My wife is having chest pains

[GoneForever]

So, she is 25 and has had off and on chest pains here whole life. Her dad was born with a missing valve and also has an enlarged heart and his dad died of a heart attack. So it runs in the family. All the docs at the mayo clinic told her dad to just use a baby asprin and fish oil, so I guess the problem isnt too serious. So anyway, on to my wife now. She has had multiple ekg's and physicals all her life which all came back normal, so clearly she doesnt have the same problem as her dad, but whats odd is she still periodically continues to get chest pains from time to time. She is narrowing them to down to occuring usually when she is stressed or has caffine(coffee/energy drinks) but she doesnt use much of that and it still has happened without those agents. She has had recent bloodwork done and rbcs,hemo,hematocrit,choleserol,etc.. all came back perfect. She also just had an ekg done 2months ago which came back perfect as well. The problem she still gets chest pains around once a month that last a few days. Its not palpitations, but its the actual chest pain. You know when you run sometimes you get that pain in your side, and it hurts to breath in, well thats kinda how she describes it with the chest. So, basically,we all know how many quacks there are for dr's nowadays, so I want her to go in again and get the best of the best done. Is there a test that will tell %100 if anything is wrong, b/c an ekg doesnt seem that good to me. I dont even think they do heart mri's, so what about an echocardiogram? Is that even worth it? If not what do you guys recommend? Thank you all.

 

[maldorf]

They should at least do an echo, that will show abnormalities most of the time. They can also catscan or MRI. Health insurance will fight paying for an MRI, but getting a catscan shouldnt be too hard. Getting an echo done should be easy, im surprised they didnt go one already considering her symptoms and family background. Many times an ekg will be normal, but the echo will show problems.

 

[bhumik]

Yep definitely an echo for valvular deformities. And also a stress test.

 

[bhumik]

What the crap are the doctors doing,, if they havent done an echo yet, after her complaints and family history..

 

[maldorf]

What the crap are the doctors doing,, if they havent done an echo yet, after her complaints and family history..

Yes, it baffles me. This is a routine test that is inexpensive.

 

[bhumik]

Just from the history and stuff. the first thing that comes to my mind is a mitral valve prolapse. Its one fo the most common valvular defect in woman.



Prevalence

Prior to the strict criteria for the diagnosis of mitral valve prolapse, as described above, the incidence of mitral valve prolapse in the general population varied greatly. Some studies estimated the incidence of mitral valve prolapse at 5 to 15 percent or even higher.[3]

As part of the Framingham Heart Study, the prevalence of mitral valve prolapse in Framingham, MA was estimated at 2.4%. There was a near-even split between classic and nonclassic MVP, with no significant age or sex discrimination.[4] Based on data gathered in the United States, MVP is prevalent in 7% of autopsies.[5]

[edit] Signs and symptoms

Some patients with MVP experience heart palpitations, atrial fibrillation, or syncope, though the prevalence of these symptoms does not differ significantly from the general population. Between 11 and 15% of patients experience moderate chest pain and shortness of breath. These symptoms are most likely not caused directly by the prolapsing mitral valve, but rather by the mitral regurgitation that often results from prolapse. In addition, the American Heart Association has linked anxiety and panic attack disorders to mitral valve prolapse.

For unknown reasons, MVP patients tend to have a low body mass index (BMI) and are typically leaner than individuals without MVP.[4] MVP is a frequent occurrence in individuals with the Marfan syndrome.[6]

 

[maldorf]

Just from the history and stuff. the first thing that comes to my mind is a mitral valve prolapse. Its one fo the most common valvular defect in woman.



Prevalence

Prior to the strict criteria for the diagnosis of mitral valve prolapse, as described above, the incidence of mitral valve prolapse in the general population varied greatly. Some studies estimated the incidence of mitral valve prolapse at 5 to 15 percent or even higher.[3]

As part of the Framingham Heart Study, the prevalence of mitral valve prolapse in Framingham, MA was estimated at 2.4%. There was a near-even split between classic and nonclassic MVP, with no significant age or sex discrimination.[4] Based on data gathered in the United States, MVP is prevalent in 7% of autopsies.[5]

[edit] Signs and symptoms

Some patients with MVP experience heart palpitations, atrial fibrillation, or syncope, though the prevalence of these symptoms does not differ significantly from the general population. Between 11 and 15% of patients experience moderate chest pain and shortness of breath. These symptoms are most likely not caused directly by the prolapsing mitral valve, but rather by the mitral regurgitation that often results from prolapse. In addition, the American Heart Association has linked anxiety and panic attack disorders to mitral valve prolapse.

