Heart / Lung questions....

[Jcombs]

I am a 27 year old male.

I have been running out of breath very quickly over the past week. I get out of breath when i just walk to the bathroom. I have never had any problems before with my heart or lungs. I was a smoker through college but have recently quit. The shortness of breath is combined sometimes with a slight discomfort in the chest. I recently went to the doctor and had the following test done with these results.

EKG = Normal
Chest X Ray = Normal
Breathing Treatment
Peak Flow = 750
Blood Test (for clots) = Normal

I am scheduled for a pulmonary appointment on thursday. and an echocardiogram on the 15th.

My questions are:

If I had heart trouble would the EKG have been normal?

What lung problems may arise that would cause these symptoms that would not show up in an x ray?

Is anxiety a possibility? (the more i think about my heart the worse I feel)

Anyone have any other thoughts on what this might be?

Thanks in advance.

[fudd]

EKG only shows the electrical rhythm of the heart, not necessarily a problem with the structure of the heart itself. An EKG can provide information about an MI, ischemia, abnormal rhythms, etc - an echo will show problems with the valves (in someone your age, possibly mitral valve prolapse), the heart wall itself, or congenital problems (sometimes people have a wall of the heart that does not close properly and must be surgically corrected). So yes, they are very independent and one can be normal with other being abnormal.

Chest xray was done to rule out infection (particularly pneumonia), but can also sometimes show other lung diseases (TB, sarcoidosis, etc). Chronic asthma can sometimes be picked up on x-ray, but only if it's pretty severe (the lungs look larger than they should and the diaphragm gets flattened out). Most other significant lung disorders that I can think of don't fit your age/history or are far too exotic to consider first before other things (there are some pretty nasty parasites can travel to the lung and cause all sorts of problems, including SOB as an early sign - really, though, these are somewhat rare so don't worry too much about this)

Anxiety must always be considered, especially if the discomfort in your chest moves from spot to spot throughout the week/month. If it is always in the same spot, it would make me think of other things first, but anxiety is ALWAYS a possibility that must be addressed.

I assume they've ruled out anemia?

[Jcombs]

Thanks for the Info.

Another symptom i am developing is a low heart rate. My wife has been taking my pulse and it is staying at around 50 - 60 beats per minute.

Heart surgery scares me to death and when i think about it it seems to make the problem worse. Maybe it is anxiety.


Thanks again for the help.

[Howitt44]

Do you have allergies or think it could be asthma? I was having some shortness of breath a few years ago and my allergy doctor tested me for asthma. I am not the typical asthma case per say, but he said its symptoms can vary from person to person. I just have a slight shortness of breath. And I used to get bronchitis pretty easily. I am on an inhaler twice a day now and now longer have a cough, but still have some shortness of breath. Right now with the tree pollen really high, my chest feels kind of itchy and I have a little tickle cough. But nothing like I used to. OH, you mentioned your peakflow. Mine is always normal to normal high for my age and height. I am 47 and 5'2". Normal for me is around 400 and I'm always 450 to 500. I think you should visit a pulmonologist and have him do a complete pulmonary function test (PFT) on you. Mine shows that my smaller airways are constricted. You also mentioned you had a breathing treatment. Did you feel like you could breathe better after that? Hope everything goes well for you. I am on a preventative inhaler which is Advair and I have a rescue inhaler for an emergency which I never have had. The Advair is supposed to lessen the inflammation in the lungs. I go back for a check up in June to see if its really helping me or not. But I don't really have any attacks, just sometimes feel a little tight. Hope this helps.

[bluebanana]

Hi
50-60 isn't that low a heart rate for someone your age, a wee bit on the low side, but not anything I would worry seriously about, mention it to your doctor next time you see him. I think anxiety is a quite likely cause. How long ago did you give up smoking? Sometimes as your lungs readjust to being 'normal' and get rid of the gunk and tar build up, that in itself can make you short of breath. I wouldn't worry too much about heart surgery either, I'd say that is a long way down the line and there a lot and lots of simpler causes of the problem. I have a slight mitral valve prolapse/murmer and non of my docs are even a little bit concerned about it, I regularly have a pulse of above 130 too, I'm 22 and it's caused mainly by some of the meds I'm on for asthma.
Take care and try not to worry about it too much, worrying doesn't get you anywhere, although I know that is easier said than done!
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