Again...Chest Pains !READ! - Heart Disorders Message Board

rotarypowered · 12-24-2003, 08:34 PM

Hello all. I am a 18 year Old male in pretty good physical condition. I have been experiencing chest pains for about 7 months now...and I have seen 2 doctors, both claiming that it is "chest wall pain" . I have not gotten an EKG or any type of test as of yet because I have no insurance. I can not help but have anxiety about this because I dont know if there is an underlying heart problem, or if it is actually, harmless, chest wall pain. the other day i was lying down and i got light headed and tingly in my arms, so i went and talked to my dads girlfriend, who is a nurse, and shortly I was back to normal. She mentioned that my skin was "clammy" and that i had no color in my lips. The chest pains are variaating, ranging from quick stabbing pains, to a dull pain. The pain moves around from right to left but is mostly in the left side of my chest, in my heart area. Does anyone else have this? I cant help but worry about this. I also notice, that when i get up from sitting down, that my heart beats pretty hard, is this normal? right now my pulse is aboutt 80 or alittle more. my hands are cold like they are getting bad circulation. Will someone please relpy or Email me and let me know of i should be concerned. my chest pains come withOUT any physical exertion. they just come and go , wether i am resting on the couch, driving, whatever...nothing specific triggers them. thanks to all for caring. [email removed]

butterflytrans · 12-24-2003, 11:13 PM

You have one HUGE good thing on your side....time...the fact that this has been going on for 7 months is a testament to the fact that you're not having a heart attack (which I know you're probably thinking of) and it's definitely not congestive heart failure.

What you DO have though is hypervigilance, anxiety and quite possibly panic attacks from being so wound up about this problem.

zip2play · 12-25-2003, 06:51 AM

Rotary,

You are simply going to HAVE to get an EKG. Since you've never had one you must eliminate a large block of potentially dnagerous conditions. It's not the best test on earth but is always the best to start with.

Anxiety can mimic all the conditions you have as well but just having a doctor say "probably chest wall pain" is not doing you a service. An EKG during the pain will remove a lot of the fear and worry.

There must be SOME way too get one without paying an arm and a leg, even any old GP has a hookup in his office. Either of those 2 doctors you saw should have hooked you up without charging you extra.

Machaon · 12-25-2003, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotarypowered

I have not gotten an EKG or any type of test as of yet because I have no insurance. I can not help but have anxiety about this because I dont know if there is an underlying heart problem, or if it is actually, harmless, chest wall pain.

Since you don't have health insurance, and until you get seen by a responsible, competent doctor, if you can find one, you might want to do a couple of things on your own.

There are two things that you can check at home. You can check your own heart beat and you can check your own blood pressure. Since your dad has a nurse for a friend perhaps she can help you to get you easy-to-use and accurate equipment.

If you listen to you own heartbeat, it should be a nice calm even beat, with two noticable sounds per beat, one right after the other, with a pause in between each beat. If, while listening to your heart, your heart skips a beat, slows down then speeds up, races, beats hard or thumps and then goes back to a normal beat, then that means that your heart and it's electrical system has gotten irritated by something. Keep in mind, your heart might beat just fine until it is irritated by something. You need to listen to it both times, when it is doing just fine to get used to how it beats when it is beating good, and then also listen to it when it's beating badly.

If your heart is as healthy as the two doctors have told you, then you may have a "heart" electrical system problem, which is quite common, which is not showing up yet at the doctor's office.

There are a lot of complex names and terms for a heart that gets irritated causing electrical system problems. One common medically used term is "neurohormonal activation". It means that something that you ate, or something that you wore, or some drugs or vitamins or supplements that you are taking, or something that you are allergic to, has caused a little havoc in your heart's electrical system. It could also be from coffee, or coke, or chocolate, or smoking or a change in the level of pollutants and pollens in the air outside. Does anyone you live with smoke?

I'll bet that you have allergies. There is a dirrect relationship between allergies and heartbeat problems.

Stress and anxiety can also make heart related problems worse, but there are many other things that can cause problems. It is easy to blame someone's heart and health problems on stress and anxiety. Doctors do this all the time to collect an easy fee for doing nothing. If they can blame a person's heart problems on stress or anxiety, they don't have to do their job and find the real reason for the heart problems, but they still can collect their fat fee.

Need to run. Don't have time to finish this post. Good luck!

Best of the holidays to you and your family (and the nurse!)

rotarypowered · 12-25-2003, 07:02 PM

Hello Yall thanks for replying...I was listening to the radio the other day And I heard an advertisement for this place in town testing some sort of new small pox vaccine. On the commercial, they mentioned something about giving a free EKG and Physical, and since I have no Insurance, I thought This might be a good idea. As far as the small pox vaccine, im not sure if it is safe, or if I am even going to do It, But I know that I can get an Ekg and physical, So I have an appt. For monday to get this done. So well see how that Is. I think i am going to get my results and take them to a cardiologist and see what he thinks. As far as smoking, I am a non smoker ( i have quit), and no one in my house smokes.
As far as checking my heart beat, I have been doing this alot lately. WHen I feel my pulse In my neck, I only feel one noticeable pulse per beat. like tick...tick...tick...tick. this is normal right ? ANd Beerzoids, I know what you mean about the doctord not doing their job and expecting to get a fat fee. The last doctor I talked to was in the ER, and I talked to him for a total of 7 minutes, with no tests of any kind, nothing, then 1 week later, in the mail i get the Bill for 150.00. thats way too much considering i was with him for less than 10 minutes. you should come back and finish your post when you get the time. I think that I am thinking about all of this too much. thanks again you guys. Merry Christmas