repeated episodes of chest discomfort

[Akilah]

I am a 51 year old female
My chest feels heavy and I am short of breath. I have had irregular heart rhythms in the past and have been hospitalized for them. I  am not so good about taking my medication.. The cardiologist placed me on metoprolol.
Since then I have been to the statcare center and the E.R. with pleurisy and pneumonia. Do I need to be concerned every time I have chest discomfort?.

[cindy707]

Oh and P.S. no matter what you need to call your doctor and go see them to rule out anything else going on with you......sorry i sort of jumped up on that soapbox.....

[cindy707]

With women Akilah ....when we feel shortness of breath along with chest pressure or discomfort merits a visit to see a doctor sooner rather than later.  What i would do if it were my body is link onto the American Heart Association site or the American Red Cross site and read up on the symtoms of a "female" symtoms for a heart attack.  This is just to be sure you don't fit into that catagory...the red flags tho that are thrown w. this situation with you are pretty red here....you have been hospitalized for irregular rhythms and the heart doc put you on meds to help you handle them and yet you aren't taking them as prescribed...i found what worked for me was putting the pill bottle next to my toothbrush and when i woke up in the morning before i brushed my teeth i took my antenolol...it kind of kills two birds with one stone..one is that you are remembering to take your meds and two you are getting the full benefit of them by taking them at the same time each morning.  As far as the pleurisy and pneumonia go.....you have to try to determine if you are going to be stubborn between the lung and heart issues and that i think you should be able to do by linking onto one or both of those sites.....make absolutely sure that whatever you read there applies to women only and not men because our symtoms would be completely different.....it is a personal choice you make Akilah but if i would have gone thru what you have i definately would be taking my meds as the doc wants me to...good luck

[Jerry_NJ]

You didn't give enough information for me to have any reaction about "chest discomfort" other than to say get it checked by a doctor.  It seems you have and the result was a prescription medication.  If you don't follow the doctor's prescription and it was intended to stop the irregular rhythm and discomfort then expect to have irregular rhythm and discomfort.

Did the doctor diagnose the irregular rhythm to be PVC, PAC, Atrial Fibrillation... something else?