it's the left side for sleeping, with my bad rt arm resting on my side, my elbow bent just slightly.

The last few weeks I've had several episodes where I've placed my top leg further forward and rolled my chest/shoulder over so I'm turned more towards the pillow, and almost immediately had pain in my chest. It was accompanied by difficulty getting my breath. The pain felt like something pressing up aginst my breastbone from the inside. When I roll over on my back the pain goes away immediately and I can catch my breath again (it takes a minute to get calm again).

And when I'm lying on my back, if I have my legs out straight, and bend my knee and tuck one leg up, I start to have the same pain, the same problem breathing. I'm not sure if it is related more to the side the leg is located on, haven't paid attention, just straighten my leg out real quick!

What do you think is going on? I have wondered if it's related to my ribcage, or if something is subluxing. It's definitely startling!

Also, I've had some swallowing issues, but not major problems before now, just a little slow getting things down at times. Twice lately I've had REAL problems, once choking on a bite of hamburger, before coughing it up, and secondly getting a french fry stuck in my throat - despite repeated drinks.
It almost seems like there's a "dead spot" in a certain area in my throat where there's almost no motility - nothing to help move things along, so they just sit there. Is that possible, or is it the missing scalenes that used to help with this, or what?

Or are these two problems possibly connected?

I have TMJ but it's no worse than usual, actually better than it has been at it's worst. I'm not overly stressed, even though my stupid case is still crawling along on snail's feet - still no offer on the table, folks. I've gotten very good at waiting though. So it's not that.

Any thoughts??

Baffled, bemused and bothered (also broke)