Heart Problem

[DoryO]

I am a 52 year old woman. A week ago last Thursday I woke up just feeling great, got ready for work and left. Then I got this horrible pain in my chest down both arms, up the lower part of my neck & across shoulders(it wasn't really a stabbing pain just a pain like I was being squeezed)I didn't say anything as it went away. Once I got to work I got real dizzy. 2hrs later I was really feeling bad. The sensations kept coming and going. 4hrs later I was walking and almost passed out. My husband came and took me to emergency and within 3hrs was admitted. They took blood pressure, blood tests, chest x-ray, ekg, ultra sound of my heart, upper body scan, ultra sound of my legs to make sure no blood clots. All came back fine except the blood tests---the 1st one ws normal but the 2nd and 3rd one were elevated and all I got was something was going on.  Now in 2 days I have a stress test on a treadmill.  What worries me is that nothing showed up in the tests other than the blood ones.  I do much of anything and I get really dizzy I'm totally exausted like a train hit me & my chest hurts. I've had similar things happen over the past year but never really thought anything about it.  One time just as leaving work I had started profusely sweating down my face--had no pain but when I got home I laid on my bed and was out for about 45 min.  I've read on the American Heart Association website that women can have the small vessels in the heart blocked with calcium and men usually have the large arteries blocked. Based on what I've said can you give me any idea as to what may be going on.  Any questions I should ask my doctor to get answers.  If it is small vessels in my heart can that be corrected?  Thanks for your time.

[juicebear06]

my son has bicuspid heart valve. he is 18 months  old. one of  his aorta valve is dilecting 1.8. i am kind of worry. well actually am worried alot. should i be worry. if i think about my son heart problem i start to worry and i start to tear up. i just need some help.

[daysailor]

I am a 56 year old white male with idiopathic cardiomyopathy. I was diagnosed in dec. of 2000 and had an EF of 10-12%. A year prior to my being diagnosed with the heart failure my sex drive went south. My wife and I were used to having relation 2-3 times a week and then almost overnight my desire left. I was tested for and found to have low testosterone and started hormone injection. The desire came back and as my EF has improved (45%) my need for testosterone has dropped as well. I feel that there is a direct correlation between the two events. Also I have noticed that my body has a hard time retaining potassium. I have bouts where my levels will remain constant then all of a sudden drop like a rock causing severe V-Tach.
This week i have started using a liquid form of potassium to try and keep my levels up to a reasonable amount. I am taking 2 tablespoons 2 times a day. at 1 tablespoon 3 times a day my levels were at 4.0, much below 3.8 and the arrthymias  start up.

Now my question. In doing some reseach I have found that the adrenal glands are involved with the production of testosterone and also adonerone? a hormaone that helps to regulate potassium. Could there be an underlying problem withthe adrenals that could be causing me to have some of my problems?

[DoryO]

A couple of years ago my husband was told to stop drinking things with caffine in them.  He was having problems with his heart feeling like it was going to jump out of his chest and skipping beats.  He went thru all the tests and the dr said he was fine just to stop the caffine.  Since then he hasn't had any problems but if we go somewhere and there isn't any caffine free soda etc and he has a regular coke his heart starts jumping around.  If you look at the "energy" drinks you like you'll find that there is a lot of caffine in them---that could be your problem...of course this is my personal opinion.  You should at least try cutting out the caffine and see if that doesn't help if not then get checked out.  Good Luck!!
  

[lynne8402]

i'll be 23 in november... i got diagnosed w/ a heart murmur in 8th grade b/c i used to be anorexic... i just got diagnosed A.D.D. and prescribed 30mg xr... i also love energy drinks and my heart feels crazy.. should i get an EKG or am i too young.. is it prolly nothing?

[Cleveland Clinic]

It sounds as if you had what his known as an acute coronary syndrome last Thursday.  This process involves a spectrum of clinical disorders including stable angina, unstable angina and acute myocardial infarction.  You state that your labwork was elevated and I'm assuming that that means that you had an elevated troponin or had an elevated CK-MB, which means that she probably had a small heart attack during that event. It is reassuring that the ultrasound of your heart and EKG were normal, meaning that there probably was not an overwhelming amount of damage done to your heart as a result of this small heart attack.  But this does not mean that you have small vessel disease: Small vessel disease is diagnosed usually on a left heart catheterization where one sees that the large blood vessels of the heart are widely open.  To have this diagnosis he was first undergo a left heart catheterization, and this will be the next step in your evaluation should you have a positive stress test.  I must tell you that there is no single way to manage a patient such as your self, and that some physicians would have chosen to take you to a left heart catheterization from the very beginning.
Irrespective of the findings on either the stress test or the left heart catheterization, you need to be placed on medications to decrease the risk of this process  recurring or progressing. These medications include aspirin, a cholesterol lowering medication such as Lipitor, a blood pressure agent such as metoprolol, and may be a nitroglycerin derivative.

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