heart problem or anxiety?

[tnmomofive]

Hi
I am a 30 year old mother of five.11 years ago I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder,after fainting with seizure activity and then for an entire year I had anxiety out the yang.
Anyway,it comes and goes.Well I thought maybe the fainting was a one time thing.I was checked by doctors a neurologist and had a MRI,EEG,BLOOD TESTS,CAT SCAN.I was fine for about 5 to 6 years not much anxiety and no fainting.Then it hit me hard I fainted 4 times in a year and a halfs time.The first time I fainted before it i felt sick and then I just went out cold.The next four times it was HORRIBLE I felt sick so I just figured I had to go get sick and I wasnt worried.Well then my heart felt as if it skipped or dropped. I got very dizzy,vision got really blurry and out id go unconcious for about 3 minutes.Afterwards was the worst I was so weak I couldnt hardly move,sweat from head to toe,heart pounding,short of breath,and id lose my bowels or vomit.Of course I have been to the ER,and to a few different doctors.It seems I always get the same thing "anxiety and stress" After the fainting started again I have had an EKG,HEART HOLTER MONITOR (FOR 1 WEEK).I have also had palpitations and skippings and flip flops through the years here and there.Recently I have been kept up at night for a while because my heart seems to be beating irregulary I have a normal beat and then a slow odd one and then normal again.I am having a hard time excepting this as being anxiety.I have read to actualy faint is EXTREMLY rare. thanks Beth

[tnmomofive]

hi an update......I finaly got a doctor within the same office as my reg doctor to set me up for another 24 hr holter monitor .She said she is ok with making sure everything is fine one more time.I have now also been given Lexapro(anti depressant) which I started taking today .I still will take the Ativan when I feel its needed.I go to pick up the holter monitor on the 31st hopefully it will pick up some palps and skips etc and all will be well,or even if something is wrong I can get it treated .....either way I just want some peace of mind this is no way to live.



wish me luck Beth

[kayg]

Beth,
I hope everything goes well and you get some answers. Let me know what you find out. Good Luck.
Karen

[countrygirl21]

I was wandering if someone could help me I have had chest pains for over a year now well actually its probally not chest pains cause its usually right on my breast bone or right below and I went to the ER last year cause I didn't know if it was a heart attack or not so they did an EKG, blood work and everything came back normal and they told my esphagus was irritated or inflamed basically acid reflux. but a couple of days ago I started hurting real bad in the same spot and then it would go away. Well the next night it started to feel like someone was pushing down on my breastbone and I felt like I was bloated it finally went away after about an hour or so. The next no pain or anything and then yesterday my left arm starting hurting but I had no other symptoms so I was wanting to know if what I had a couple of days could have been a light heart attack.

      Thanks,

[kayg]

Now that I hear that you daughter has had fainting spells it worries me even more. My daughter had not had any symptoms until she passed out last summer twice in a period of two weeks. Her spells are brought on usually by stress or anxiety although  fainting with LQT can be brought on during physical activity and sometimes spells can occur while a person is sleeping. What brings it on is determined by what gene is causing the LQT. So you may be able to exercise without any problems but stress may trigger aa arrthymia and then fainting. They also suspect that overexerting herself may cause my daughter to have problems as well. I will also tell you the worst part of my story. I had younger daughter who died four years ago. She collapsed suddenly and unexpectedly while we were at the pool. She had no health problems that we knew of before this episode. It was determined at the time that she had something called Myocarditis. We now suspect that she also had LQTS since my older daughter was diagnosed. My younger daughter also fainted once about a year before she died. No tests were run at that time as it was decided that she may have been overheated. But we now believe that this faint may have been heart related too.  We have no other history of heart problems before this. If you would like more info on LQTS there are some good info sites. One is under the name SADS. I think the site is www.sads.org. But if you put LQTS into google it will pull up the site in the list of sites it gives you. Please check into this.

[kayg]

I would definitely push for another evaluation by a cardiologist and as I said push for a cardiologist who is also an electrophysiologist. My daughter had several fainting spells last summer and was diagnosed with LQT. There were no previous symptoms. I have been evaluated in the past for nearly fainitng and palpitations and they have never been able to diagnose what is causing it so they always told me it was stress. They now suspect I too have LQT since diagnosing my daughter and have put me on the same medication she takes as a precaution. LQT is very serious and is sometimes hard to detect unless you have a doctor who knows specifically what to look for. I hope you get some answers soon. I know from experience how worrying it can be to not know what is going on.

[tnmomofive]

Hi kay
Since I was told anxiety/stress as usual lol....I started walking today to lose some weight from having my last child who is now 8 months old.I have walked 2 1/2 miles today at a quick pace and I feel good even breathing better.I was wondering if I was to have long QT would I be able to keep excersing like this do you know? Also, I have had years 4,5,and 6 years at a time where I feel great for the most part,and no sikkiping or palps.
I have had little flutters and skips here and there since I was a young teen but not often it was a rare thing.This here with the nightly skipping and palps just started a couple weeks ago.
Doed that sound simular to you or your daughter? Also,my 9 year old daughter had pass out a few times in her life her results are different though afterwards she is fine she bounces right back and it has happened when she got pretty upset about something first. She has had an ekg,and a eeg both fine.
I am looking into any possibilities still......it is hard though I will be losing my health insurance by sept 30th I wont be able to afford any.....my daughter on the other hand will still have her insurance THANK GOD!As far as I know nobody else in the family has had fainting spells etc.....there is a long line of mental illness though also diabetes,cancer hard to say I havent been able to keep in touch with most family members which is a shame my grandad (moms dad) who i never got to meet did die of a heart attack he had bipolar disorder and when i asked why he died fairly young i was told he couldnt handle any stress and it worked on his heart ......that answer is kind of odd to me but anyway........I am trying not to worry too much I did take one of the Ativan last night and it did help alot....I will try to get into the doctor again before sept 30th and get a referal to a cardiologist ..after more testing if nothing shows I will have to move on my bigesst fear is dropping dead because of some unforseen heart issue.....thanks so much for your responces to my posts and I hope you and your daughter are doing well