A little background, I'm a 20 year old female, very active I exercise 5 times a week at crossfit. About a year ago exactly, I was at crossfit and I turned blue, felt like I couldn't catch my breath, and came very near to passing out. If it wasn't for the nurse and combat medic I'm sure I would have passed out. Went to the doctor, they found a heart murmur, and did an EKG that just showed a "non specific ST abnormality".
I had an echo later that month that showed hyperdynamic ventricles, a left ventricle outflow tract obstruction because of the pressure gradient difference with valsalva, mildly leaky mitral and tricuspid valves, and a possible septal defect
Went to see a cardiologist, where they couldn't confirm anything but suspected I had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Had a cardiac MRI that showed no hypertrophy, a myocardial cleft, mildly leaky valves shown in the echo, and a high output heart (cardiac output of almost 8 l/min). The cardiologist told me I was completely normal despite near passing out multiple times at crossfit. The cardiologist also told me that my chest pains were only happening bc I was a "19 year old girl, and they get all up in arms about this kind of stuff". I asked him if everything was normal then why was I almost passing out? He told me that if you aren't passing out at crossfit you aren't doing it right. He also told me my heart murmur was innocent despite my overly hard working heart and two mildly leaky valves. Now I know a lot about anatomy, and the medical field but this doesn't sound right to me. The cardiologist just warned me to stay hydrated because of my hyperdynamic ventricles. I will never go to that cardiologist again as his bedside manners were horrible, and I felt like he didn't listen to my concerns.
Because I knew something was wrong, my primary care doctor suspected I had exercise induced asthma. However I never wheeze before almost passing out. My lips just turn blue and I start to get tunnel vision. Thankfully I have learned where that threshold of "too much exertion" is and it doesn't happen unless I do a lot of cardio like running and rowing. And if I start to feel bad, I'll take my inhaler but it doesn't help so I honestly don't think it's asthma.
Recently my hands have been swelling when I work out, and I've felt very out of breath around the house sometimes. I'll take my inhaler and it doesn't help. I don't know whether I should go get a second opinion or just brush it off as normal? Maybe I'm a little paranoid because being scared with a possible heart condition at age 19 is terrifying. But i also don't want to be oblivious to symptoms, because passing out while working out is not normal.