Shortness of breath is the main symptom...but there's more

[slickpuppy]

I'm a 31 yr old man.  About 2 years ago i started to have bad daily headaches and vague breathlessness. Went thru intense neuro workup to no avail.   8 months ago I began noticing a slow onset of fatigue, worse breathlessness, exercise intolerance, and heart palpitations.  as well a distinct tight and heavy feeling in my chest with the over awareness of each heartbeat.     Sometimes, the urge to gasp for air is so strong that I will feel like I'm choking just when I'm trying to wash my face in the shower, or I have even almost aspirated food because the urge to inhale was uncontrollable.   Most recently though,  my SOB has because exertional in the sense that , for example if I walk up a flight of stairs, it feels like my heartbeat is pumping very forcefully and I will be remarkably short of breath...But, during my regular exercise session of 30 minutes/day moderate cardio, this SOB does not really become worse in a dramatic sense, although it is still there and maybe more noticeable when I'm trying to enjoy my workout.  
There have even been a few occasions when I had near syncope when exercising-- as well as during normal activity.   I feel the heart palps where my chest feels heavy, in the center.  
It's hard to hold my breath long at all due to the overwhelming urge I have to gasp for air. Could barely make the 10 second breath hold during my CT, I just have the overwhelming urge to breath NOW when I do things

Recent MRI of brain, normal.  2 yr old PFT, normal.   Recent echo normal.  ABG normal.  Recent Nuke stress was aparently a false positive (showed reduced LAD outflow but CTA was very normal).  Hemoglobin has been slightly high-normal around 17.0 consistently, and SED rate is always 0, cholesterol great

I had thought about pulmonary hypertension, I guess a normal echo makes this impossible?    What else can this even BE?  please help where you can, i need to find the answer before i get worse--this is slowly and progressively worse.

[Douglas Bogart, MD]

If the right heart is normal  in size and function and the Pulmonary Artery pressure is normal it is unlikely you have pulmonary hypertension.  Have you been checked for sleep apnea??

[go_to_guy]

OH, 1 more thing, when you awake at night unable to breath, do you also sense that your pulse is racing?

[go_to_guy]

Hey scfc16,  this is slick puppy the orignal poster,  i lost my password,  anyway,  I wanted to point out there are 2 things you said that describe me to the letter

"i have a fear of sleeping as i have started to get dreams of drowning where i wake up feeling short of breath"

"i have great difficulty with people belivng me i am some what familiar at the drs and they sem to think as im 24 its impossible to have a heart problem"


I hope you are able to reply again, sometimes people never come back to threads they post in.    But,  I would really like to know some more about you in that maybe we can figure some things out together.    Tell me about your liviing and/or work environment?   I have sometimes considered environmental factors is the reason I ask,   where do you sleep at night?  Do you live in an old house?   Apartment?    What about your work environment or other possible exposures?     I'm not going to ask you about stress, because we both know that's not it.     Lets get a dialogue open, I am very interested in you.

-Rob

[scfc16]

i can sympathise with you im a 24 year old woman and have had heart palpitations, shortess of breath and im always tired. Also on top of this nowadays i have a fear of sleeping as i have started to get dreams of drowning where i wake up feeling short of breath , In the shower i also feel like im drowing. I have done tests and they seem to be fine i was pregnant til 2 weeks ago and i suffered a missed miscarrige i will be having a chest x ray to check for fluid on the lungs as i wasnt able to do this in my pregnancy  . I cant help but feel the heart and the miscarige are related but thet think its fine. On top of this 4 years ago i had  stillborn baby at 9 months and deleivered 2 children that are of perfect healthsince then. I am worried to the point that when they wanted to give me a d and c to remove the miscaried fetus i couldnt as i didnt want to be put to sleep for fear of not waking up, I dont have a head problem but i have great difficulty with people belivng me i am some what familiar at the drs and they sem to think as im 24 its impossible to have a heart problem . Im frightend for my kids as i feel like if they dont find a cause soon they will grow up wthout a mother.