Over the last year I have been getting palpitations and feeling out of breath more easily than I think I should for my age - I am only 49. In recent months I've noticed a tightness in my chest when I walk for more than 10 minutes walk quick, up hills or up and down stairs too much or too quick running round after my 3 young children! It also gets brought on when I feel emotionally triggered- such as fired up with stress or anger, which having a stressful life juggling work and an 11 year old and 7 year old twins one of whom is disabled can often happen! Saw GP - referred to rapid access chest clinic and saw nurse specialist last week who thinks it's probably angina! I'm shocked and terrified. But it's also something I've been thinking being an ex nurse and being much more conscious of my heart not behaving quite as it should lately. I've written it off as stress for a while now. I am struggling physically and hit a wall every 2 hours of being on my feet and just have to sit down which is not like me. I am now on calcium channel blockers which made me feel worse for the first week but now gradually slightly better , so maybe it is my heart! Aside from exertion induced tightness and short of breath I just feel generally unwell and there's like an almost constant wobbly wobbly/flippy floppy feeling jn my chest unless I'm resting. I sometimes feel nauseous after a chest tightness episode. I wondered if this matches other people's symptoms? There is heart disease in the family. I am now on the list for an echocardiagram and an invasive angiogram with a possible stent which shocks me they are even saying that as I've had no tests yet! Sorry for long post! Just reaching out cos I'm scared.
Scared! : Over the last year I have... - British Heart Fou...
Scared!
Welcome to the club. I hate to say it but your symptoms suggest you do have heart disease - I think you probably know that by now, especially as it is in your family. However, you have to now look on the bright side, the tests you are going to undertake, especially the angiogram, will most likely find the problem, and if it is blocked arteries they may even fix it at the same time. Your symptoms are pretty much the same as mine even the nausea. Hopefully afterwards you will have a chance to review your lifestyle, diet, exercise and so on, and try and stop things progressing. As has been said on here by many, unless it is all genetic, the way you have been living up to now has probably contributed to it, so now you have probably got to look at altering things? I know it's easier said than done, but at least you will be one of the lucky ones who will be around to tell the tale. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Thanks for replying - yes I won’t be surprised if that’s the issue. What concerns me is I am pretty healthy not overweight have a good veggie diet I don’t smoke (although I did but gave up over 12 years ago). The only 2 risk factors I can relate to are genetics and stress - and I’m not sure I can do anything about either! I have a severely learning disabled child which is really stressful! I am in touch with social care now though to review our needs and hope to get more respite hours for us. Can I ask is it usual to keep feeling like I have to keep doing deep breathing? I don’t know how much of what I feel now is anxiety or the meds or my heart!
I am not really sure I can answer that one as mine all came on very suddenly and I was not on any meds in between times, as it were - maybe some one else can answer that. However, they will no doubt have put you on a raft of drugs some of which may well be making you feel a bit lousy, particularly Beta Blockers, but you may well feel better when you get used to them and for now they will probably be stopping any further problems. It is particularly hard to bear when you have had a good diet and have looked after yourself, maybe the period of smoking did have some contribution to things who knows? All you can do is to wait and see what the results are and just try and not get too stressed, loads of people are living great lives whilst having CHD. Good to hear your are hopefully getting help you deserve it by the sounds of things. I feel a bit daft saying that you might consider doing something to relax you like yoga or mindfulness exercises given your circumstance, but if you do get help from SS you need to try and put some time aside for yourself, as if things get worse both you and your dependants will suffer. There is a lot of help available on this forum as well.
Thanks for your supportive words - yes pilates once a week helps and my partners been great at giving me time out. I guess it's just a waiting game , I flit between thinking it's my heart and thinking it's stress so it will be good to know one way or another. Unfortunately the angiogram wait is 6 months! My GP is going to try and expediate it for me so hopefully it will be sooner. Thanks again
6 months blimey that's surprising but obvious why. It might not be very PC but I think I would be looking of ways to try and get it brought forward, if you get my drift.
That's exactly what I am doing! I have 3 young children - one of them vulnerable and highly demanding to care for - relying on me to be fitter than I am right now! Thankfully my GP seems to have my back!
