Please Help 20 yr old with heart problems?

Buffyactsing · 09-07-2004, 10:27 AM

Hi everyone. I'm a 20 year old female and I'm pretty scared right now. For the past couple of days. I must add that I am about 100 lbs overweight and that last time I checked I had borderline high blood pressure, but normal cholestorol and stuff. I'm out of shape, but not super out of shape and I have a poor diet (well I did this summer anyway) I'm also quite prone to severe panic attacks but something tells me this wasn't a panic attack.

For the past few nights I had trouble falling asleep (my heart issues almost always happen at night whether I am lying down or not), and I was lying down and had difficulty breathing, like I forget to breathe or something. At first I thought it might be sleep apnea, but then I sat up for several minutes and if I wasn't concentrating on breathing my trouble didn't go away. I sort of ignored it the past few nights, and eventually got to sleep but tonight the same thing happened and it didn't go away. What sort of happens is that I get these waves of lightheadedness and then my arms and head get a very slight cold sensation that only lasts for a few seconds. I also had some pressure in my chest. I also had a few minutes where I had trouble breathing, but then that went away and I was left with the rest of it. Then of course anxiety set in so I couldn't tell what was what anymore, but in the very beginning when I was trying to sleep I was anxious. It's been about 5 hours since I started getting these symptoms and about an hour and a half ago things got much better and I'm left with slight palipitations but those could be due to the anxiety I'm still having.

I'm guessing that I probably didn't have a full on heart attack, but does anyone have any idea what it might be?

I'm only hesitant to go to the ER because I'm a poor college student on field study so I'm left without health insurance, and even for simple tests they charge and arm and a leg.

I'm planning on going to the health department at my school I'm visiting today, but I'm still very worried and I don't want to get worse.

Thanks for you help.

Alex

leaky@heart · 09-07-2004, 03:29 PM

Hello, I am a 37 year old female who just had a heart attack last week. I don't think you had a heart attack but I can tell you from experience what a MILD heart attack feels like and what I went through. I went out for my daily walk and came back to my house, out of breath, heart beating very rapidly, even at rest, SEVERE nausea almost to the point of throwing up,and SEVERE pain in the middle of my chest-in between my breasts....pain like a brick was on it, and my right arm was kinda numb. It was the most scariest feeling in the world but I really refused to believe that I was having a heart attack because I'm young and healthy(no smoke, drink, drugs or overweight and I'm even a vegetarian!!) Anyway, after they drew my blood work at the emergency room, the test proved I did indeed have a heart attack. The cause was from a spasm because I have something called Mitro Valve Regurgitation-basically I have a leak in my valve and my heart pumps blood backwards instead of forward, so it works harder and thus it worked so hard after my walk that it spasmed and caused the heart attack. I am now on daily medication to relax the heart (and me too...I feel 80!!) until eventually I will have to have a heart valve replacement (scared ***** of that!!)
Anyway, I'm glad to see that you are going to the heath department because I think it is important for you to be checked out. Being young, we tend to think nothing Bad can really happen to us. I am not being crtical but I think you should try and lose weight(i know, eaiser said than done) and get your nutrition in balance. Food is fuel for the body and if you want to be around for a long time without health problems, nutrition and excercise is the number one key to get you there. I know its hard, as I am now on a low sodium diet and everything tastes like DUST but I have the upmost respect for my heart and I want to "baby it" by eating healthy. I wish you luck and I will pray that you will get better.