What is the absolute best way to detect heart diease?

[Lee622]

I am trying to wean extremely slowly off of xanax that was prescribed when the doctor thought I had stage 4 lung cancer and wanted me to be an "comfortable"  as possible.   I am having a terrible time because I can feel my heart beating. I can take my pulse without even touching my wrist.  That is how strong the heart beat is.  It is very bothersome.   My doctor has me on .125 of bistolic to help but it causes my heart rate to drop to like 55 to 60 which is uncomfortable.  I had a stress treadmill and echo and 48 hour holter done in September after finding out I have sarcoidosis not lung cancer after having a biopsy and they wanted to rule out any heart involvement.   I had two very good cardiologists evaluate my test and said I was fine.  Go out and live life to the fullest.   I have huge history of heart disease in my family.  My father died at 48 from a massive heart attack and my mom died at 73 from undiagnosed CHF.   When they diagnosed her, her heart was like 90% dead.  The entire left side had shut down.  My brother-in-law age 55 just had a massive heart attack six days after having been told he passed his stress echo with flying colors?   What tests could I have done to assure that I am not having symptoms of heart problems?  

[CCF HeartMD-2]

Patients with sarcoidosis can have cardiac involvement of the heart muscle or conduction system.  This can be identified bby many modalities, but the least invasive would be an EKG and either a cardiac MRI or a cardiac PET scan performed in the non fasting state to look for active sarcoid granulomas in the heart.
In terms of coronary artery disease, again, while the gold standard may be a cardiac catheterization which is invasive, a less invasive approach would be a stress test.
Risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes need to be controlled.
The heart beat feeling strong in your chest is most likely anxiety related.

[Roster17]

Thank you so much for replying.  It sounds like you went through a lot.
My Lung Doctor does not know what the nodules are so he scheduled a  Pet scan on Friday. He said that will tell if it's sarcoid or cancer. Now your telling me your Pet scan was read as cancer! That is so surprising, in fact I think I'm even shocked.
I'm really glad that I got in touch with you, because if my Pet scan reads as cancer I can at least hope it's a mistake until I'm biopsied and hope it turns out as well as yours.
After my first biopsy in 2004, my Doctor sent me for a CT every year. That's how the new nodules were found. I thought I should mention this.  You might want to mention this to your Doctor.
Thanks again.

[Lee622]

Sorry, about the lack of intensive details.  I did mention I had a biopsy a little further down in the letter.  I had a CT scan which showed 4 nodules and was read as cancer.   I had a 2nd CT more dense scan which showed 14 nodules read as cancer.  I had a PET scan with many more nodules and one in my abdomen again read as cancer.   I did have a biopsy in which they took chunks out of my lung and down through the throat into the lungs.   All were sarcoidosis.    Did not have the abdomen biopsied. All my blood worked turned out to have no cancer markers.  Did not want to have another surgery.  My nodules range in all different sizes.  My paperwork is not handy so I apologize. I don't remember how large the biggest one was.   I went to see a specialist.   He was very reassuring.  I had one lung function test which was 100% and will have them every six months for a while.    

[Roster17]

Hi Lee622,
How did  they determine a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer without doing a biopsy. Did you have a nodule on your lung that showed up on a cat scan.  If so how large was the nodule and was it so large that they just decided it was cancer.  
I hope you don't mind me asking these questions, but I too have lung sarcoid diagnosed in 2004 by a biopsy. I was doing well until just recently when I had a cat scan and found multiple nodules.  They are less than 6mm in size except one which I am most concerned about. It measures 27mm which converts to 2.7cm. This is why I'm curious about the size of yours.
I was glad to hear that yours turned out to be not cancer.
Best wishes,

Roster17