Confused about my heart health. Why is this happening to me so young?

[JRosenthal]

I'm 27 years old, never any medical problems.  I'm 5'6 and about 130 pounds.  Exercise about 2-3 days per week.  I was having symptoms and decided to go to my primary dr.  Almost every time I go from sitting to standing I get extremely dizzy and have to sit back down or else I pass out.  My dr did an EKG, it was SR with PACS, and runs of SVT.  She had me do a ton of blood work and everything came back completely perfect! She then did an Echo, my results were an EF of 45-50%, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and Hypokinesis.  Today I did another Echo, still had an EF of 45-50% and the tech wouldn't tell me anything else.  I did a stress echo as well and I'm waiting to hear from my cardiologist about it.  The tech asked me 2x if I was a drug user and I found it hurtful.  I have never in my life have even smoked a cigarette but I do enjoy drinking whiskey (couple glasses a week).  I still have my syncope episodes and now it's getting a little hard to breath.  My heart feels fine but it feels more like chest pressure from my lungs. This only happens after walking for a while or climbing stairs or being busy at work.  I'm now wearing a Holter for 24 hours, hoping to catch the dizzy spells.  The only family history that I know of is my mother died in her sleep at the age of 40 from undetected cardiomyopathy.  Other then that, no cardiac history.  I'm 27 and want to be active.  I want this fixed so I can move on with my life.  I feel a little frustrated because I'm 27 and I shouldn't be going through this.  I feel like I have to remind my cardiologist that I'm 27 not 67 and there symptoms aren't normal for me.

[CCFHeartMD20]

Hi JRosenthal,

First off, it's always hard to give advice via the internet without seeing you first.  That being said, I'll give you some thoughts.

I do think you are right in stressing to your cardiologist that these symptoms are not normal for you.  This is particularly true given it seems you have a family history of cardiomyopathy.  I'm not sure how you know that is what your mother had, but if she died in her sleep at a young age, I think it's very reasonable to consider that she had an undiagnosed heart condition.  I would stress this to your cardiologist if you haven't already done so.

There are some congenital (i.e. you're born with them) heart conditions that should be ruled out in your case, particularly with your shortness of breath, dizziness, SVT, etc.  I can't really comment more on this given I can't see your ECHO, stress test, monitor results.   I do think those are important initial steps.  Often, when we can't seem to get a good answer for what's going on with the initial tests you had, we will consider a cardiac MRI to take a better look and make sure we didn't miss anything.  That might be something to consider in you, particularly since you're so young.

That all being said, I would wait until your appointment with your cardiologist so you can get the results of your pending tests.  He/She may have figured out what is going on.  In the mean time, I would recommend you take it easy.  No heavy exertion or intense exercise until you get this all sorted out.  As a side note, the alcohol would normally not be an issue, but because you are having runs of SVT/dizzy spells, I would avoid it for now as it can exacerbate abnormal heart rhythms.

Last thing...  Sometimes, there are subtle things that aren't picked up at centers that don't routinely deal with less common heart conditions. I would make sure you are being seen at a big heart center/hospital.

Hope this helps!  Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
CCFHeartMD20

[CCFHeartMD20]

Hi JRosenthal,

I know this is scary and frustrating.  Unfortunately, this is something that can happen out of the blue.  Sometimes we never find out why, although figuring out what's going on can often take time.  

It is good that you are in Long Beach.  You are close to UCLA and Cedars Sinai, both of which have excellent cardiology departments.  It's much easier said than done, but try to stay positive and wait until you have all the details of what's going on.

CCFHeartMD20

[JRosenthal]

Well my dr called me this morning and told me that my stress test was abnormal.  He said my heart function actually decreased under stress and thats not what he was expecting.  He's now ordering a cardiac ct and I have to go to his office to discuss treatment.  

I don't understand how I could go from being completely healthy to feeling like crap and now being diagnosed with all this in just 1 month.  It just doesn't make sense to me.  

[JRosenthal]

Thank you for your input.  I had my stress echo this am and have been at home relaxing watching  tv.  But, my heart feels like its racing and my chest feels like my 4 year old daughter is sitting on it.  I feel great otherwise, but this chest discomfort is annoying.  Called my cardiologist office and I'm waiting to hear from them as I speak.  Believe me if I felt it was necessary I would just go to the ER. Right now I just feel uncomfortable like I've been running when I'm actually sitting in bed.  I don't understand how all of this can present itself within 2 months and I have no prior history of anything.  If anything I will insist my dr does a cardiac MRI.  I truly appreciate your expertise! I live in Long Beach, Ca so I'm going to the biggest medical center here.