Lightheaded, heart murmur!!

[tbourner]

Hi guys,

N00bie here, sorry I haven't posted in the new members section, but I've been reading some posts (3rd post on this thread was helpful!) and thought I'd just get stuck in with some questions!

I'm 26, pretty healthy or so I thought, but about a year or 2 ago I started getting very lightheaded. It seemed to start after eating at a Chinese restaurant, we thought I was allergic to squid or something. Anyway the last 6 months or so it's gotten worse and more frequent, and I also seem to have become a lot more squeamish than I used to be. I never had trouble with gore or hospitals or anything, but when my mum broke her wrist and I was in with her I went white and nearly passed out after looking at the x-rays! Now I feel dizzy if people talk about 'sick' things. I've tried finding any other link or cause for when the dizzy spells happen, but it seems pretty random, I can't link it to what I eat/drink, where I am, what I'm doing, what I'm looking at or anything.
So I went to the GP.

The first blood pressure test she did came out at 197/112!!!!!! Clearly she was alarmed, but retests came out lower each time, my dad suffered from white coat hypertension so I'm guessing I have the same. I've got a home monitor and over a 2 week period it averaged about 135/80.
Blood test came back clean (although she didn't do thyroid, so could still be that). I nearly passed out after the blood test as well BTW.
ECG and more BP checks came back clear.
Got sent to a Cardiology Consultant on Monday, he checked me over, asked me the usual, then sat me down and said I have a heart murmur, from the way he was checking it I guess it was a quiet one though. I've done completely the wrong thing and done my own research on them now (it's a guy thing I think), so now I'm worrying about it, waiting for a letter for an appointment for an ultra sound and 24hr BP monitor now, he said it could be valves damaged in my heart, or could just be brought on by stress whilst in the hospital and goes away outside!

So anyway, I'm off work for 2 weeks after an ingrown toe nail op, this is the second week, had no dizzyness last week but last night and today I'm feeling lightheaded again. Maybe because I'm due back at work next week - I wonder if the doctor can sign me off as 'allergic to work' with full pay?


So, I'm going to try some breathing exercises (7/11?) see if that helps, I've never had a dizzy spell when reading before sleep, so maybe a lie down and a book for this afternoon might help. Also might try going out on my bike this afternoon, as with my toe having been bandaged I've been doing zero exercise for 2 weeks! Anyone else had similar can put my mind at rest a bit?

Thanks for listening.

[janeybaby25]

Hi Trev, I have a heart murmer too but I was born with mine. Please feel free to PM me with any queries you may have. xxxx

[Cathy V]

Hi there Trev, i wasnt born with a heart murmer but was told i had one after the birth of my first son when i was 19, but it went away of its own accord, and although ive suffered from anxiety with missed heartbeats most of my adult life, and had various ecg's and seen various cardios, theyve never mentioned any murmers since that time.

Hope you can talk to janeybabey and others who know more about them to put your mind at rest.

Take care
cathy xxx

[tbourner]

He said it's unlikely to be anything bad, and the murmur is most likely because of white coat hypertension. the ultra sound will tell us if there's anything else wrong.
I just wondered if anyone else had dizzy spells and a heart murmur, whether it CAN be stress related and then I can focus on that rather than thinking about the physical problems that might cause it!!

[tbourner]

Hi Trev, I have a heart murmer too but I was born with mine. Please feel free to PM me with any queries you may have. xxxx

I think I'm just thinking the worst, I had a friend who I did my apprenticeship with, at the age of 22 he keeled over at work on a Thursday, went to hospital and eventually got sent home. Then on the Saturday his mum and sister came home to find him dead on the sofa!! Apparently he had a heart defect that nobody knew about.
Now obviously I'm thinking what if that's what I've got!!

Incidentally, I've just been reading up on breathing exercises, and realised that because I'm always holding my stomach in I never breath from my diaphragm. And I'd always though that you should breath deep (like in Yoga) and exhale quite quickly. Maybe I need more CO2!!

[gtrgrl3369]

I also have a heart murmur and have had it since I was 3. I dont ever remember getting lighheaded from it but I do get lighheaded from anxiety. I still get it ocassionally. My heart murmur can be heard by listening to my chest and shows up on their machines. I have had every test known to man done when my anxiety first started and that is all it was anxiety. I would not worry about the heart problem that your riend had. If they havet heard anything or seenanything I would chalk it up to anxiety. It can do strange things to us. Please do not gogle anything it only makes things worse. Good for you for learning how to breathe properly, that helped me alot. My lightheaded, dizzyness is about gone now, I find I only get it now when I am exhausted. Take care and I hope this all works for you.

[tbourner]

Bringing back an old thread here.


I had an ultrasound eventually, and never heard anything and never asked for another appointment - so I'm hoping nothing bad was found!!



Other priorities took over, namely my cure which seems to have been the little bundle of fluff we brought home on December 27th (my birthday, which is nice):






He's now been with us for 10 weeks, and he'll be 19 weeks old on Monday, some history here:

http://lokiblog.weblog.com


His name is Loki and he seems to have cured me of the worst of my panic attacks, I still get flustered and need to have set routines but generally I'm a lot better than I was. Just got a bicycle as well so I'll start getting some exercise when this cold is gone!





So for those wanting a miracle cure, get a dog!!