Other options???

[brandy8200]

I am now 27 years old and at age 16 I was diagnosed with Graves disease and Mitral Valve Prolapse.  Since then I have had two children and each time informed the doctor of both blood work was done and I now show no signs of Graves Disease.  However, I still have chest pain.  Some doctors will say yes they can hear a "click" and others say no.  The pain comes and goes no matter what I am doing.  It is sharp and lasts for a few minutes but leaves me very tired and weak.  The doctor that I am seeing now seems to think that because of my age it is not heart related even though I have mentioned the family history.  I am being told that it is muscle spasms in my ribs, and I do not know how to explain that it feels "deeper" than that.  Over the past couple of months i have been feeling really light headed and a little dizzy.  I have sharp pains that shoot into my left shoulder and my left arm feels as though it is swelling it gets very cool to the touch compared to my right arm and it's almost like it is "asleep".  I have had to wear a halter monitor for 24 hours and nothing was showing up and have had echo's where the tech was telling me that my heartbeat was very irregular but the doctor is telling me that everything is normal.  Obviously I am seeking out different professional help but could there be another cause for the chest pain and dizziness, etc?  

[grendslori]

Narrowing arteries do not cause a heart attack; blocked arteries cause a heart attack. If your cousin had narrowing arteries, she would have had chest pain MAYBE. You really need to understand HOW the heart works. People die suddenly without warning from arrhthymias, not narrowed arteries and anyone who knows anything about heart disease knows that. Chest pains caused by heart disease is a crushing type of pain, never stabbing and never comes and goes; it stays solid for 20 minutes or more. Even people with severe heart disease can be told by their doctor that if the chest pain lasts more than 20 minutes get help. (that's after taking Nitro) Heart related chest pains do not last for a few seconds and it does not come and go as you describe; it last for a period of time. Chest pain has classic symptoms and is not varied due to age or gender; the symptoms are all the same if it is truely heart related. Crushing pain, indigestion type pain (especially in women) Pain that radiates to the jaw, back and left arm (less frequently the right) and is located in the center of the chest. Chest pain is also reproducable. Activity causes chest pain because of blocked arteries or lack of blood flow which is ALWAYS there if there is a problem. If the heart is enlarged either with thick walls or thin walls there can be chest pain ALL of the time, even at reat; those are patients in a Grade III-IV and are usually awaiting transplantation. If you are active with your kids, you don't fall into that catagory. If you have had all of the standard testing done (EKG, Echo, Stress Test) and those are all negative, go and enjoy life with your children; they always seem to grow up too fast. Take care

[brandy8200]

*** a side not my 25 year old FEMALE cousin passed away of a massive heart attack.  There were no warning signs but the autopsy  later showed that the arteries to her heart were narrowing.  

[brandy8200]

The other option that my doc is looking at is angina.  Again my family has been told because of their age that it is not heart related and after all that time finally they are told well I guess it is your heart.  I know that something is wrong and it is more than muscle pain, and I am sorry but on how long chest pain can last one depends on what it is and it is different for each and every person.  I am trying to catch this early enough to do something about it.  I have two children and I want to be active with them and be there when they grow up.  I just have to find someone who is blind to the age and just treats the problem.

[grendslori]

Hi Brandy, reading all of this makes me understand more about what you are writing. Women are protected from heart attacks before menopause due to hormones that are there to protect the heart during childbearing years; chances are your three aunts had already passed that point due to the ages you wrote. After menopause women carry the same risks as men for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and would require surgery to open the arteries. (Actually most people refer to that as open-heart surgery when in reality it is actually closed heart surgery because the arteries are located on the outside of the heart so the heart lung machine does not have to be used; that machine is only used when the heart is cut open). The description of your pain, is NOT the description of heart related chest pain. Hear related chest pain is never sharp or stabbing, never lasts for a few seconds and is almost always reproducable with activity. Chest pains during rest are only really there if there is SEVERE heart disease ( such would be the case of someone dying from heart disease perhaps waiting for transplantation) True chest pain usually last 20 mins or more without letting up and often times getting worse over that period of time. What you are describing sounds like muscle pain.

[brandy8200]

I am one of those fun people..I had no symptoms of graves disease it only showed up in the blood work and as far as the heart on my dad's side of the family out of his 4 sisters 3 of them had open heart surgery  before the age of 50.  It is something that seems to run in the family and does not take notice if you are a man or a woman.  When I was younger my parents took me to see a ped. cardiologist and he informed them that the pain was caused by the valves not closing properly and pulling the side of the heart and that my heart was out of position that it was a little lower and to the left a little more than normal, but because of my age doctors do not wish to look in the heart direction.  It is rare that I have an ekg come back normal and havent really had anything show up on an echo, but it has been a while.  I didnt get to see my regular doctor the other day but the one that was in gave me a steroid shot and said that if was muscle related that should help but alas the chest pains still came and went, just like they always have.

[grendslori]

The type of chest pains you are describing are usually muscle related, not heart related. Add to that, true heart related chest pain in someone your age, ESPECIALLY in a woman, would be extrememly rare and the causes of that pain would be easily seen on an EKG and ECHO. Heart pain is caused by a lack of bloodflow to the heart wall caused by blocked arteries or a thick heart wall where the blood supply has been outstripped, some types of Congenital Heart Disease (although that is also rare) can cause chest pain due to heart disease. Graves Disease can cause palpitations for some and that could be a cause for the dizziness. Unless there is a problem at the time the Holter is being run, that won't show up.