Heart Problems Related to Stimulant Use

[timbercanoe]

Hey there,

My name is Mike, I'm 20 years old and a college junior living in NH. Over the past few months, I've been experiencing not so much chest pain, rather an odd sort of chest discomfort. The symptoms vary, the most common being an over-awareness of my heartbeat, stiffness on the left and right side of my chest and upper left back, with occasional fluttering pains in the heart area that only last a second or a two. It seems to be at its worst when pushing things, such as a heavy shopping cart for example, and when I feel anxious (like when I read about possible fatal heart conditions). I'm not really sure when this began happening, but I know it was relatively recent, and the only thing I can think to attribute it to is a horrible experience I had a college party back in March.

I'd been working myself out of a bad episode of depression at the time, and after an evening of excessive drinking, I was given an unknown but likely smaller than 40mg dosage of time-release Aderol from a "friend," which I regretfully accepted in order to "clear my mind." A few hours later, for the first and last time in my life, I was offered cocaine from a guy at a party, and in my embarrassing state, I once again accepted. From what I recall, I felt fine for the rest of the night (albeit those feelings were likely skewed at the time), and I fell asleep within a few hours from all of this madness. Since then, Ive been been experiencing the symptoms described above. No significant loss of breath (although I do have a deviated septum which often makes me feel as though I can't breathe and keeps me up some nights), and no significantly abnormal chest pain when running or jogging.

I am not a habitual drug user, and this was the only incidence in my entire life where I have ingested stimulants recreationally. I've read up on damages that can be caused by stimulant abuse, such as cardiomyopathy, heart murmurs, etc, but most of those problems seem to occur mostly in people who abuse stimulants frequently, which I do not. I'd like to learn anything you might know about stimulant-related heart conditions, if they can occur even from one over-abuse of stimulants, and if they are generally problems that get progressively worse over time. This is all very frightening to me, and deservedly so. I am expecting the worst. I don't have health insurance so I want to be relatively sure that something is wrong with me before I go in and get another expensive check-up. Thank you so much, and I hope that anyone reading this does not make the same mistakes that I did.

Mike

[greendave]

Hi Mike
I've lived with a strong heart reaction to alcohol for 21 years and what happens to me is that if I have a few drinks i may or may not be ok but if I have a few drinks two nights on the run i run the risk of waking up in the early hours with a very very fast heartbeat which increase with the slightest movement. it takes a long time to slow down and often moves into the day with again small movements resulting in a very fast heartbeat.
So having learned this about myself i live by the rule of three which is never have more than 3 drinks and leave 3 days between drinks. This works for me and it is part of my life.
Another thing i found useful was to keep a diary with heartbeat readings, irregular pulse etc but also what I ate and drank so that I could try and spot a pattern.
I also found yoga and relaxation/breathing exercises helped me.
Tryi to take control and find what works for you.

[Momto3]

Hi Mike,

It sounds like you have decided to steer clear of non-prescribed medications, and that's a great plan!  Good for you on learning so quickly!  It will serve you well : )

I am not a doctor, but my intuition says that the isolated incident may have set off a chain of events, from physical to emotional.  You may want to talk with someone from Health Services, or maybe a counselor.  Explain what happened (they'll understand) and what your concerns are, and get an expert opinion on how to move forward.  It could be a matter of gaining control of anxiety.  But, it's best to be sure before you assume anything.  All that said, what you describe does not sound serious, but does warrant looking into.

Oh, lots of people have the fluttery feelings and as long as your heart is structurally normal, it's more a matter of learning to live with them.  Try not to worry, but work toward finding out why you feel the way you do, and what you can do about it.

Take care
Keep us posted