Hi I'm 23 and I've always been a healthy girl. However last year I felt like I was getting a heart attack so my family took me to the ER. Where they did a ekg and results came back normal. But it's been a year now and I still don't feel myself. I akways get weird symptoms and always have heart palpitations that come and go. They scare me so much that sometimes I just want to be stuck in my room and cry. I also get discomfort when I take a deep breath in my back. No doctor takes me that serious they always say I'm too young to have heart trouble and that I seem fine that is probably just stress and anxiety. Any advice thank you..
Ps sometimes my left arm and leg feel weird too.
Perhaps you could ask your doctor for a treadmill stress test, it will give you confidence if it is normal or otherwise. That is usually one of the first tests and a heart echo scan. EKG's don't always show up everything, sometimes mine are normal when I get angina even. Heart trouble normally comes on with exercise.
Thank you yes I've heard that ekg do not always capture an abnormality which made me worry even more. What is a stress test for ?
Hello, a stress test shows up any abnormality to do with the heart. Walking on a treadmill is a good test to see how your heart can cope with exercise. If that is clear and you can do the full 10 mins, then it is probably not your heart.
Oh ok. I will ask a doctor for that. I haven't gone because my symptoms come and go but they freak me out when they reappear so I might as well make an appointment. Thank u so much
It could be ectopic beats which affect young people and are harmless. Normally it can be triggeres by drinking and smoking but you say you are healthy.
Ectopic beat is a disturbance of the cardiac rhythm which sometimes causes the jolt like feeling in the chest which feels like a skipped beat.
You say you feel like you are having a heart attack, it feels to me like you are anxious. Anxiety can cause palpitations and breathing difficulty and a panic attack can be so frightening it can cause you to be very upset. Are you going through a difficult time emotionally, is something bothering you, exams?
Maybe speak to a close friend or speak to your doctor about some counselling, of course if you can afford it you can get one privately (especially if you feel the doctors don't take you serious) You can get a list of counsellors in your area on the BACP website.
Good luck Erika I'm sure you'll get through this with a sympathetic ear and some reassurance.
Hi erika,
A holter monitor could do the trick.
You can wear it for a longer period of time and it can capture irregular
heart rhythms. Not al arrhythmya's are brought on by excersise, so the treadmill test is probably not the test to start with.