3 ms·

If you’re in a position to do so, I’d strongly recommend you get checked out if you’re having any kind of chest pain as your heart rate rises. I lost count of

If you’re in a position to do so, I’d strongly recommend you get checked out if you’re having any kind of chest pain as your heart rate rises. I lost count of how many times I was told “you’re too young to have any heart issues” before eventually being diagnosed with myo. FWIW I’m younger than you and though mild, my symptoms seem to have taken 9 months to mostly resolve.

nonbirithm 5y ago
I'm also young and have had mild to moderate chest pain (stabbing) that comes in bursts and can last hours. This was after what I thought was a cardiac event in February of 2019, a year before the pandemic, when I suddenly started feeling lightheaded and seeing stars, but the EMS said nothing was wrong. Before that moment I never had any chest pain, and it still comes back to this day occasionally. I must have had an ECG a dozen times since then. I ordered a barrage of tests up to a heart ultrasound and a stress test, and nothing came of it all. I was frequently told it was unlikely anything was wrong because of my age. It was a miserable period of my life, not knowing if I was going to survive to the next day. The pain is always on the left side of my chest and has fluctuated around various regions of it. Recently it became worse again after taking Adderall, which raised my heart rate, so I still suspect something is wrong with my heart, but it seems that after a year of stressful hospital visits and no definitive answers, I've exhausted everything that would have given me a diagnosis at this point.
- Kognito 5y ago
  Sorry to hear about all that. I know it can be incredibly anxiety-inducing having any heart related issues, particularly at a young age when it's the last thing on your mind. Frustratingly, it sounds like you've done everything you can. The ECG is extremely sensitive to any change in heart function so that's positive if it's showing normal results (was the only indicator for me - other than an MRI). Obviously you're still experiencing some symptoms, but between the ultrasound and stress test, they'd have seen if there were any structural abnormalities or any issues with function, valves, blockages, etc - so perhaps that's some reassurance. Not to belittle from your experience in the slightest, but I wonder if you've considered other causes? Easy to think the worst but a surprising number of people end up in the ER suspecting heart attacks with only bad cases of heartburn (acid-reflux). Panic attacks are another common one. I only mention these as I think the anxiety and panic I experienced due to the stress was probably worse than the actual condition.
  - nonbirithm 5y ago
    It's not belittling; I was considering much the same. My conclusion is that I definitely had anxiety during all those episodes, and the anxiety made the symptoms worse to some extent. My first panic attacks I ever experienced were caused by the symptoms early on when I had no evidence this was going to become chronic and relatively benign. I would be relieved if I could explain away my symptoms as mere hypochondria or acid reflux. But I persisted for a while in the face of that because I felt that my body was trying to tell me something. Pain is a mechanism we've evolved with to indicate various abnormalities. I was willing to bet there was a reason behind the pain, instead of it serving no purpose whatsoever, and especially because this concerned the region where my heart was located, I felt it was urgent, since my heart is one thing that has to function for me to stay alive. My unresolved anxiety is that I still haven't found the reason, so there has never been any closure for me. Worse, I might not be getting the treatment I need to prolong my lifespan. It's terrifying when considering that possibility in full, so I've had no choice but to put it out of my mind. I stopped taking a lot of things about how I'm still alive for granted, but I've actually had start taking many of them for granted again, because if I didn't I would become completely paralyzed by fear for entire days. I had to find the balance between worrying about every potential cause of death I could face within the next hour causing desperation and expending my time being unproductive. I did at least have a few positive outcomes since then. If it weren't for the constant pain and fear I don't think I would have changed my diet and started exercising as much as I did. The exercise was reassuring in a sense because the pain wasn't correlated with how strenuous it was. But now I try to be more wary about what I put in my body. I just hope it ends up mattering in the end. I wish I didn't have to worry about dying suddenly so often.
    - Jayschwa 5y ago
      It might be worth going to a gastroenterologist to check on acid reflux. I was in a similar boat a couple years ago. Sharp chest pains out of nowhere. Heart stuff was ruled out by a cardiologist. I then had an endoscopy which confirmed something was out of whack with the sphincter between my esophagus and stomach, causing strong heartburn. After taking some heavy acid reducers for a few months, it managed to heal up and has been fine ever since. I can relate to the anxiety though. It was pretty intense at times and I had trouble sleeping or focusing on anything else. Hang in there.