Hi Palpitations, are very unpleasant, but not necessarily too serious, and I personally have suffered for years but been assured they aren't life limiting. There are other techniques that you can use such Vegas nerve pressure which may help. I find mine worse with stress, so try to reduce your anxiety and avoidable stress and carefully consider the doctors advise for treatment. Hope that's of some reassurance.
Suggest you get your thyroid tested to rule out hyper or hypothyroidism, you need TSH, T4 and T3 tested.
Thanks my thyroid was checked a few months ago and was fine apparently.
Best to get a printout of results so you can check for yourself, Drs are not very good with thyroid testing and reading results, they literally have a few hours in their training so the majority don't have a clue ! If results are anywhere in range they say "everything normal" which is ridiculous !!
Hi Natwoo, your symptons sound excatly like mine, I was diagnosed with angina 8 years ago, it gave me a real shock. I immediately altered my life style, i lost three stones and exercised far more. I religiously took all my meds and for the last four years or so I hardly used my GTN spray.....what marvelous stuff it is, its incredible. I felt a bit rough a couple of weeks ago, tight chest, nauseous, ache in the arm, out of breath, like a pratt i let this persist for four days before phoning 111 for advice. To cut a long story short the NHS were amazing, I had two stents fitted on Tuesday to clear the blockages in my LAD.....I wish they'd offered me an angiogram 8 years ago, its sounds like youre getting great treatment. Dont worry about the angiogram and stents, its a pain free process. Best wishes x
Thanks for your best wishes - it seems I am getting good treatment even if I have to wait a while!
Hi thereI am feeling exactly the same as you....a little frightened with results from blood test showing high cholesterol .my doctor is sending me for ECG tests as he suspects I have angina as this runs in my mum's side of the family.(both my mum and nan had angina) I have picked up a prescription and can't believe the amount of tablets I have been given before IV even had a cardiologist check me out. I'm in panic mode to be honest and I'm really not making much sense of any of it!
Yes it's scary isn't it. I think when we ate healthy we tick along and to some extent think we are invincible - then something like this happens and it's a huge shock. I think if you - and I- do have angina it will take us some time to process and accept it. But hopefully we will if that's the card we are dealt and we will be ok. Wishing you all the best with your process and keep us updated .
caroninski, please please please make sure that you take those tablets as prescribed, when i was diagnosed with angina eight years ago they gave me a cocktail of tablets to take for life.....they do make a massive difference and they allow you to return to a pretty normal way of life. Obviuosly smoking, drinking, diet, weight and exercise play a massive part in relieving the symptons of angina. Best wishes xx
I’m really sorry you’re going through this. The unknown is often more scary than the known. I’m guessing the angiogram and stent were only raised as a possible course of action? If it does come to that it’s better to have a stent than wait for things to get much worse. It does seem odd for them to mention anything without doing any tests though. It might be worth going back to your GP with your concerns. You’ve got a lot on your plate - hope things get sorted soon x
Well… an update! My symptoms deteriorated over the last week with chest tightness being triggered with very little exercise and by Wednesday even at rest. An episode on wed with a different type of pain and radiation down my left arm took me to A+E as I was quite scared. I was admitted to cardiology and yesterday afternoon had an invasive angiogram - which showed what they described as ‘clear pristine coronary arteries’! Hoorah! However he said the likely cause of the pain is micro vessel angina which can only be managed by medication. I am being discharged today but I remain concerned and feel that I am being expected to skip home happy that my arteries are clear but little focus is being given to diagnosing the actual problem. I have been reading lots on line and I had even bought the Angela Maas book on how women’s heart health tends to differ from men’s and is less understood. The information I have gathered is that there are actually about 4 possible heart problems causing angina that don’t include blocked arteries. So obviously I would really like the docs to proceed towards diagnosing my actual problem to be sure I get the right treatment. I just wondered if anyone else reading this is in a similar position or has any of the other types of problems causing angina that don’t result from blocked arteries. And if anyone has any advice for me. Thanks
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