My chest has felt tight for several days now, what's wrong?

Question

(I'm 22, by the way)
last week the doctor told me that my blood pressure was too high, that it was pre-hypertensive. around sunday my chest started to feel tight. I've been dizzy, short of breath and pretty tired for the most part (although often I do not sleep as much as I should). Am I look at a serious heart disease? or do I just need to change my life style?

I should note that, I've been a pretty healthy person for the most part. (aside from asthma and a few bouts of tachycarida when I was younger). Up until 3 months ago I exercised regularly and tried to eat fairly healthy meals.

Answer 1

The moment anyone even mentions chest pain on this forum a bunch of people freak and suggest you call 911 and/or go to the ER for immediate evaluation. The problem is that I doubt most people answering have any idea what true cardiac symptoms are or what to look for - which begs the question why they are answering in the first place?

What are the prime cardiac risk factors? Hypertension, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, family history of pre-mature heart disease, and age over 65.

What are your risk factors? "pre-hypertension" is not hypertension. Though you didn't say, I would guess therefore that your risk factors are zero. While not impossible to have heart disease at 22, you really have to work at it. There are the exceptions of people born with heart abnormalities/conditions and die on the practice field. In every case they were exerting beyond normal everyday activities.

How does heart disease typically present? Chest fullness or tightness associated with activity and relieved with rest is the classic presentation. Emotional upset can also be a precipitating factor. Chest pain from your heart does not go on for days without worsening with intensifying symptoms - profuse sweating, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, and a sense of impending doom are common.

Variants to chest discomfort are neck/jaw discomfort, shoulder, arm, elbow discomfort, burning central chest pain, mid-scapular pain among others. Cardiac chest pain is nearly always comes with shortness of breath.

So your description gives us a couple of clues:
1. You sound very worried about unlikely events. That may imply that you are an anxious person. Panic attacks can present with seemingly very concerning symptoms but do not evolve to more serious things.
2. You don't mention it but your symptoms do sound asthmatic.
If I were a betting man, I would put my dollar on one or both of the above diagnoses.

I would make an appointment with my family doctor to discuss the matter. If your breathing gets labored do go to the ER as asthma is not anything to mess around with either.

Finally to answer you question about lifestyle. Yes! Regardless of what you discover from this event, adjust you lifestyle now to incorporate healthy choices. Exercise, eating right, adequate sleep, moderate alcohol, and no smoking are all choices that will pay dividends for years and years to come.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Chest Feels Tight

Answer 3

Drop Blood Pressure Below 120/80

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Chest Is Tight

Answer 6

If you are hurting - GO TO HOSPITAL NOW - or call an ambulance. If you are not and your doctor has checked you out then ...

First of all relax. Stress will not help you.

Go back to your doctor and talk about your pains and about developing a plan to get back to life fitness.

Other tips:

Sleep - 8 hours
Cut out caffeine - BIG issue
Cut out salt
Watch your food and slowly change it to what you know it should be
Don't eat after 19:00
Cut out fizzy drinks
if you don't already, start to exercise ... nothing serious - just walk
Go through your address book - call ten friends and arrange to meet them for lunch, dinner, cinema - anything?
Book a holiday
Do volunteer work
Live your life ...

Now go take a bath, stop worrying ...

Answer 7

GO TO THE DOCTOR

chest pain, tightness, fatigue, shortness of breathe are ALL signs of a HEART ATTACK. Sometimes people can have heart attacks without really knowing it, you could be having a minor one now.

Heart disease is also genetic, and every body metabolises food differently. Just because you think you eat healthy adn exercise - you can still get clogged arteries, high blood pressure, etc. PLEASE SEE THE DOCTOR AGAIN, or call 911 if you are worried.

Answer 8

well to me sounds like a mild asthma attacke, im having thar right now..but it could also be stress an anxiety that will cause the same symptoms, and i would imagine your pretty stressed if your doc told you your blood pressure is high...i wouldn't imagine just from those symptoms it isn't heart disease...try calming down and staying calm for a while, doing something to keep your mind off stuff see if it improves.

Answer 9

You're kidding right.

You're describing a heart attack and you could die. No one can tell you otherwise over the internet.

Other posibilities; drug abuse, anxiety disorder, esophageal spasm, pneumonia, pulmonary emboli, on and on

Answer 10

go to the doctor and get it checked out it could be serious or it could be your life style