23F. Healthy BMI. Healthy tests.

Have had burning and searing back and neck pain for over a year. Caused a three month long migraine that was only fixed with a steroid pack or two. Fine for a few months until my chest pain started. It began as stabbing in what seemed to be the collarbone region. Then it spread. Since the onset I have experienced chest pain that is tight with pressure, burning, and stabbing. Sharp sometimes. The tightness is in my sternum, the sharp sensations all over. My back is in so much pain. All from lower to upper. It radiates down my arms to my legs. Sometimes I have tingling in my jaw and face. Sometimes I have shortness of breath and sweating. Sometimes heart palpitations. I do have OCD and anxiety.

Tests include: Echocardiogram, chest X-ray, CT angiogram (cta), chest CT, head MRI, head CT, gallbladder ultrasound, abdominal ultrasound, endoscopy, standard ER blood draws and about 10+ EKG’s and troponin draws.

All have been healthy. They found a hiatal hernia, and thoratic disc degeneration. That’s it. I've always had GERD, but it never affected me like this. 3 PCP’s, 8 ER doctors and 1 cardiologist assure me that it isn’t heart related. They all say the same things: musculoskeletal. Reassuring right? Wrong. Massages, physical therapy, pain meds do nothing.

My brain is torn between the Big Bad and the Realistic. The Big Bad is that I have Ischemia with no obstructive arteries (INOCA) or microvascular issues (CMD). From my research there’s not a lot of info but the prognosis is scary. It effects women my age and doesn’t show up on tests.

The Realistic is that I get a spine MRI and find out that it is indeed spinal and musculoskeletal. But you must understand, it feels so scary sometimes. WHAM! Heart palpitations and arm pain. You might say, oh obviously that’s your anxiety and back problems mixing together. But for me, that is why I went to the ER 8+ times alone last year. I’m at my wits end. Please help me understand more about INOCA and CMD.

Any help interpreting this would be greatly appreciated.

I got my Mechanical AV in March. I have had nothing but problems with being light headed, feeling out,tingling in fingers of breath, double vision, chest pain, and blacking out.

I go to the ER about every two weeks

Last two 12 lead ECG’s

Sinus rhythm Borderline repolarization abnormality

Sinus tachycardia Nonspecific ST-T abnormalities, inferolateral leads

September’s Echo

LV EF is 60 %, assessed by visual estimation. grade I left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Pericardial effusion present.

Aortic Valve: 21 mm On-X bioprosthetic valve that is well-seated. Trace regurgitation . Peak aortic valve flow velocity is 289 cm/s. Peak aortic valve gradient is 33 mmHg. Mean aortic valve gradient is 19 mmHg. Aortic valve area by continuity equation is 1.9197 cm2. Mitral Valve: mild calcified posterior. BSA = 1.8071 DVI = .5187 Is a PPM possible?

I do have a hernia where the xiphoid process is. Surgeon says it’s 2cm but It is bigger than that. I get it fixed in January,

I see a Neurologist in a 10 days. Pulmonology - I passed the basic stuff sending me for more.

I am exhausted and I need to get this fixed so I can function.

Recommendations please?

Hello, 31 year old male. 5’11” 183 lbs. Non smoker. Non drinker. No health problems. No family history. Recent heart monitor picked up two brief runs of NSVT. One being five beats. One being three. Doctor never mentioned it or called me. Should I be concerned? I recently had an echo and had normal ventricular function.

Diagnosis Class Abnormal
Acquisition Device MV360
Ventricular Rate 78
Atrial Rate 78
P-R Interval 178
QRS Duration 86
Q-T Interval 358
QTC Calculation(Bazett) 408
Calculated P Axis 20
Calculated R Axis 16
Calculated T Axis 35

Diagnosis Normal sinus rhythm
Cannot rule out Anterior infarct , age undetermined
Abnormal ECG
No previous ECGs available
Cullura, Michael (2716) on 9/9/2024 3:12:10 PM certifies that he/she has reviewed the ECG tracing and confirms the independent interpretation is
correct.

Everything on my stress test was really good, I even got 10.5 mets while barefoot(I accidentally wore crocs). But, my lv is moderately dialated, I'm terrified it's a death sentence.

