(20M) Serious heart problem?

Heart health and blood vessels
1

20M, non-smoker, e-cigarette user, 13 stone, no medications

I’ve been having concerning symptoms, and being dismissed by my GP as having Anxiety, but I choose to deny this now since the symptoms have now become more severe.

I’ve been having problems with my heart rate increasing, sometimes decreasing and blood pressure increasing at times, and shortness of breath that feels like my chest is full preventing me from being able to breathe properly and preventing me from being able to breathe in fully. I have also been getting sharp chest pains every time I breathe in. I have been constantly dizzy now for the past year or more with no improvement. I have been having numbness and weakness in different parts of my body at the same time for no apparent reason that I know of. I have also been getting chills occasionally, as well as night sweats. I have also been having brain fog, disorientation and memory problems pretty much constantly throughout the day, but does sometimes improve for a while.

When I am trying to get to sleep, that’s when I experience shortness of breath the most along with chest discomfort and mild chest pains. During these symptoms, I tend to get hot and my face, mouth and tongue becomes weak, numb and tingly, as well as other parts of my body such as my arms and legs also becoming numb and sometimes tingly. My mouth is almost always dry, and water doesn’t really help. I sometimes get the feeling that feels like a heart attack which gets me very worried and concerned for my heart and health.

If and when these symptoms happen, I need to sit up because I fear I may die if I sleep considering laying down makes my symptoms worse. I started having these symptoms a year or more ago, but they have only got worse during these last few weeks.

I have had ECGs and blood tests during my visit to the GP a year ago, which have all came back fine. That’s when the GP told me that my symptoms are most probably being caused by Anxiety, and I did believe this for a while but not anymore considering the severity of my symptoms have gotten worse.

It feels like these symptoms are being caused by some sort of heart condition but I have no clue what heart condition it could be, but I’m pretty certain it must be some sort of heart condition. There is no way Anxiety can make me feel like this, especially when the symptoms I get do seem like they are more related to a heart condition rather than Anxiety.

As I am writing this, I am currently unable to sleep because my chest just feels so full and I am really struggling to breathe. I have fast and slow heart rates that keep changing randomly, and I keep getting this weird feeling in my heart, it feels like a bit of pain and a bit of a cold feeling. My whole body is numb and weak and I find it a little hard to move. I can’t lay down and close my eyes for more than 30 seconds without symptoms worsening causing me to have to move around and sit up.

I am wondering if there is anyone going through the same thing or someone who can take a good guess as to what the issue may be because I can’t book an appointment at my GP surgery because due to the coronavirus outbreak, they aren’t seeing anyone right now. Thank you in advance!

2

I just want to add tonight’s situation:

I have been trying to sleep all night, it’s currently 04:24 and I haven’t been able to sleep all night. I have been having basically the same symptoms as I’ve described in my post. Been struggling to breathe all night with sharp chest pains when breathing in. I had kept moving around and sitting up when this happened because I was so scared. I have just got up to go to the toilet because I’ve been needing to pee more often, while I was peeing I began to feel extremely disorientated and I felt really weak, suddenly as I began to move quickly to try and get back to my room and into bed, I started to lose balance and I felt like my brain was delaying with my actual movements, I started moving around all over the place while losing my balance and I was excessively sweating. I’ve managed to get back in to bed now, but I still feel hot, sweaty, numb, weak and slightly dizzy.

This experience has really scared me because I have no clue what the hell is wrong with me.

3

Hi Josh,
I’m sorry you have been experiencing these distressing symptoms. I have a heart condition, and know how difficult it is to get appointments at the moment, let alone to get referred for any tests, and that is with an existing diagnosis.

Next time you get these symptoms, whatever time of day or night, perhaps you could make a call to NHS 111 , or even call 999 and say you think you are having heart related symptoms. Don’t be afraid to even say that you think you might be having a heart attack, you should get a speedy response, and then you will get checked out by a paramedic while you are actually having the symptoms. I know this sounds like a drastic thing to do, but no one will think you are wasting their time if you are having symptoms that could be related to your heart.

Hopefully there is nothing serious going on with you, you have youth on your side, but best to get checked out while you are actually having the symptoms, rather than days/weeks later in your GP surgery (if you could actually get an appointment..) where the best they can do is check your blood pressure and order a blood test.

4

Hello, thank you for your response!

I actually did get myself to the emergency room in the end, where they ran tests such as checking my blood pressure, and my heart using an ECG and stephoscope (I was still having symptoms at this point), and said they were anxiety related symptoms. I was given a 3 day dose of Daizapam and that helped me calm down, I slept better while I was on them, and I was then put on Fleoxetine.

I am going to see if the medication helps and if not and I end up having the symptoms again, I will call 111 or 999 for a more speedy response.

Thank you again for your response, I’m just not sure if it is Anxiety but I suppose we will find out soon enough if the medication I have been put on does anything or not.

5

Anxiety affects the heart in many different ways, it also puts pressure on the brain and causes a person to not perform as well as if they did not have anxiety. The only way to beat anxiety is to address the issues that make you anxious.