Heart Health (Full Check up) Please help me, please

[Jane87]

I don't know so much about heart health. But my mother who is 40 years old has been over weight the past 19 years (4'11 135lbs) It has been a year now and she is 105lbs. She has always had heart problems, pain of the heart, shortness of breath, trouble breathing at night and when someone startles her she can go into some kind of attack leaving her feeling flushed, hand are cold.

It is evident there is a problem. I really want to help her. But I dont know exactly what to do? What tests should she take? I know some people have died suddenly because of "Enlarged hearts" What kind of test should examine her heart?

Can someone please help me? Please inform me of what kind of examinations there are that can address this, a full check up of the heart and an analysis.

Please help me, please.

Thank you so much!!!!

[AndiJ78]

If you are here in the US, most insurance plans require a referral for testing. So her primary care provider will need to give her a referral for both the tests and the cardiologist. Given the symptoms you have described, I wouldn't imagine her primary doctor would have a problem making the referral.

Andi

[Jane87]

Hi thank you so much for your replies!!!

I have a Q.

Do you have to have a referral from the family doc to get the echo tests and other heart tests? Or can you call the hospital and book an appointment?

[my3reasons]

Hello.  Sorry about the problems your mother is having.  These are just my suggestions as I am no doctor, but I would first have her see her Family dr.  The dr. could tell if there is a problem (Ekg) and could send her to see a cardiologist if it is heart related.  Sounds like it could be.  Cardio will do all tests needed.  There are many.  I would really stress to her that she needs to get checked out.  I am not trying to scare you, but back 4 yrs ago my dad put off going to the dr. until pain got unbearable and he was immediately sent to Cardio and was then sent to hospital for by-pass surgery.  If he would have waited any later he would have had a massive heart attack.  He also had the symptoms you say your mother has.  You may also want to post on the Heart forum for more answers.  Hope everything will be ok!

[AndiJ78]

I agree, she needs to be seen and have it evaluated. My oldest was born with one of the most common congenital cardiac abnormalities, a ventral septal defect, luckily, as most do, his closed on it's own. We had a scare when he was 2, which prompted the testing to resume again. We started with a chest x-ray, and ekg, and then he had a cardiac echo (essentially an ultrasound of his heart) The chect x-ray was done to check the size of his heart and any potential impact on his lungs. The ekg tests a multitude of areas of the heart, and the echo gives an excellent live view of the heart functions. The chest x-ray and ekg were done before we saw the cardiologist, the echo was done during the cardiologist appt.

When all was said and done, they determined the hole had closed and that he was left with just a murmur. When my youngest was 15 months, they picked up on a murmur as well. So we got to do the fun time routine again. And just as things went with my first, the exact same thing was determined with my youngest, just a simple murmur, most likely hereditary. We just wait and see if it turns into something in the future (my dh has a congential heart condition).

So, hopefully her primary care doctor will order similar testing and make a referral to a cardiologist.

Good luck, keep us posted if possible.

Andi