nonbirithm 5y ago

I'm also young and have had mild to moderate chest pain (stabbing) that comes in bursts and can last hours. This was after what I thought was a cardiac event in February of 2019, a year before the pandemic, when I suddenly started feeling lightheaded and seeing stars, but the EMS said nothing was wrong. Before that moment I never had any chest pain, and it still comes back to this day occasionally. I must have had an ECG a dozen times since then. I ordered a barrage of tests up to a heart ultrasound and a stress test, and nothing came of it all. I was frequently told it was unlikely anything was wrong because of my age. It was a miserable period of my life, not knowing if I was going to survive to the next day. The pain is always on the left side of my chest and has fluctuated around various regions of it. Recently it became worse again after taking Adderall, which raised my heart rate, so I still suspect something is wrong with my heart, but it seems that after a year of stressful hospital visits and no definitive answers, I've exhausted everything that would have given me a diagnosis at this point.

Kognito 5y ago
Sorry to hear about all that. I know it can be incredibly anxiety-inducing having any heart related issues, particularly at a young age when it's the last thing on your mind. Frustratingly, it sounds like you've done everything you can. The ECG is extremely sensitive to any change in heart function so that's positive if it's showing normal results (was the only indicator for me - other than an MRI). Obviously you're still experiencing some symptoms, but between the ultrasound and stress test, they'd have seen if there were any structural abnormalities or any issues with function, valves, blockages, etc - so perhaps that's some reassurance. Not to belittle from your experience in the slightest, but I wonder if you've considered other causes? Easy to think the worst but a surprising number of people end up in the ER suspecting heart attacks with only bad cases of heartburn (acid-reflux). Panic attacks are another common one. I only mention these as I think the anxiety and panic I experienced due to the stress was probably worse than the actual condition.
- nonbirithm 5y ago
  It's not belittling; I was considering much the same. My conclusion is that I definitely had anxiety during all those episodes, and the anxiety made the symptoms worse to some extent. My first panic attacks I ever experienced were caused by the symptoms early on when I had no evidence this was going to become chronic and relatively benign. I would be relieved if I could explain away my symptoms as mere hypochondria or acid reflux. But I persisted for a while in the face of that because I felt that my body was trying to tell me something. Pain is a mechanism we've evolved with to indicate various abnormalities. I was willing to bet there was a reason behind the pain, instead of it serving no purpose whatsoever, and especially because this concerned the region where my heart was located, I felt it was urgent, since my heart is one thing that has to function for me to stay alive. My unresolved anxiety is that I still haven't found the reason, so there has never been any closure for me. Worse, I might not be getting the treatment I need to prolong my lifespan. It's terrifying when considering that possibility in full, so I've had no choice but to put it out of my mind. I stopped taking a lot of things about how I'm still alive for granted, but I've actually had start taking many of them for granted again, because if I didn't I would become completely paralyzed by fear for entire days. I had to find the balance between worrying about every potential cause of death I could face within the next hour causing desperation and expending my time being unproductive. I did at least have a few positive outcomes since then. If it weren't for the constant pain and fear I don't think I would have changed my diet and started exercising as much as I did. The exercise was reassuring in a sense because the pain wasn't correlated with how strenuous it was. But now I try to be more wary about what I put in my body. I just hope it ends up mattering in the end. I wish I didn't have to worry about dying suddenly so often.
  - Jayschwa 5y ago
    It might be worth going to a gastroenterologist to check on acid reflux. I was in a similar boat a couple years ago. Sharp chest pains out of nowhere. Heart stuff was ruled out by a cardiologist. I then had an endoscopy which confirmed something was out of whack with the sphincter between my esophagus and stomach, causing strong heartburn. After taking some heavy acid reducers for a few months, it managed to heal up and has been fine ever since. I can relate to the anxiety though. It was pretty intense at times and I had trouble sleeping or focusing on anything else. Hang in there.