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Heart Disease  (Expert Forum)
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unusual symptoms but they won't go away
Answered by
Cleveland - OH
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests

unusual symptoms but they won't go away

by tommy1080, May 12, 2008 12:51PM
I was wondering if you can help me figure this out.   What can make a person have these symptoms when all the "usual" tests are normal?  

Nausea and breathlessness at rest (its the same feeling...feels in a way like butterflies in my stomach and chest that just won't go away).  it's present maybe 40% of the time on a good day, 95% on a bad day

atypical heavy and tight chest discomfort that feels like it restricts the breath in or makes it hard to get a refreshed breath.  when it's there, i feel fatigued, weak, lightheaded, and like my heart wants to quit on me.  when my heart feels "weak", i get near syncope upon standing alot,  but otherwise i don't.  

sometimes my chest discomfort lets up and i can breath good and have my energy back for a while.

i've noticed with my pulse oximeter that while normally my o2 is 95-98,  it does dip off to 93 or so alot, albeit for a brief time.   and i live at 600 feet elevation.

i also get the occasional but very noticeable heart palp in the same area of my chest that feels tight/heavy. not to mention i feel lightheaded and generally spaced out MOST of the time

so, i've had a nuclear stress test, echo, chest xray, ABG, lung function tests, SED rate is 0..., and i continue to workout everyday,  but i still feel very bad. chronically

oh, and 1 other thing i noticed is that when laying down my radial pulses drastically dimish, i often even wake up with my ulnar nerve pathways numb

so since my tests were normal i'm wondering what other test might show something?  I was even wondering about some sort of adrenal or endocrine disfunction, or maybe some vitamin or other mineral that is either depleted or in excess in my body causing me to feel this way (similar in theory to that disease where the liver doesn't filter out copper right).  Something like that maybe??   because this is ongoing everyday and it's getting old.   I'm 32 yrs old, male.

by Cleveland Clinic, May 12, 2008 02:05PM
Make sure your thyroid and adrenal glands are ok.  Also, check a chest xray to make sure that there is no cervical rib that could potentiall explain your hand symptoms, although, I think this is most positional in your case.  You saturation is normal, but asthma could certainly explain the shortness of breath, also , paradoxical vocal cord movement could cause you to have shortness of breath which is occasioanlly related to anxiety states.  If fact I would be concerned that some of your symptoms are anxiety driven.  
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