HEART DISEASE COMMUNITY
What is going on???

What is going on???

I am 32, 5'10" and was 253 lbs and somewhat built (not obese) . In July 2008 I went to ER w/ chest pains (tightness) and tingling in left arm w/ mild shortness of breath. All EKG and enzyme levels came back normal and they had me on the treadmill doing a non-nuclear stress test where the results were fine. 2 weeks later i go to the ER w/ tingle sensations on my left side, they run a CT (or CAT, i dont remember which) of my head and results come back normal. 1 month after that I got waves of lightheadedness to the point where they were waking me from my sleep,. The next morning i felt nausea so i went to the ER again. EKG was fine, but ?triponen? enzymes came back indicating i had mild heart damage. Went in for cardiac catherization and they found 65% blockage in left diagonal artery and 20-30% in others. As it turns out i have a family history of heart disease. Cardiologist decided to treat w/ medicine and diet. Left hospital after a few days and began eating right and eventually exercising in a cardiac rehab program. I still would get chest pains and tingles and occasional shortness of breath, even after losing 15 lbs in a month and taking medicine every day (Plavix, Bystolic, Crestor, Asprin, Lisinopril). I also get a feeling on occasion like my insides are trembling or being shocked. 2-3 times a week it is to a point where it keeps me up several hours at night. I even have Zanax which i take as needed to cover the case where it is anxiety. Three days a week I do rehab where i exercise and they monitor my heart and blood pressure and never had any issues. Had multiple EKGs done and never an issue. I monitor my BP at home and is consistantly around 110/75, even w/ symptoms. I also Have prescription Acid reducing medicine for reflux (which i have had for several years) to try and rule that out. After a month of this the cardiologist decided to put in a stent in and when they went in he discovered that the 65% blockage was now about 70%, probably due to some clotting. Since then i have still had similar issues including a more significant shortness of breath that has been frequently on and off the past week along with something like a soar throat for weeks. Sometimes it feels as though something is in my throat, especially if i take a pill or eat a grape. I am trying to get an endoscopy done to see if there is damage, etc... to my esophegus which could explain chest pains. I also have a degrading gallbladder that empties slowly (they call it sludge) which causes gas buildup. I also take medicine occasionally for this. The current test was to stop taking my Beta blocker to see if that helps the shortness of breath so i am going to give it a week (but closely monitoring my BP). My next test will be to stop taking the statin med for a short period of time to see if symptoms subside because i have read that a lot of people have bad side effects. I dont know what else to do because it is frustraiting to know if symptoms i have are a heart attack or side effects. I dont want to be in the ER once a week but i dont want to die either. Since my initial heart attack was so mild i'm not sure if anyone other than bloodwork in an ER would even be able to detect it if i was having another one.

From what i have read it sounds like unstable angina, since i never seem to have symptoms while i exercise or even shortly after but how can i know for sure and what can i do about it? Sometimes the Nitro seems to help and others it doesnt. I feel like i am going out of my mind...I go for a ?coronary? ultrasound next month and an MRI to make sure my risk of stroke is low, since i do sometimes get headaches and have sensations in the left part of my face and most symptoms are in my left arm.
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I have never smoked. The only drug i ever did was exctasy (the club drug) 2 times about 13 years ago. Binge drank in college and about every other month (if that) prior to all this.
Dont eat a lot of red meat or "fast food" although i did eat out a lot (subway, purto rican food, etc...). Use only olive oils to cook or grill.

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