Can an EKG be wrong?

[Dani342]

I've been suffering with chest pains below my breast area.  I also suffer from shortness of breath on a regular basis.  I seem to have every symptom of CHF there is with the exception of the swelling in my legs.  I USED to be able to run for miles (I'm in the Army), but now my chest pains are horrible not to mention my breathing.  My two sisters have been diagnosed with CHF and my mother passed in 2006 with it.  I went to take my EKG last week and the results came back normal.  I am STILL in a state of shock.  The Army nurse took the little one page printout to the back for all of 3 minutes and came back and told me to get dressed cause the results were "normal"  Did I mention my Cholesterol is 203?  I'm at a loss. My shortness of breath is really out of hand.  I even gasp for air throughout the night.

[grendslori]

If you ask for a BNP test to be done....that will tell you if you are in CHF. The normal range is 0-100. The worse the CHF the higher the BNP level.

[Dr J Singh]

Hi,

An EKG is not enough to diagnose and pick up congestive heart failure and I’ll suggest you to undergo echocardiography as an echo is the right test to see the mechanical functioning of the heart. An EKG only tells the electrical functioning of the heart which may be absolutely normal even in the setting of congestive heart failure. I’ll also suggest getting an X-ray chest and pulmonary function tests to assess the functioning of the lungs.

I hope it helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.