Aa
Heart problems?
I am a (usually) healthy 22yo male, with no history of heart problems, but for the last year I have been feeling really bad and it is driving me crazy to not be able to live my life as I used to. In the beginning I had a few panic attack where I ended up in hospital thinking I had a heart attack, but after doing EKGs the doctors said there was nothing wrong with me. For some time after that everything was ok, but then it started again, and then my symptoms were all over the place, palpitations, chest pain, pains in my left hand, arm, armpit, left side of my neck and head. For a time I felt dizzy, couldn't breathe normally and had a feeling I would pass out but never did. Also, I felt out of place and as if my surroundings were not real, like in a movie. I did an x ray of my chest, and back, and also ultrasound of my chest and abdomen, blood tests and I went to a cardiologist. He did a color Doppler (?) test of my heart and also EKG, and said it was all right. Basically everyone said it was stress and anxiety related. I accepted that explanation, but I can't stop thinking that there is something else wrong with me. Although my symptoms really do point to anxiety, what worries me the most is that for the past month, my "heart" chest pains are getting stronger. Usually they would start late at night when I would lie down to sleep, and did not appear when I was active. For the last month, the pain is usually constant, I feel it from the moment I wake up, and it gets worse over the course of the day. At night it can be really painful. I tried taking Xanax and some pain meds, but i guess they didn't really help. The pain is located on the left side of my chest, and it goes to my armpit, neck, arm and back, and once even my jaw. So my biggest question would be if this pain really could be anxiety related, and can anxiety produce such constant and persistent pains, or do my symptoms suggest something more. Again, I have been to a lot of doctors last year, maybe 10 of them in total, and they told me I was ok, but now I am afraid again.
Well, it's been some time now, and I would like to update my status if anyone is interested in it :D
So, I have been to my cardiologist and he told me to do a stress treadmill test. I went to him a few days before and he did an EKG, all normal. So i did the stress test today. It usually takes 9 minutes, in 3 stages, with different speed and slope. He stopped the test after 4 minutes, in the second stage, because my heart rate was 177. Also, my blood pressure was 150/100, normal was 120/90. I though it was terrible news, but he said he could find nothing wrong with my heart, and that it was healthy and strong, but I seem to have too much adrenalin, causing me to get high heart rate while doing something. He gave me some medicine, beta-blockers i think, and told me to take it for 10 days, and report back to him after. Hope it ends well, it is really becoming tiresome.
So, I have been to my cardiologist and he told me to do a stress treadmill test. I went to him a few days before and he did an EKG, all normal. So i did the stress test today. It usually takes 9 minutes, in 3 stages, with different speed and slope. He stopped the test after 4 minutes, in the second stage, because my heart rate was 177. Also, my blood pressure was 150/100, normal was 120/90. I though it was terrible news, but he said he could find nothing wrong with my heart, and that it was healthy and strong, but I seem to have too much adrenalin, causing me to get high heart rate while doing something. He gave me some medicine, beta-blockers i think, and told me to take it for 10 days, and report back to him after. Hope it ends well, it is really becoming tiresome.
Well I am glad you are going to see the cardiologist. From there you will have an idea what direction to go. Good luck! :)
Well, I had a really bad day today. I took the bus for an hour and a half, and I had a really bad experience. All of a sudden, I got really bad chest pain that went to my back, neck, and jaw, could not breathe, and got palpitations. It happened 3 times in 10 minutes. The third time I got a weird sensation, like I was leaving my body. It really scared me :S Then for the next hour and a half, my heart would not calm down. My blood pressure was 110/70, a little lower then usual. The weird thing is, after it calmed down, I did some fast walking for half an hour just to test how it would respond, and it was all right, I felt really good ding that. Then I took the bus again, and nothing happened on it, and when I was walking afterwards, my chest started to hurt more with every step I took, like a staring pain. Also, when I inhaled, I felt worse, and the pain was stronger. Really weird. I called my cardiologist to make and appointment, and he said that I should do a ECG and bring it to him. Going there tomorrow.
Whats really horrible is if you had anxiety, then some of them will assume everything is just that. As to permenant-- yes--I am living with vertigo and issues with my vision/ and this falling sensations and some others all from the SSNRI they put me on for CFS. Its no laughing matter but these drugs alter the brain and there is no way for them to know how it will effect each person. I have since met sooooo many many others out there also damaged by them. Some are lucky and got better months later. THere are people out there trying to ban these drugs except for use in people with severe mental illness. Other countries have banned some of them.
Wow, never thought that those meds could cause such serious problems, I read the side effects of the meds I take,but never take it that serious, always thinking the bad ones would never happen to me. Though, I am not taking any strong ones really, only Xanax sometimes. It used to help when I had common anxiety symptoms like palpitations, and not being able to breathe normally, but now not so much for the chest pain. I hope that that those meds you took didn't do any permanent damage :(
btw, I looked up CFS and I have many of those symptoms, though I brush it off as anxiety. It is so frustrating that you can almost never know if it is anxiety or something else.
btw, I looked up CFS and I have many of those symptoms, though I brush it off as anxiety. It is so frustrating that you can almost never know if it is anxiety or something else.
I developed the heart block from an antidepressant. They took me off it right away once the found it. My dr.. was working closely with my cardiologist. Then years later I developed CFS and was put on another antidepressant and had another heart issue and my new cardio took me off it and strongly warned me against ever taking another one. He is strongly opposed to any of his patients taking them. Anyway--- you know your body and you have to be in charge of it. There are great doctors and not so great ones and some are lousy. Pay attention to any drugs you take at all. They all have side effects. For example the one drug I was on has helped others and hurt others. Dont forget to consider any supplements you take also.
I am really sorry to hear that, but happy too that you stood up for yourself and found out what was wrong with you. I am really worried, and the thing I want most in my life is to be certain of the state I am in, even if it is not good. Living every day not knowing, thinking constantly about being sick and scanning the internet for potential solutions is the worst thing that happened to me. If this keeps on going, I think the holter is the way to go. I just don't understand how those things don't show up on normal tests, and they still say nothing is wrong with you, even though it could be totally different.
Well, doctors use to tell me my heart was fine too. I pushed for a holter and they said you dont need it but if it will help you to relax then ok. I wore it and then they said "oh you have 4,000 pvcs and 1st degree heart block and something else. Personally I would push for the monitor. IF you have symptoms during the recording and they say its not your heart then, well, then I would have to say ok. At least if you have symptoms during the recording then they can tell if its related to the heart or not.
No, as I said, I went to a lot of doctors, some of them cardiologists, they did the tests (blood, EKGs, ultrasound, and that Doppler thing), and said that everything was fine without a doubt. I asked if I should do the holter or stress test, but they said it was not necessary. I an not a doctor obviously, so I guess that they could assess my conditions well enough from those tests I did, to say I don't need more tests. That is also one of the things I would like to know, if you can really tell from those tests that everything is ok without the need for further analyses?
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