Question About Possible Heart Problem

[jedi275]

Hi. I've had some problems with shortness of breath from when I was a teen (I'm 31 now). People will often ask why I'm sighing (they'll think I'm annoyed or bored) but I'm really just trying to take a deep breath and having no luck. It feels like I'll inhale and then it'll catch and I can't inhale any deeper. Sometimes I can exhale all the way, really push everything out and, then, when I inhale I can get enough air in.

At the same time my heart does wacky stuff, it'll speed up for no reason, slow down for no reason and will also just be generally weird - almost like it's skipping beats or out of rhythm. Sometimes it feels like someone has squeezed around the center of it and the top and bottom are beating funky. I had a holter monitor and EKG when I was late teens, very early 20s and they said I had a minor heart murmur (murphy's law, my heart behaved during those tests).

Anyway, when I hit about 25 it started getting worse. I have times where I've gotten dizzy from not being able to get a deep breath and my heart beats irregularly almost every day now. It's especially bad when I'm laying down, once it sped up so fast you'd have thought I was fleeing a serial killer through the woods and another time it slowed all the way down and began beating so slow there were pauses of up to five to ten seconds between a few of the beats.

I keep thinking if I go to the doctor he'll just say I'm overreacting, or I'm a hypochondriac or he can't find anything wrong and then it'll be a giant waste of time and money. Other times, when I can barely breathe or when it feels like my heart is about to stop, I get really scared but THEN I think, well, it's been like this since I was 16 and now I'm 31 and, sure it's gotten worse, but it can't be that bad when it's lasted so long, right?

So, to wrap up THAT long winded explanation, does it sound like something I should go back to the doctor for (even though I went when I was 16 and they really didn't find anything other than the mild heart murmur) or just ignore it?

Heart disease does run in my family - my mother has a severe heart murmur and my Uncle (who is 50 and in excellent physical shape) just had a heart attack and had to get a double bypass.

I don't know if it matters but I have really low blood pressure, especially in the morning. I also have very mild hypothyrodisim and am on the lowest possible dose of levothyroxin for it. Other than that I have no health problems and am on no other medication.

[grendslori]

Hello. I would also advise you to go back to see your doctor about this and to ask to have a King of Hearts Monitor placed. You wear this monitor for a period of 30 days and anytime you have a problem, you press the recording button and it not only records the event, but also back records from about a past minute to show HOW the problem started. True arrhythmias, start and stop on a dime because the electrical impulse "jumps" onto bypass tracks and then back over to the original, normal tracks.  Having said all of that, the more you worry about something like this, the worse it is going to get. Everytime you start to worry or panic, your body releases adrenaline into your bloodstream which will cause your heartbeat to increase. ALL of the cells of the heart are capable of causing the heart to beat on it's own, not just the SA Node or AV node. This is what premature beats are; all people have premature beats, most are not aware of it and those that are make the problem worse because of their anxiety over it. It sounds like what you are going through is lung based, not necessarily heart related. A heart murmur is nothing more than a sound and is not always indicative of heart disease. There is the Function Heart Murmur that can be heard in newborn babies which is normal. The intensity of the murmur along with the type of murmur is what is important. You say your mother has a severe murmur, but you do not give the cause of the murmur and that is important to know. A fever can cause a murmur to be heard, even though the patient does not have any heart issues going on. Go back and see your doctor and settle for nothing less than a King of Hearts Monitor. You will rarely find a Holter Monitor helping, so do not settle for one of those. Take care  

[jedi275]

Thanks for the input! It's nice to just hear that I'm not a hypochondriac. I'll make an appointment to get it checked out. :)

[dolphin8808]

I agree with seeing your doctor. While the shortness of breath could be something like asthma, the skipped beats should be looked at. I have them as well and had a full heart work up to make sure my heart wasn't weak etc. If anything, you should get put back on a monitor so they can see what kind of "skips" you are having.

[blubagel5]

I have only been diagniosed with asthma in my early 30's and i am now in my early 50's.  I take singular at night and use advair pump, and on occasion I had to use the dose back of the meythl prednisolone because I was having trouble catching my breathe and when the doctor did a lung function test which is an annual test for me, I only had about 58% breathing capacity.  I was coughing  and had some fluid in my lungs with annoying spasms on the side of my ribs or sometime on my chest close to my shoulder where your pecks musclesa are... I know what you mean when you have like these sticking pains and can't get a full breath in... I would work at taking slow deep breathes and try to really relax until the spasms go away. My cardiologist always told me to call him first over my internist if I have a pain  burn or sticking pain that are constant in the chest or on the top of the chest left or right.  I have learned to separate lung pain from heart problems... thank goodness I have no problems with the heart even though coronary heart disease runs as a high risk in the family. Always keep your doctors informed and don't be afraid to say what is on your mind.  Be as clear about your symptoms, keep a journal on your health and do a family medical history. Good Luck!