Chest pain

[KP]

I am a 34 year old over weight female.  For the past 1 1/2 months I have been experiencing bouts of irregular heart beats, tachycardia, chest pains and shortness of breath.  At first I thought that it was just anxiety or indigestion, but now I am beginning to wonder.  Sometimes it feels like there is a 100lb weight laying on my chest.  I almost always seem short of breath.  I didn't really notice it until my husband commented that I was "sighing" a lot and I realized, I am having problems breathing.  Occasionally when I lay on my back, I can't catch my breath.  About three years ago I was on the fen-phen diet (only about two-three months), but I have heard that those drugs have been linked to heart problems.  Could this just be a problem with being over-weight or could this be something serious?  Thanks for your help.

[Ronnie Grove]

I have jaw pain most of the time .I also have a lot of chest pain too. I had 3 cardiac caths can you believe it and still no one knows what the problem is. They say a spasm in the artery can this be right. I was given cardizem cd 360 mgs and my throat was so sore and I had loss of appitite and many others syptoms so I quit taking them. I still have jaw pain what is this???/

[Judy Cosgrove]

For approximately I have been having pain on the left side of my chest.  It feels like spasms.  One day I could have atleast 50 spasms, the next I could have 5 or 6.   My cholesterol is 225, I weight 195.  I have irregular heart beat at least twice a week.  It is not a racing, sorta just gets off beat and gives me this weird feeling, wondering if it is going to get on track.  I have a heart murmer, so low that some doctors would have not known I had one if I hadn't of mentioned it.  This is when they listen real closely and say "well you do".

Besides being overweight, high cholesterol, irregular heart beat at times, spasms in left lung, right shoulder hurting and having Rhematoid Arit., guess you can say I am doing OK.  

My main concern is the spasms in my left lung.  Should I get this looked at or what?      Thank you,     Judy Cosgrove

[Mark]

I hurt my back some time ago shortly after that i started have chest pains was working the whole time was seeing doctor about it and they could seem to figure it out months went by and i was having pain everyday several times a day like attacks or spazzems ! ten one day it was a pain all day didn't stop went to er they said it was a heart attack had a colapsed arterie! my question is that could it be possibaly be from the back injury in my spine! it has been fixed from mico surgery but still have pain form back and chest! just was wondering if a back problem could cause this to happen!

[p]

Hey Doctor--sorry to ask this question here.

I think you know my situation already--I get rapid-heartbeats from running or playing basketball (Only after a really intense workout).

I only weigh 132 lbs at 6 feet in height.  

I want to gain about 20 lbs.  I am taking 'Weight-Gainer'.

I take it after lifting a lot of heavy weights--Bench pressing about 135 lbs.  Curling about 40-50 lbs.

Do you think that this will harm my condition?  Doc I haven't had a rapid-hearbeat for about 1 year now.  I still haven't gone through the ablation yet.  I want to wait to see if I'll feel better after gaining some weight.

Anyhow I am feeling extremely good now days.  Except for some palpitations that I get after stressfull situations or lifting weights.

Regards:P

[CCF CARDIO MD - DLB]

As a first step, I think you should make an appointment to be evaluated by a general internist. Based on this initial evaluation, referral to a cardiologist may be appropriate. Fen-phen appears to be able to cause heart valve problems, though these are usually mild abnormalities. In addition, fen-phen can cause pulmonary hypertension (elevated pressures), which can lead to difficult breathing, though this is an extremely rare complication. Unrelated to the fen-phen, you could have coronary artery disease, though, it would not be common, in a 34 year old female, even if you are overweight. You could be having arrhythmias as the cause of your symptoms. An internist should be able to narrow down the possibilities.