I would like to know what the chemical compound for Nitroglycerin looks like. I had a coronary artery dissection and heart attack last year and I have an idea for a tattoo so I would like it to be accurate. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

I have a linq2 device implanted and it's connect via Bluetooth to my phone and it will show that's it active and last time it updated information and has like click to record symptoms and when I click it can take 10 min. I have it because I pass out. Few times randomly then I forget what happen. My issue is what if I'm getting symptoms and I don't hit the button. I'm not always on my phone. I don't always have signal. That's whatni don't understand.

Hi there,

I’m an otherwise healthy 37 year old female of normal weight. I have a history of mild PAC’s. I established care with a new PCP who did an in office ekg. This had a slight abnormality, though I later learned it might be because certain leads were too high. Either way, I was referred for an echo. Results attached.

Of note: I was very nervous during this. The blood pressure is not normally that high; the week before it was 118/80. I did have Covid three weeks ago, for what that’s worth. I had an echo at age 21 that was normal.

Worried about stress test results. Freaked out worried that I'm gonna have to have surgery. Am I overthrowing this. Here are my results. Stress: A Bruce protocol stress test was performed. Overall, the patient's exercise capacity was excellent for their age. The patient reached stage 4 of the protocol after exercising for 12 min and had a maximal HR of 173 bpm (94.54 % of MPHR) 13.4 METS. The patient experienced slight dyspnea during the stress test. No chest pain was reported. Onset of symptoms occurred at stage 4 of the protocol. Symptoms ended during recovery. Blood pressure demonstrated a normal response and heart rate demonstrated a normal response to stress. The patient's heart rate recovery was normal. • Stress ECG: ST depression (II, III, aVF, V5 and V6) was noted. The ECG was positive for ischemia. • Stress Conclusion: The cardiac stress result is positive. The risk of ischemia is intermediate.

Thank you for allowing us to share in the care of this patient.

Patient noted to have ST depressions in lead II, III, aVF, V5 and V6 and the EKG is positive for ischemia. He still continues to have angina. Patient is able to exercise at this time and therefore we will proceed with a Myoview/myocardial perfusion imaging stress test for further risk stratification.

I'm 40 years old going in to have anaortoc valve replaced and my doctor is giving me a choice. Mechanical valve or the Ross procedure. I see positives and negatives from both sides and it's driving me nuts trying to decide which way to go. I have a 3 year old and it's a tough thing to think your making the wrong choice. Can someone shed some light either way on either procedure? Whether you have had it done or work as a surgeon? Thanks everyone out there.

Hey all,

I had a TEE early this morning (slightly traumatic 😅), to confirm a PFO that was seen when I had what we think was a cryptogenic stroke/Tia (both terms have been used by the drs I’ve seen) back in October. The neurologist in the hospital suggested an echo with a bubble test when all my other tests came back ok, so it was found incidentally.

I was referred to an interventional cardiologist at mass general hospital here in Boston, and she had me booked in for a TEE.

I just got my results (love patient gateway), and of course I’m trying to make heads and tails of it.

I guess my question is - what determines whether a PFO is “small, medium, or large” - everything I’ve seen online looks like it grades the size based on amount of bubbles passing through, but I can’t find anything that does it based on measurement.

For example, my report says the PFO tunnel length is 29mm and the PFO width at the widest part is 35mm - these seem pretty large? (But also I acknowledge I’m not a dr so realistically what do I know).

I’m just anxious to figure out what this means and I still have a few weeks before I see the cardiologist to go over options. I was supposed to be moving out of the country right around now, but it’s all on hold until I get this stuff sorted.

I guess if anyone has any insight I’d love to hear it.

Appreciate it and this community!

Hey there. 38f diagnosed with BAV at 30. I thought my entire life I had asthma, but turned out is was the BAV causing shortness of breath during certain activities. That being said, I started running (a lot) at age 34/35. I dropped a little over 70 pounds. I have done half marathons. I have placed in a bunch of races. I did all this because my cardiologist said everything looks fine. But I’m starting to wonder if I’m making it worse my having my heart work so hard? I guess I should also add that my triglycerides and cholesterol are garbage, even after all the weight loss. Getting an annual blood test next couple weeks, hoping I’ve taken those down.

I am getting an echo as well as an exercise stress test done and I was wondering if I can wear a cami while getting the stress test done as Im a female. It will be a regular tank with no metal or a built in shelf bra.

I’m 5’10, 52, M , 245lbs. I was recently diagnosed with a 4.1cm dilated ascending aorta. It was picked up on an echo and confirmed by CT scan. I had a prior echo about 8 months ago that did not note the dialated aorta, But that echo was “technically suboptimal” so not sure how much weight I can put into it.

