chest discomfort

[lin1]

I am 53 yrs. old - have been under a great deal of stress for 2years - i have a burning pain in my chest that radiates under my right breast - i burp a lot during this discomfort - the pain lasts for minutes or hours - I have pain in both jaws and on the left side of my neck - only once did the chest pain radiate under both breasts - I am short  of breath all the time - dizzy and forget things - when talking i forget what I was saying - can't grasp the word or words I'm looking for - my blood pressure is good 90/60 most of the time sometimes lower - I get very hot and wake up soak and wet sometimes at night - my ovaries were removed when I was 32 years old and I have been off of hormone replacement therapy for 2 years - I am getting upper resporitory infections lately - I have been on three rounds of antbiotics in 5 weeks - Dr. says my lungs sound good but I continue to cough up stuff all the time - I'm tired all the time and sleep a lot - I am not depressed but very stressed out - should I be concerned about these symptoms being heart related?

[Cleveland Clinic]

lin1,

Yes your symptoms sound concerning and need to be evaluated.

They could be due to any number of things including heart, but I think they definitely need evaluation.

I would discuss them with your physician or seek medical attention should they recur.

good luck

[Scagnetti_2005]

Greetings.

I am not a Doctor, however, your symptoms sound very serious and if you were a relative of mine, I would insist that you see your cardiologist immediately.

Do a search on Yahoo or Google under "chest pain" and you'll see there are a lot of great websites out there. I've read through them myself and I must say that your symptoms are very specific to what they mention over and over again as symptoms of a heart attack (or an impending heart attack or impending stroke):

- pain that lasts for several minutes or more.
- pain/discomfort in your jaw and neck, pain that radiates from your chest.
- shortness of breath
- dizzy/lightheadedness
- sweatin

It could be related to something else, but heart disease is the number one killer of women once they start menopause (which could be causng your hotflashes).

To answer your questions, yes, be VERY concerned and talk to your cardiologist as soon as possible. Don't be afraid to go the ER if you feel the need. Being pro-active is the key. The doctor has great many tools available to tackle this if it is a cardiac problem.

Your cardiologist will test your blood and cholesterol, do an EKG, and a stress/treadmill test. Depending on the results, the next step would be schedule an angiogram which would reveal if an angioplasty, stint or by-pass surgery is needed.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

[uptowngirl]

Hey lin 1,

Your post and symptoms concern me.  I am NOT an MD., however, I agree with the previous poster that it would be a very good idea to get checked out as soon as posssible.

Do you have someone who could take you for some medical attention???

Hope all goes well.  Keep us updated.

Uptown

[hani36]

I sometimes get a fast heart rate a few hours after drinking alcohol (though i never actually took my pulse, I could feel it beat a bit faster and harder than usual, sometimes it waking me up at night)   I went to the Dr. July '04 and i got a EKG a little while after i had an "episode" i guess of a fast and hard beating. Ive read different websites saying you need to be having symptoms for anything to show up on the test, and I asked my Dr. this and he said "no, not necesarrily" But the EKG came out neg, and so did my holter which again I had no symptoms of the faster and harder heartbeat. Ive only got it maybe 5 times in the last 2 or 3 years. (ive also been on Nadolol, a beta blocker for my migraines for the past 3 or 4 years.)   When my Dr. last month listened to my heart , he heard a very light murmur. so then i had an echo done which came out normal. and I had a chest x-ray and and breathing tests done sometime in October also normal.  
October is also the time when I started feeling some slight chest pain, its usually located just left to my sternum. It occurs after just a few minutes of running and goes away pretty quickly when I start walking. I only run about 5 min because this pain worries me a bit. Today I went running again and same thing, I took my pulse after 2-3 min of running and it was about 150. When I asked my Dr. about the pain he said that its nothing to worry about and that most people experience some chest discomfort when they run. I also dont have any other symptoms, like short of breath or dizziness. When I play tennis or softball I dont feel any pain.

I want to know do i need a stress test? because it seems that my Dr. is blowing me off.