Question
Im a 24 yr old male, 205lbs, 6ft, cholesterol 245. I'm a very inactive person for about 4 years now, and I noticed that I can minor activities and be winded and have a fast heart rate that I can feel without putting my hand on my chest, and I also can feel it in my throat and everywhere else where you can feel your pulse. Just by walking up a flight of stairs I get super winded. I've been having recurrent localized left side chest pain for about 2 yrs now. I also have lost of skipped beat feelings. PVC's and PAC's. I've had holter, event monitor, ekgs, blood work, and echo's, all normal besides the pvc's,pac's and svt. My chest pain is on the left side of my chest about an inch and half, to 2 inches with a measuring tape from the center of my left nipple measured straight across towards the middle of my chest. At around 1 1/2 to 2 inches is where the pain always is, and also I will get some pain in my left arm, shoulder and hand. It's like a gripping,pinching, squeezing type of pain. I sometimes get tingly and lightheaded with the skipped beats. I also sometimes will wake up in the middle of the night with the pain, and like forceful heartbeats, and shortness of breath, and it will feel like I ran 10 miles and I will check my pulse and it will seem really slow. I've seen many cardiologist and they seem to not think its heart. 1. What could cause that type of pain, and the nature of it, does it sound cardiac? 2. What could cause the feelings I have when it wakes me during the night? 3.What about the skipped beats, what could cause that, heart problems? 4.I'm scared of v-fibb for some odd reason, whats the chances of that? This all seems to get extremely worse when I'm away from medical care and I get anxious, but it happens everyday even when Im around medical care. Its an EVERYDAY thing, some days worse than others. When I drink I tend to not feel it, but the next days worse, and thats usually the nights it'll wake me up in the middle of the night, after I lay down and go to bed after drinking alot. I can't reproduce the pain by pressing on the area either. Thanks so much! I also notice that EVERYNIGHT I have really vivid dreams and nightmares, and I can remember them to a T, like I'm never really sleeping, I'm always in that dream/nightmare stage, and they will wake me up and my heartbeat will feel weird and I have shortness of breath, and the mild left side chest pain. Could sleep apnea cause that?/??
Answer
First of all bad sleep apnea causes your heart to literally stop, as well as awaken with shortness of breath, but the shortness of breath and chest pain during the day is a no no, that is cardiac at which time you need to see a better cardiologist for more intricate heart workup. Also heaviness plays a major role in all of this as well as high cholesterol, you could have clogged arteries and may need a cardiac catherization to confirm. Understand Im not a doctor but a respiratory therapist with narcolepsy, now the nightmares and dreams this i have a definite answer for, they are called hypnanagogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis, its natural normal phenomenon when it happens once in awhile, but with people with sleep apnea or narcolepsy, its a symptom but more so with narcolepsy. The brain and body are supposed to awaken together and fall asleep together however there is a nano second lag so one is dreaming with ones eyes open dreams are so frightening but your body is paralyzed yet brain awake or visa versa, sometimes the nightmares are so real that half hour after you are literally up you still are checking for the man chasing you or the monster. For this antidepressants are given to hold back the rapid eye movement in your sleep cycle, however we all must dream so after it builds up some will still push thru, however if you are so badly sleep apnic, i do hope you use cpap if not you need to have a sleep study at once to see as sometimes sleep apnics people can also have narcolepsy. Your local hospital can refer you to one, also take cholesterol medicine to get the cholesterol under control, and keep in close contact with a cardiologist , lose weitht will also help sometimes as little as 5 pounds. Go to sleepnet.com click on disorders sleep apnea or go to sleep apnea.com and cpap.com feel free to email again karel
