I’m 16 years old and think I have a serious heart problem?
hii, everyone!
i’m a 16 year old female, and up until 2 weeks ago i was healthy and lived a pretty normal life. i’m 5′2, 116 pounds (which i think is pretty good for my age). i don’t smoke, drink, or abuse drugs and i don’t drink anything with alot of caffeine.
so yeah, about 2 weeks ago i started having these really weird heart palpitations. what i mean is, it feels as if my heart beat is beating way too hard and heavy, ALL the time. my pulse is usually 72 bpm, which is pretty good, but i’m at a loss at how all this freaky sh*t happened.
when i look at my chest, it looks and feels as if my heart is gonna jump out any minute. it scares me to death.
i’m also having these symptoms:
-Constant hard, heavy heartbeat
-Feeling as if i’m not getting enough oxygen when i breath
-More hair loss than usual
-Chest pain and discomfort
-Anxiety, worry, and stress
-Dry mouth
-Lightheadedness, dizziness
-Difficulty sleeping, eating, and concentrating
i’ve seen two doctors. had 3 blood tests done and 2 EKG’s done. results on the first EKG were abnormal, but i was extemely nervous. but the other one was fine. also had an ultrasound done, and cardiologist said everything looked fine. but i feel like something is seriously wrong with me.
i also had some recent flu/fever-like symptoms. i had a yucky feeling in my throat and felt as if something was swollen in my throat. i asked my dad to look at my throat, and he said it looked larger than normal.
i’m really worried about my health but my parents say i’m imagining things and that i’m a hypocondriac. AND that i’m just suffering from extreme anxiety. but i’m sure that there is something physically wrong with me. i’m also taking atenolol for my heart, but i’m not sure whether it’s helping me or not.
i get to see my heart doctor in two weeks for a stress test and i get to wear a holtor monitor for 24 hours. i wish my parents would take me to the hospital or something but they won’t, and i’ve never been so scared in my life. so basically i won’t be getting any medical attention for at least two weeks.
any ideas as to what might be wrong with me and causing all these weird symptoms? i just want my normal life back and to actually feel decent again. any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated. everyone says it’s anxiety but i REALLY don’t think that’s what’s causing everything. please help if you again! ^_^
thanks to all you guys for your help and advice!! i know there’s a chance that it might be anxiety, but that doesn’t make what i’m feeling any less real. i just hope that i’ll be ok.
it’s just so weird cause all of my symptoms seemed to have just suddenly happened! i mean i was totally fine and healthy two weeks ago. i’d rather it be mental than physical LOL!! =]
thanks again, you guys!! i’m always here if you guys need help with your problems too!!
P.S. my first doctor that i saw did prescribe atenolol for me, because she said my blood pressure and pulse were a bit high. but then again i was REALLY nervous. the next day after i saw her, i saw a cardiologist. he said i can continue to take it. but when he checked my vitals, pulse and blood pressure were fine. so i guess i’ll keep taking it until my doc says i don’t need it. even as right now, i can feel my heart beating hard and heavy and my breathing is all weird. i’m not even nervous about anything. i fee like i’m trapped in a little ‘box’ or something. it really sucks.
P.S. AGAIN LOL!!
after i wake up from sleeping or a nap, my heart beats pretty fast and my heart beats even harder and heavier than normal. i just hope i eventually recover from all this weirdness lol!! ^_^
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August 20th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
female hair loss
it’s hard to say, i mean it could all be stress and anxiety. every person has their own ways of dealing with it, and if u feel you need to go to the hospital, dial 911 yourself and get the attention you need! you do not need your parents approval to get help for your health.
August 22nd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
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First off, stop worrying. I know it might be hard but if the Drs haven’t found anything then try not to think about it. I’ve heard that if you really believe that something is wrong with you(when it’s not) that you could develop symptoms for it. I wouldn’t call that a hypochondriac. Wait to see what the stress test shows before you start to worry.
August 25th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Kansieo.com
sorry, i think it is anxiety. all the symptoms u describe are what i had.
im fine, i thought i was going to die. no messing. but i am not too bad now. i got my heart checked and it was fine. your worrying too much hun.
relax and take deep breaths. u will be ok
August 28th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
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go to your clinic…they’ll tell you what you have…i used to have chest pains but they told me all it was, was a pulled muscle (maybe you pulled a muscle too?)
August 28th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
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First of all, the anxiety you’re feeling is not helping at all. This could be just a typical anxiety attack. However, why are you taking atenolol?
Do you have high blood pressure…or do you suffer from angina…(heart pain)…and did your doctor prescribe this for your symptom. If he did, then you need to get another opinion. You don’t prescribe medicine for symptoms without KNOWING what is wrong….and apparently they don’t. This may lead me to believe you have high blood pressure. But then again, they did check that, I’m sure.
I’ve had an anxiety attack before…and your symptoms sound very familiar. Don’t stop seeking medical advice until YOU completely understand what’s happening… I would suggest a specialist.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:58 pm
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Your symptoms could easily be from panic/anxiety disorder, and people telling you to relax and calm down, will not help you.
