Question Title: A problem or is this normal?

Ok i am not sure what to think about this, but i have had off and on for the past few weeks all the sudden an odd, not steady pounding that feels very full and i get kind of faint. i can see it literally pound hard once or twice and then it kind of stops and when i feel it it feels sputtery-this is when i get real dizzy feeling. It lasts for a few minutes and then seems to go away. i do have a heart murmur from birth and it got worse when i went on desyrel-so much so that they sent me for an echo but this was around 7 years ago and they said that the murmur got worse after the medication. They stopped the medicine immediately. The doc at the time said something about a problem in my lower left ventrical. When i was a kid i used to get terrible shooting pains through my chest and arms so much so that i couldn't walk, i never told my parents because i didn't want to go to the doctor. Ok here is the catch, i have been through some psychological trauma in my life and have panic attacks-which is a heart racy, choking feeling, which they have given me xanax for the past four years for. Three weeks ago they put me on prozac. Last time i told a doc this, they said it is probably just the panic attacks and didn't check further. i didn't offer the info about having the echo and all that because i felt dumb. Now i am having this odd fullness and i am afraid to ask a doctor for feeling kind of dumb and them just telling me to take my xanax. i don't know what to do or if i should forget it. Any information would be helpful.

Dear Kimberly,

Thank you for your question. It is sometimes difficult to sort out the cause of chest pain. There are of course many possibilities. As a rule I would not take your symptoms lightly. When you see your doctor be sure to tell him/her everything and explain that you are concerned about your heart. He/she may be able to reassure you without further testing or may check some heart tests. Be persistant and if you are not getting answers seek a second opinion. Good luck.

I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.

If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.