Potential Heart Problems

[JDS2805]

I'm a 29 y/o male in good physical shape. I don't drink, smoke or do drugs. I was in the ER twice last week with heart attack symptoms. All the tests came back normal except my EKG which was abnormal which they told me they often see in athletic people. I've notices at times my resting pulse will be in the upper 90s but eventually go back down to the 70s. My cholesterol level is 149- my good cholesterol is a little low so I need to get that up. I'm scheduled for an echocardiagram and stress test next week. I have no known family history of heart disease and my blood pressure is normal. Could there still be something wrong with my heart or were these attacks just random things with no explanation??

[grendslori]

JD that's really wonderful news for all of us to hear! Keep us posted on how you are doing, okay?

[JDS2805]

I got my results on Friday. Turns out I have pericarditis. It showed up on the Echo. The stress test was normal. He's pretty sure it's viral since all of my bloodwork was perfect which rules out it being caused by an underlying diesease. I have another Echo on the 30th just to make sure the inflammation isn't getting bigger. It definatly makes sense because I've had mono plus I've all the sinus infections I've had the last year- the puzzle is coming together. The pain comes and goes but what's still getting me is the fatigue. But it's reassuring to know this usually goes away with medicines like ibuprofen and sometimes antibiotics- and to know there's nothing seriously wrong with my heart. Thanks for all the advice!

[grendslori]

Ed I'm not so sure they felt that it was an electrical issue with the heart; they mentioned athlete's heart. Often times that is confused with HCM. The electrical activity isn't what they are looking at; they are looking at the voltage heights on the EKG. JD, I'm glad that you don't have all of the symptoms mentioned for this disease, but understand this is a disease where the symptoms can be so slight, the person isn't even aware of the problem. Other patients it's the total opposite. As I said, this is generally genetic in nature, but it is also sporadic. My daughter had one of the worse cases of this disease seen here in the US and no one in either side of our family has the disease and they say it doesn't skip generations. ( I don't know if that's actually true or not) Let us know how the echo turns out okay?

[ed34]

I think you will have to wait and see the results of the echo. You are correct in assuming that if a cardiologist felt it life threatening, you would have had the test by now. Im still curious as to what they felt was abnormal about the electrical activity of your heart.

[JDS2805]

I should also mention that I had an echocardiagram when I was 21 for a job and it was normal plus there is no known history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. i looked up the symptoms of it and there are quite a few i don't have also it appears that with my negative tests so far- blood tests, x ray and heart ct scan this seems fairly unlikely. of course, i'm not a doctor, right now all im feeling is a little tightness and occasional elevated heartbeats- like after walking or doing errands- i do feel fatigued but i am also getting over a sinus infection... id like to think that if i was considered a ticking time bomb they wouldn't have let me wait a week to get the echo and stress test...

[JDS2805]

When the first one happened I was trying to fall asleep. The second one happened while I was washing the dishes. They did do blood work for cardiac enzymes and both times the bloodwork was normal. My echo and stress test is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Is this Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy something that can kept under control- if I do have it will I still be able to live a normal active life without having to worry that Im going to keel over? I'm really trying to take it easy and not worry and stress over this but I'm a young man with a family and just want to know that I'm going to be around to take care of them. Since the last episode Tueday there hasn't been any pain- a little tightness but it's also about 15 degrees here so it could just be the cold- I haven't had anymore shortness of breath and the pulse has only been above 90 once or twice and it's been staying in the 70s and 80s. Thanks for the answers!

[grendslori]

The fact that you mention a athletic heart (EKG sometimes seen in athlets) tend to lead me to believe that the walls of your heart are too thick. If ALL of the walls are too thick the problem is generally athletic heart; however, if only some of the walls are too thick you may have something known as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy which can be genetic or spordic in nature. This problem can cause chest pain due to the lack of bloodflow to the heart walls. An Echo will easily show this if that's the problem. When is your echo scheduled for?

[ed34]

There are numerous ailments which present symptoms very similar to heart attacks. While in ER, they should have taken a blood test for your toponin level. This is usually done twelve hours after the pain started to obtain a more accurate reading. When the heart is overly stressed such as MI, it releases troponin into the blood and so looking for this with a simple test can give a lot of clues. Can you clarify something please, what exactly was you doing when this attack occurred?
An echocardiogram is a valuable test in that it shows the mechanics of the heart and the dimensions in the architecture. If there are any valve malfunctions or other abnormalities with the anatomy of your heart this will be detected. It will not show up any problems with the coronary arteries but if you have not suffered any pain since the one episode, I doubt if this is a problem.