Hello everyone,
I'm glad to have found this forum, and hopefully it will help me getting better mentally. I'm a 45 year old male who got hit by the anxiety hammer 13 years ago out of nowhere. At that time I was on vacation with my ex-wife, and we were going through some difficult times (although nothing to crazy). While strolling in Kuala Lumpur I suddenly felt like I was going to drop dead right in the middle of the street. Crazy anxiety at night, fear of dying, etc. My personality has always been to 'deal with it', so that's what I did. Throughout the next years there were good years (months) and bad ones. I've seen a psychologist for a year, but I really felt that never helped. Have never been on prescription medication, although I tried a wide variety of OTC pills without much success. I'm a non-smoker, socially active drinker (I admit, sometimes too much wine), am in good shape (run about 20 miles a week), started to do yoga and cut my caffeine intake in half by switching to half-decaf coffee and full-decaf tea.
Fast forward to November 2016. Had a weird sensation while running - I started to get out of breath. I've had my moments in the past feeling suffocated, but this felt different. So I decided to visit my PCP and she referred me to a cardiologist. The cardiologist did a echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) on me and that's where everything started. Apparently something was off, so I had an entire battery of tests done including cardiac catheterization and a heart MRI. Here's the diagnosis:
Mild left ventricular hypertrophy
EF low normal, estimated at 50-54%.
Grade 1 diastolic dysfunction
Moderate aortic insufficiency
To summarize: a leaking aortic valve that may or may not need replacement down the road. For now the doctor wants me back for yearly check-ups, and he didn't restrict me in any activities including running. My last echocardiogram was done this past December and nothing new showed up. As expected. This past 2 weeks I have been feeling terrible again with chest pain, shortness of breath and now also nausea. You know, the stuff that if you Google it will make you run straight to the ER. However, I went to a local urgent care center to rule out the flu (pneumonia) and they did a ECG because of the symptoms. This showed a T-Wave inversion, and the MD wanted me to visit the ER immediately. Instead, I called my cardiologist, faxed my ECG and his assistant called back and told me not to worry (I figured out Mild left ventricular hypertrophy can cause this).
My next cardiac follow-up is in late April. I'm considering moving it up, but all signs point to nothing serious. But I still have these symptoms.
What do you guys think?
PS- Part of the health anxiety originates from growing up. My father had rheumatoid arthritis, and my mom always was paranoid (and made paranoid remarks) about hoping us never getting it. Even up until today she is obsessed with health (I do love her dearly by the way).
I'm glad to have found this forum, and hopefully it will help me getting better mentally. I'm a 45 year old male who got hit by the anxiety hammer 13 years ago out of nowhere. At that time I was on vacation with my ex-wife, and we were going through some difficult times (although nothing to crazy). While strolling in Kuala Lumpur I suddenly felt like I was going to drop dead right in the middle of the street. Crazy anxiety at night, fear of dying, etc. My personality has always been to 'deal with it', so that's what I did. Throughout the next years there were good years (months) and bad ones. I've seen a psychologist for a year, but I really felt that never helped. Have never been on prescription medication, although I tried a wide variety of OTC pills without much success. I'm a non-smoker, socially active drinker (I admit, sometimes too much wine), am in good shape (run about 20 miles a week), started to do yoga and cut my caffeine intake in half by switching to half-decaf coffee and full-decaf tea.
Fast forward to November 2016. Had a weird sensation while running - I started to get out of breath. I've had my moments in the past feeling suffocated, but this felt different. So I decided to visit my PCP and she referred me to a cardiologist. The cardiologist did a echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) on me and that's where everything started. Apparently something was off, so I had an entire battery of tests done including cardiac catheterization and a heart MRI. Here's the diagnosis:
Mild left ventricular hypertrophy
EF low normal, estimated at 50-54%.
Grade 1 diastolic dysfunction
Moderate aortic insufficiency
To summarize: a leaking aortic valve that may or may not need replacement down the road. For now the doctor wants me back for yearly check-ups, and he didn't restrict me in any activities including running. My last echocardiogram was done this past December and nothing new showed up. As expected. This past 2 weeks I have been feeling terrible again with chest pain, shortness of breath and now also nausea. You know, the stuff that if you Google it will make you run straight to the ER. However, I went to a local urgent care center to rule out the flu (pneumonia) and they did a ECG because of the symptoms. This showed a T-Wave inversion, and the MD wanted me to visit the ER immediately. Instead, I called my cardiologist, faxed my ECG and his assistant called back and told me not to worry (I figured out Mild left ventricular hypertrophy can cause this).
My next cardiac follow-up is in late April. I'm considering moving it up, but all signs point to nothing serious. But I still have these symptoms.
What do you guys think?
PS- Part of the health anxiety originates from growing up. My father had rheumatoid arthritis, and my mom always was paranoid (and made paranoid remarks) about hoping us never getting it. Even up until today she is obsessed with health (I do love her dearly by the way).
