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heart problem 43 year old man

By jules32 | 4 posts, last post
Chris Smith, MD answered this What Does Heart Pain Mean In A Young Patient?
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jules32

I am a 43 year old man.  Recently I have been experiencing heart flutters.  My chest has also felt tight and my eyes blacked out.  I have been to visit my gp and he sending me to the hospital for a check up. I am very worried about this as I have three small children and want to be here to see them grow up.
The thing that is really bothering me is that my dad had the same thing, and the doctors couldn't diagnose it, unfortunately he died with a heart attack at 63.
Can anyone please advise me??

Please help!!


Thanks


Lee

bambi27109793

Hi Lee! Women usually get this at your age - it is from hormones - and I know that men have the same irregularity with their hormones around this time too! It can happen after drinking caffeine, alcohol, having your teeth done, lack of sleep, certain times of the month, stress - any of the things that cause a rise in your BP and or stimulants! So start writing down when you get them and what you were doing before - if you can see a correlation between the 2, then this will enable you to cut that thing out!

NOW! the way I see it is to ALWAYS err on the side of caution - especially when it is your heart! IF you get tightness in your chest, pain in your left arm, neck, shoulder, you phone 911/999 immediately! DON'T drive yourself to the hospital! 

The good thing here is you have gone to see your GP - where many men, just wave it off and don't worry about it! - so you are going to be seen - probably a stress test, cardiogram, EKG and possible ultrasound of the heart too! The might even give you a heart monitor halter to wear for several days - to give a good reading! You know when you phone for a doctors appointment with a pain and get there and it's gone? The halter will show for 3 or 4 days what is going on!

In the mean time, try not to focus too much on it, and ask your friends if they feel like this from time to time! And REALLY take a look at what preludes these events! One other thing, are you sure it is your heart that is fluttering and not your other aorta - the one from the stomach - some people get the 2 mixed up and it feel SO close together!

As I mentioned keep an eye on it and DON'T wave it off! I would rather you go a hundred time by ambulance then not at all! Better to be safe ALWAYS! And look at your dads life - was he a smoker, in a high stress job, poor eating habits, heavy drinker, obese etc. Sometimes heart problems are hereditary, but most of the time it is lifestyles! And doesn't mean you will get it too!

Please let me know how you make out at the hospital! Good luck and health!
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jules32

Thanks so much for all the brilliant advise.  I will let you know how I get on at the hospital and what they say.
Thanks again.  You have put my mind at ease.


Lee:-)
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subscribed mark

Hi Bambi, it's your old buddy njoy. :-S

I'm not here to criticize, so don't go looking for your baseball bat to fix me. I just felt the need to comment on the advice to call 911. it seems that most people don't do that.

When I was in cardiac rehab after having a 6x bypass in 1996, there was a team from Dartmouth that offered us money to come to a meeting and describe our experiences beginning at the point where we decided something was wrong.

There were about 30 of us at the meeting and only one went to the ER in an ambulance. She had been on a cruise ship off the coast of Alaska and they had one meet the ship at the dock. All the rest of us either drove ourselves or had someone drive us. I thought that was quite interesting as I hear them heading for the hospital quite often and I thought they would be carrying critically ill people who desperately needed to get there. Since then I have asked many medical people I have come in contact with about that. It seems the ambulance system has become more of a welfare taxi than an emergency transport system, at least around here.

I drove myself to the ER and brought my wife with me so she could take my car home in case they kept me ---- which they did. The fines for leaving a car in the ER parking lot and getting it towed are more than I can afford.

I live a mile from the ER and the fire house is a mile from my house. When I call 911 I have to go through the lengthy process of giving them all the information they require which they in turn have to relay to the local fire department when they call them to get the ambulance on it's way. Driving directly to the ER I would be in the ER for several minutes by the time the ambulance gets to my house.

Luv ya hun, keep up the good work.

 

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bambi27109793

Hi Buddy! Where we live it is advertised to call 911 - as IF they are in a heart attack then MAJOR problems could arise from that (crashes, injuries or worse)

I agree that people use it far too much, it's a weird thing actually, my dad had to be taken to hospital just this morning (he suffers from heart failure and diabetes) my sister could have taken him, but he was all over the place, and there was no way she could handle him! I suppose it's all down to IF someone is capable of taking you there and handling any situation! This also pertains to births etc.!

A lot of people think that IF they are taken by ambulance they will be seen faster - which usually isn't the case! BUT I truly think that if it's your heart and especially the first time you definitely need to be taken by ambulance!

And I would NEVER hit you with a baseball bat, I would use pepper spray!!!! LOL And I don't take it as criticism, I think of it as added opinions and experiences! Peace ;-)
 
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