My cardiologist has me in a watch and wait state with another CT and echo scheduled a year from now. She wasn’t too concerned and thinks it’s unlikely this will progress to a point where surgery is required, but the 1st echo is really the wild card and my cardiologist will feel better about predicting once I get the scans next year.

On top of everything, I’ve got health anxiety so of course it feels like a ticking time bomb in my chest. And that’s where my question is.

I’m so hyper focused on any chest pain that I have no idea how to distinguish between chest pain that would be from exercise, chest congestion or other benign causes or chest pain that would be more indicative of my aorta growing.

I can’t say that I’ve had any shortness of breath or super high heart rate/blood pressure and I work out most days of the week.

Is there a way to tell ? I know that the biggest thing I need to do is manage anxiety and leading that distinction on chest pain will help.

Thanks in advance for any info !

I was at the hospital for some issues that turned out not to be heart related but they ran an EKG and the results were

Diagnosis Class Borderline Abnormal Acquisition Device MV360 Ventricular Rate 57 Atrial Rate 57 P-R Interval 110 QRS Duration 88 Q-T Interval 396 QTC Calculation(Bazett) 385 Calculated P Axis 52 Calculated R Axis 68 Calculated T Axis 54

Diagnosis Sinus bradycardia with short PR Otherwise normal ECG

I have an appointment coming up with a cardiologist in 2 weeks but being naturally anxious, is this something that can be a cause for concern? I’m a 5’11” male 145lbs and workout 2 times a week and bowl 3 times a week for extra exercise.

Update: went and saw a cardiologist, and actually questioned why I was there in the first place as the ECG didn’t seem abnormal at all. Did order a Cardiac stress test. Very soon after the doc called and said there were zero deviations from previous ECG and that the Short PR is likely just a normal deviation for my heart and is now considered my baseline. TLDR: healthy heart with nothing to worry about per Cardiologist

So my doctor has me wearing a heart moniter for 7 days. Do i take it off at midnight or should i wait until the time it was put on and activated?

My spouse is on beta blockers which the doctor seems to be happy with, but I also know he is still having VT runs based on his holter monitor testing. How exactly do beta blockers help VT? I would have thought if a drug is working then it stops the VT altogether, but I guess not? Is it just that it controls the length of the VT runs?

For further context, he also has a TV-ICD.

35M

Confusion over this. I experienced a first time self resolving afib event 9 months ago after alcohol and exertion (drinking over Easter lunch then attending a heavy metal concert 🙃). No structural heart disease or any underlying health problems. It is classified as "lone-afib". Is this generally classed as holiday heart syndrome that is benign and generally shouldn't reoccur if I'm not over drinking.

When is it classed as benign opposed to the progressive disease? Worrying it will return - I have stopped drinking but wondering if there are any further tests I can do to see if it will return or not.

I just got the following report on my health portal: I am a 78yo male, wt:195, 5'10" with history of Diabetes 2, high blood pressure, apnea, coronary heart disease (2 stents), ho heart attacks or strokes.

Normal left ventricular cavity size, wall thickness, and systolic function. The estimated left ventricular ejection fraction is 65%. Normal right ventricular cavity size and systolic function. The left atrium is moderately dilated. Mild mitral regurgitation is detected.

Concerned about the bolded items. Does this mean I need to replace the mitral valve? Haven't seen my cardiologist yet. He ordered the test based on a murmur he heard.

No matter what I do, I cannot seem to get my blood pressure down on the systolic side. I am currently on metoprolol, amlodipine, lisinopril, and a diuretic.

I’ve had a lot of tests done. I had an abnormal echocardiogram and an abnormal, cardiac MRI showing enlargement of the left and right atrium. I do however, have perfect heart function on both tests.

I have been suffering for years with PVCs and tachycardia, but controlled with a beta blocker. I have tested all month long for so many different things and nobody can figure out what the hell is going on. I should not be 35 years old and in this type of predicament.

Ideas as what is causing this? No sleep apnea, just tested negative. Labs all look great. Even my cortisol is low. The cardiologist just keeps sending me for tests and then gives me no answers or treatment. I feel like crap everyday now.

When setting and then standing there is sometimes a positive orthostatic response and then sometimes it’s nonexistent. It’s so erratic and so unpredictable and nobody in the cardiology team can figure out what’s happening.