Could I really be having heart trouble at my age?

[butterfly223]

I am a 33 Yr. old woman with Type 1 diabetes. For the past 3 days I have been experiencing sudden yet on and off pain in my left shoulder and arm along with feelings of fear and an incredible sense of doom.  My shoulder and arm almost feels as if it is cramped up. I did not injure my arm or do any activity to cause the pain.  In fact the first time I felt the pain, I was driving in my car.  I am a smoker and have heart disease running in my family.  Should I be concerned at my age?

[Shroom]

Age is nothing. I'm 20 and have heart problems. You're an old lady to me. : > Get it checked out!

[janne]

Hi Nikl
The day before my heart attack I was washing and waxing my jeep and started having a lot of pressure in my chest that spread to my shoulders. It almost felt like having a lot of gas, but on a bigger scale, throughout my chest.  Both my arms were numb and tingling (although I dismissed this as a pinched nerve in my neck from a car accident I had a few month previous).  I felt sick to my stomach, although this only lasted about 5 minutes.  I was short of breath and had trouble breathing when I lay down. My husband wanted to take me to the ER as I'm very seldom sick and he felt there was something seriously wrong.  I convinced him that I was just over tired and out of shape and it would go away. I even tried tums, which I have never taken, but it didn't help at all.

All of these symptoms were present the afternoon and evening(but the intensity varied). I went to a wedding reception that night and and tried to "dance the gas out".  That was a bit of a mistake as it only made my symptoms worse.  I went to bed with the symptoms, woke up in the morning with them(but the numbness in my arms was gone), but to a lessor extent.  

I stayed quiet most of the day and by that evening, while cleaning the kitchen, I could feel a squeezing between my breasts and in my throat.  It almost felt like food was stuck all the way down from the base of my neck to my chest and inbetween my shoulder blades. Stupidly, I continued to ignore the symptoms and continued cleaning.  The squeezing/choking feeling got worse over about 20 minutes and then all of a sudden it felt like there was an elephant on my chest and my left arm was numb.  At that time I knew exactly what was happening and could no longer ignore the signs.
I was told by the cardiologist that I was lucky the paramedics were called when they were and I got to the hospital okay.

The ironic thing is that I used to work in a doctor's office.  Although it was only a g.p.'s office and I didn't have a lot of background on heart conditions, if a patient had called me with the same symptoms, I would have directed them to immediately call 911. Looking back now the symptoms were very clear, but at the time, it was quite easy to dismiss all of them.  I honestly thought that I was just having a panic/anxiety attack that I had heard people have as I had been under an extreme amount of stress the past 7 years.
I'm just glad it is over and I can now go no with my life.  But, if I can help one person recognize the symptoms and act on them before they have a heart attack, I will feel good.
Take care, Joady

[nikl]

what were symptoms janne

[pazifij]

Please don't put off getting this checked out.  I was a smoker and my father died of heart failure at 56.  I was having problems that I thought were heart related at the age of 40.  I went to the doctor and complained of symptoms but never told him I thought it was my heart because I felt stupid, that 40-year-old women do not have heart attacks, and I was not having classic heart attack symptoms.  I was never diagnosed with heart problems.  At the age of 44 I suffered a cardiac arrest, and was saved through CPR and now have an implanted defibrillator.  They determined my cardiac arrest was caused by an old heart attack--I'm sure my problem at age 40 was that heart attack.  I am very lucky to be alive; most people who have a cardiac arrest do not survive.  Please go to the doctor with your concerns.

[janne]

I had to respond, not to scare you, but to let you know so you get this checked out.
I am a 39 year old female with no risk factors(no high blood pressure, my cholesterol is low, no family history and I'm not diabetic) other than I am (was) a smoker. I had a heart attack a few months ago. I was then diagnosed with CAD. I am told it is quite rare for my sex and age (and lack of risk factors) for this to happen, but it does happen.
Had I not listened to what my body told me and called 911, I may not be here today.  Had I listened to my body even earlier (the previous day), I may have saved myself a heart attack.
Take care and get yourself checked out.  You have nothing to lose by doing this , but may have a lot to lose if you don't.
Jann

[CCF-M.D.-RCJ]

Butterfly223,

Thanks for the post.

With your risk factors of long-standing (I'm assuming) diabetes, smoking, and family history of coronary artery disease, it is certainly possible that you could have coronary artery disease.

You need timely evaluation for your chest pain syndrome.  Please don't put this off.

Good luck.