They also could be from an irregular heartbeat. Here’s my experience:
One day I woke up with my heart feeling all jumpy and quivery, I was sweating, short of breath, dizzy, and anxious. Turns out I was experiencing an episode of atrial fibrillation. Which made me start having panic attacks over the worry that I was having a heart attack.
After educating myself on A. Fib, I realized that while this is really really scary while it’s happening, it’s mostly a benign condition, that’s just inconvenient.
Some people stay in A. Fib, continuously, and never have a normal rhythm, and they live long lives.
You had an abnormal EKG, find out what was abnormal about it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to your doc. The more you know, the less scared you will be.
Edit: I totally missed the Atenolol – you could be experiencing side effects from starting this drug too.
They call it Panic/Anxiety disorder because it just comes on for no reason at all, you could be sitting outside relaxing and have a panic attack.
September 2nd, 2009 at 6:07 am
Kansieo.com
If you had anything wrong, it would’ve been seen in the EKG, blood tests, and definitely the ultrasound.
I mean, the ultrasound looks at your heart. If it was physically beating abnormally, they would have been able to tell from the exam. And you’ve had EKG’s to test for other abnormalities in the beat itself. What’s more, a serious heart problem can usually be diagnosed from something as simple as listening with a stethoscope. So, if you’ve had all these other tests done, trust me, they would have found something.
I know you’ve heard this a lot, but probably 95% of your symptoms are in your head. There’s actually a condition called conversion disorder, where your brain actually makes your otherwise healthy body sick because you’re thinking so hard that something is wrong.
Everyone’s heart feels heavy and hard if you focus on it. I can do that right now, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was having some sort of coronary. The same goes with your chest pain and discomfort. Did you know chest pain can also be caused by indigestion and gas? It can cause pain as far up as the level of your heart and lungs. And also, if you focus a lot on your breathing, of couse you’re going to feel like you’re not getting enough, because you worry, then invent all sorts of things that you think are wrong with you, which causes your breathing to increase, which causes more anxiety…it’s a downward spiral.
I also get the swollen throat feeling if I start thinking about it. But you know why I know nothing’s wrong? Because when I don’t think about it, it feels fine. So there’s obviously a connection between thinking about it and feeling it. You’re probably the same way.
It really sounds like you’re having panic attacks. You don’t just have anxiety, you’re getting full-blown attacks. These cause dizziness, shortness of breath, and a general feeling like you’re going to die in a matter of minutes. I get these ALL the time, a lot more when I was your age. You’re in the prime age of developing anxiety.
What I suggest doing is seeing a counselor. My attacks got bad enough that I had to do this, and it’s helped a lot. My counselor actually said that I have a type of OCD, because I KNOW these thoughts of impending death are irrational (because I can work out fine, walk up stairs fine, feel fine otherwise, and am a healthy 20 year-old), but I can’t do anything to stop them, which is CLASSIC OCD. She recommended I read a book on how to control obsessive thoughts like this, and it really, really helped (and also made me see how bad the OCD was). Try scheduling an appointment with one if you can.
Believe me, you’re fine. You’ve had all sorts of tests, and you’re going to have more, and just like the others, they’ll all say that you’re healthy and normal. And tests like these don’t lie. If you had a heart problem, you would know about it.
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:58 pm
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It’s all severe stress and anxiety. I went through the same thing. From heart, lungs, gastro, back, etc. I thought I was going to die I had everything checked out multiple times and everything was normal, well guess what I’m still here. Then I learned about stress and anxiety and how it can affect your body’s health. Stress can actually kill, stress and anxiety can affect your body’s natural rhythm and induce health problems. So first thing is first quit worrying. Second start exercising, a lot, and start doing things that eat up all your time so basically all you have time for is sleeping and eating. Eat healthy at that and avoid all caffeine that only makes things much worse. You might want to start taking St. Johns Wort three times a day. Remember if you are wanting to run to the hospital then it is probably stress and anxiety, if you drop to your knees in pain and can’t breathe or pass out and someone has to call 911 for you then it is a real health problem. If you can feel the pain by touch then it is external if you can’t then it is internal. You may have a OCD disorder as well just with your health though. Talk about it to someone that helps a lot, a friend, a family member, a therapist, etc. You are real young health problems are real rare for someone your age especially your heart. It takes years for a heart to develop problems such as plaque build up etc. and youth heart problems are usually discovered at birth or a young age. Relax, breathe deep in your nose and out your mouth real long and slow 10 times do it over and over until you feel relaxed. I hope this helps. The best thing that helped me was learning how to not be scared to die. You may want to find some sort of religion or spirituality and look into Eastern medicine practices as well. Meditation helps as well. You may need to try all these things to relieve some of the symptoms. Keep your head up and keep a positive attitude. In the end we are all going to end up in the same place, some of us will just get there having fun and some of us will get there miserably.
September 4th, 2009 at 4:08 am
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