High Blood Pressure, Chest Discomfort
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hello everybody! My name is Andy, I am male 36 years old.
Let me give you little bit of my medical history that concerns me:
- Since age 30 I used to have chronic stress, a loving family member has died, and I was also unemployed for some time - really hard period for me.
- By the age of 32 chronic stress has led me to chest discomfort symptoms, headaches, and high blood pressure. I had panic attacks. I have visited cardiologists and hospital, which I came out to be "healthy" and didn't give me any meds for bp. I had plenty of ECGs and Stress ECGs and heart echos, all results came out clean.
- Now I am 36. I don't think I have stress anymore, I have a pretty good job and a beautiful family. But Hypertension is still there....
So, for the past year my average daily bp was 180/110 (<--- yes, true number) for the most time of the day ..... there were days I had up to 210/120, and days which I had down to 160/100 for the most part of the day....I never felt any symptoms other than being light headed. I made a lot of visits to the health center...each time they managed to drop my bp down to 160/100 and I was "really" happy with it since it was my lowest bp in the past years! (imagine that).
Finally a cardiologist gave me high bp meds which I take for the past 7 months... my average bp now is 125/85.
Nevertheless, all minor or major symptoms have faded away and I feel like a normal person , well most of the day...
So my concerns are:
Rarely I do get chest discomforts, a lot of stubbing pain in the chest area (like knife stabbing), I got a heart burn just a few minutes ago (thats why i am here writing this), and a lot of tachycardia with no apparent reason..
well I got my last ECG 2 days ago, complaining of dizzyness, the ECG ruled out dizzyness to be a heart issue, doctor said might be bad posture..but ok.....
well if there was any heart problem the ECG would have shown it right?? I mean all this stabbing pain and heart burns, ECG was clean so I have nothing to worry about right? or do I have to worry? The cardiologist said I am fine (based on the ECG)...how long does an ECG cover? months? years? could there be any heart damage after all this time with very high bp? or stress is back and i get my old chest discomforts...?
how should i rule out any of these symptoms since the cardio told me I am fine? should i visit doctors with different specialities? (neurologist, pulmonologist etc?)
0 likes, 5 replies
Sway andalina1982
Posted
I start with a second opinion from a cardiologist. My new cardiologist did not wait when he found out my heart rate was up on overage of over a 100 just standing still. I was on a beta blocker in 2 weeks. And it turns out I have diastolic dysfunction of the heart which being on the beta blocker has helped it because my heart has been able to slow down and rest and properly fill up with blood. But I'm pretty sure having high blood.pressure for that long without it meds can effect your body. So if I were you I'd go get a second opinion. My new cardiologist was a second opinion.
lola26177 andalina1982
Posted
Hello Andy,
First of all I am not a doctor but was here to ask a question like you.
I wanted to know about how accurate can simple cardiologists interpret the ECG or whether there is someone who specializes in this. I think it's a bit related to your concern.
If you're not 100% convinced about what your doctor is saying ..just go to another one..you need a second opinion of a good cardiologist not another doctor cause it's your heart you're dealing with and it's the most important.
Don't be stressed..just follow it up.
Take care
Lola
andalina1982
Posted
I think the best option right now is to get a second opinion from a cardiologist, as you said. I am also thinking of going to the emergency at the hospital complaining of chest pain (even if I don't have it at the time), I am pretty sure they will take me in for a few days - they will check everything - i am pretty sure for that.
about the ECG readings, I think I am an educated enough person to learn how to read them, even if I am not a doctor do get an opinion, there are tons of info in the internet that teach you about it. I think mine was not perfect enough, I did see something I didn't like.... so I will get a second opinion from another cardio, also taking all my ecgs over there to check them
lola26177 andalina1982
Posted
Hello Andy,
It's good to hear you're getting a second opinion..hope you get better...I know health is a complicated thing..
Well after researching I found out that as an answer to my question there actally is a specialist called "cardiac electrophysiologist" who has done his studies in diagnosing & treating electrical activities of the heart. It seems this study will prevent the common sudden deaths among young people or athletic people cause it knows about the electricity of the heart which can not be analyzed by a simple cardiologist. It was the case of a relative of mine recently...hope awareness will help to prevent this.
Take care
Lola
marcia38803 andalina1982
Posted
I'm 41 and since 2002 I've been going to the ER for chest pains and they kept saying it was anxiety attacks. So they would send me home, and then I went one time and they told me that I had a innocent heart murmur, because he said did anyone ever tell you have a heart murmur and I said no, he said it's probably innocent. Then I got a better cardiologist and they did a echocardiogram on me and they found out my mitral valve was severely leaking so I ended up getting open heart surgery to get a new valve and they repaired it but then it went bad again so 6 months later I had to get a mechanical valve so as of now I'm on coumadin and my INR is having issues with staying in the range that it's supposed to be in and I have palpitations on certain days and short of breath so don't know what's going on with that, but I would definitely get a second opinion if I was you.