please help! 26yr old female worried & about heart

[kjm85]

I'm 26 yr old female - BMI is 25, blood pressure low/normal, cholesterol a little high but my good cholesterol is also high. I work out 4-5 times a week and try to eat fairly well. I dont have much history of heart disease in my family (my grandpa died in his 60's from heart attack and my dad in on medication for high cholesterol & blood pressure). In the past I have had problems with my blood pressure and cholesterol but have managed to get it under control with diet and exercise. For a few months now I've been getting: shortness of breath every now and again, not bought on by exercise but moreso when sitting on the couch or lying in bed,im not gasping for air (I still breath normally), but just feels like my lungs are not getting enough in. I get intermittent left arm/shoulder pain that radiates down to my fingers (with occasional tingling in fingers) and on the odd occasion to my jaw. this is normally quite a dull pain and normally with no chest pain. and again its not caused by exercise or arm movement but more when I'm inactive or in bed. I have tried taking pain killers for it but doesnt do much. I do have mild problems with my back but see a physio and she tells me its nothing serious. The arm pain also seems to be getting worse than when it first started. I have also started feeling a fullness in my throat as well as a lump/nausea type feeling, but no burning or acid feeling (ie not heartburn). this comes and goes but its something i've never had before. I also get chest flutters,these last about a second and may happen a few times a day. I am also tired a lot which I know can be a symptom for heart disease but I also have another condition which that COULD be related to. Ironically enough I see a cardiologist for my other condition (dysautonomia - which isnt anything to do with heart disease or can cause the symptoms I'm getting) - and he tells me theres no way it can be my heart. Should I be worried about this and push my dr for testing?

[beckyanne74]

Hi. I am not a doctor, but my husband is 40 and just returned home from a stay in the Cardiac Unit of the hospital after having a heart attack or Myocardial Infarction as they called it. He apparently had been having heart attacks for weeks due to the damage done to his heart and his enzyme level. He also had pneumonia for 2 weeks prior to 11/2 (date of admission). So... all the warning signs he was having, we thought to be associated with his pneumonia due to up until 30 hrs before we took him in, he had no chest pain other than the trouble breathing (in which of course we thought was the pnuemonia). Long story short, 1/3 of his heart is currently not beating right now because we waited so long. His father died of a massive heart attack at age 56 and my husband was not the healthiest man on the planet. My .02 cents is it is nothing to mess with. If you are having the pain, in the chest, down the arm, in the jaw.. combined with the shortness of breath push to get it checked. Please dont mess around because it could be too late and the damage could be done. Again, I am just a young worried wife who just experienced something that no one should have to if you can prevent it. Good luck to you

[CCF HeartMD6]

Based on the information you provided, your risk for heart disease would be extremely low (age, not overweight, no family history). Your symptoms also sound rather atypical for having a cardiac etiology. There are a number of other causes for chest discomfort including problems with the lungs, GI system, or overlying skin and/or muscles. Anxiety and/or depression can also manifest itself with a constellation of symptoms. There is basic diagnostic testing that can be done non-invasively to help further understand what is going on (blood work, EKG, chest xray, etc) and should be done in the setting of a thorough history and full physical examination. Unfortuantely, it is impossible to make an accurate diagnosis just by description alone.