For unknown reasons, MVP patients tend to have a low body mass index (BMI) and are typically leaner than individuals without MVP.[4] MVP is a frequent occurrence in individuals with the Marfan syndrome.[6]

My wife has that and it only showed its symptoms when she was pregnant. I guess it was all of the added body weight that did it, the extra strain on her heart carrying the baby and supplying it too.

 

[MrDeflation]

please go get it checked out..


I know a girl who is 25 years old, complained of chest pains and was diagnosed with Pericardial Effusion --- water on the heart

 

[bhumik]

please go get it checked out..


I know a girl who is 25 years old, complained of chest pains and was diagnosed with Pericardial Effusion --- water on the heart

I think thatts more of an emergency situation.. I dont think the wife would be complaining about pains for her whole life.. if she had pericardial effusions cause its fatal if not corrected ASAP.

 

[buselmo]

i don't have any advice to give, but i just want say that i hope they find out what's wrong, and it doesn't turn out to be something serious. i hope your wife feels better, bro.

 

[path2greatness]

best wishes to you and your wife.

 

[GoneForever]

I've been reading a lot online about chest pains with normal ekg's and many signs point to anxiety. My wife has anxiety pretty bad and was on wellbutrin for a while. She has noticed that the pains occur when she has an event that causes anxiety to rise, like before she gets on a plane or if she is super super stressed out. The pains she gets happen about once every 2months she just told me. And they last less than 5min. But just to play it safe looks like its either an echo or CT. She'll schedule a general prac visit this week and which one should be done.

Btw, she just got new insurance so she cant tell the doc that she has been in before, so anyone have advice on how she can tell the dr. that her dad has the condition. They said on the insurance form to list if any family members have heart conditions, but what if she says she just found out the other day that her dad had a conditon b/c he told her. Therefor she technically wasnt aware of it, can they still screw her for that?

 

[thebrick]

From what you have described, it does sound like it could be stress related. But with her family history, I think I would get a heart echo to be safe, just to rule out any congenital physical abnormalities. EKG's just do not tell you that much. A heart echo is an easy, simple test and not that expensive. Better safe than sorry in my book. The peace of mind is worth it! I cannot believe this has not been done already. Doctors are usually very aggressive in this area.

 

[Big B]

My advice

If you were not satisfied with whatever the doctors told her so far I would strongly recommend you contacting as many hospitals as you can...tell them what you guys experienced and see if a good doctor out there gives you a better answer or a reason to go to.

I hope your wife gets well

 

[Kaiser]

Dude, this is a bodybuilding forum, she needs to consult a specialist, not us meatheads. This is not something to joke around about, and certainly not something that you should listen to our opinions about.

 

[loganb_football]

Like everyone said an echo would be great to reassure your worries... Try and see if you are allowed to look at the echo while it is being done as well. It's pretty amazing to see!

 

[tflexxin]

gotta echo Kaiser here. This is NOT the place to look for advice on this topic. Consult a qualified cardiologist and make them review everything.

 

[GoneForever]

She has an appt tomorrow. She has new insurance so unfortunately she has to say the symptoms have just occured or else they will say its pre existing and you know how fucking disgustingly shady insurance comp's are. So she will probably get the standard ekg but she will call back the next day complaining of more and I told her just to ask the dr. to give her an echo. We are gonna exaggerate her symptoms much more so they do it.

 

[bigtwig]

Push for an echocardiogram for sure, just to rule things out. Sounds more like a chostrochondritis type pain, but never hurts to be sure. IF an echo-cardiogram showed anything abnormal or suspiscious an angiogram would be in order.

bigtwig

 

[wwesr68]

From my numerous medical classes that I went through in EMT training, I know chest pain and Upper Gastrointestinal pain are very hard to tell apart.
What many people self diagnose as chest or "Heart Pain" is often something much less serios. For example, I beleive it's called Plurism, where basically the lung rubbs against the thin layer of tissue that surounds the lung and this causes chest discomfort.That's just one examle.Get it checked out for sure.