Heart Problem Or No Heart Problem? Posted: 02-03-04 06:45am
Hello, in april last month I was forced to
go to accident and emergency because of
what I felt was a racing heart beat. At
the time I had a quick blood test and egc
done which was fine. And whenever I had
my pulse checked it was normal. Leading
me to think that maybe it wasn’t beating
faster just felt like it was. However a
month later I had the same symptoms and
also now pains on both sides of my chest,
lasting a few seconds either stabbing or
just a mild ache. The doctor told me
these were chest membrane pains and not
related to my heart.
I have been to a cardiologist who did
blood tests, pictures or my heart and a 24
hour monitor. The blood tests were fine,
the pictures were fine but on the 24 hour
monitor my heart rate increased to 120
from 72 every couple of hours, but kept to
a normal rhythm. This didn’t happen when
I was asleep. He said this pointed to
stress and tried to give me beta blockers
which I refused.
I have a few questions though- firstly
when taking the pictures it felt very
uncomfortable and I almost had to ask them
to stop, when it should have been
painless- any idea’s what this could be.
Could this slight pressure on my chest
have triggered a problem or was it just
because I didn’t like hearing and seeing
my heart beat?
Secondly-my skin around my nipple vibrates
every time my heart beats-should my heart
be beating strongly enough to do this.
Finally-do you think this is all stress
and not a heart problem? At the same time
my cardiologist has organised a stress
test which would suggest he isn’t
convinced its just stress?
Thanks for your help!
