Always worried about heart and sudden adult death sydrome!! Please help!!!!

[alwaysworrying19]

Hi

I'm new to this site and so this is my first post. I'm a 19 year old female and since hearing in the local news that a football player died in his sleep at the age of just 31, I have become so worried about dropping down dead or dying in my sleep just like the football player did!! Since then, all I've done is researched the internet for other cases like this and have found out about something called 'Sudden Adult Death' which has worried me so much that I feel like it is going to happen to me or someone close to me. What worries me the most is that the internet says that people who die this way, have no symptoms and just die randomly without any warning. :weep:
I've been to the doctors and told him all about this. He sent me for a ECG which I was nervous about when having it and so the ECG showed up Sinus Tachycardia which the doctor told me was because I was nervous. I asked if this would stop any heart condition from being picked up and he said no. I've had two different doctors listen to my heart and both have said I have no heart condition and I've also had blood tests which came back fine. However, I still convince myself that something is wrong with my heart and I could drop dead any second! Has anyone else ever felt like this? Its starting to take over my life and it's all I can think about each day.
Please anybody with any advice or is in the same situtation please get in touch. Also if anybody knows anything about Sudden Adult Death which may help reassure me, please let me know!
Thanks everyone.

[anthrokid]

Firstly, STOP GOOGLING! It is probably the worst thing someone with anxiety can do to feed their worries. I used to do it all the time, and when I stopped it helped a lot. Contrary to popular belief, sometimes it is better to just not know about some things, especially illnesses :)

Remember, what you've read about is an absolute rarity, and if you've had doctors check out your heart AND you've had an ECG and it's all come back fine, you have nothing at all to worry about in regards to your heart.

Everyone's had worries like this at some stage. I remember worrying myself about the exact same syndrome about this time last year when my anxiety was at it's peak. I was 19 too, coincidentally! Something about entering adulthood maybe? Haha.

Just remember that it is super duper extremely rare, and it generally does happen in people who do have pre-existing conditions, whih you certainly do not :)

My best advice - stay well away from google. Do not search anything you are worried about. Ask someone here if it is something that is immediate, and you'll generally get all the support you need. Also, if its something that is worrying you a lot, get advice from your doctor. Even if you think searching online will help, it really doesn't. I'm no longer suffering from extreme panic and anxiety, just some slight anxiety now, and I even work myself up still if I google things.

:)

[paula lynne]

Hi, My brother-in-law died from SADS at 36. It was because he had an undiagnosed heart defect.
You have had an ECG, which was fine. The sinus tach is because of your anxiety. 2 doctors have also given you the all clear, and your blood tests are fine. You do not have SADS. You really need to trust in the doctors. As the previous poster rightly says, stop googling and break this cycle once and for all. Dr Google is not your friend, dont put trust in him, put trust in the all clear of real doctors.
Best wishes, Paula :)

[alwaysworrying19]

Hi
Thank you to both of you for your replies. I know I shouldn't google things but sometimes I just can't seem to stop myself. From now on, I'm not going to do it!!

It's some relief to me that I'm not going mad and there are other people who suffer with the same anxiety. I go through cycles of worrying about me dying from Sudden Adult Death and then when I have conveinced myself that its unlikely to happen to me, I move it on to a loved one who hasnt been checked out which then caused my panic again! If I knew there were some symptoms of this, then it may help put my mind at ease a little. Do these people who die from Sudden Adult Death have any symptoms before they die and do they have family history of this or heart conditions?

I just wish I could get over this fear. It never bothered me before and just by hearing a story on the news caused the panic in me. It seems to affect people who play alot of sport and put extra pressure on their hearts. Is that true?

[alwaysworrying19]

Thanks Paul for your reply. I've only had 1 ecg done and blood tests. I've never had a echo so would any heart condition still be picked up on an ecg? From what I've read, they are trying to get all teenagers who play competitive sport to have an ECG to help prevent these deaths so surely they are reliable to detecting heart conditions.

Also would a doctor know if something was wrong with the heart just from listening to the heart and pulse?

[anthrokid]

Good to hear you're going to steer clear of nasty google :)

An ECG would definitely pick up on a heart condition. Doctors can also tell if there may be heart problems from listening to your heart and from pulses. For example, I was at the doctor yesterday for the first time in 6 months, and she took my blood pressure, pulse, etc and told me she had to listen to my heart because my blood pressure was very low and my pulse was high and she was worried about heart murmurs. She listened for a bit and gave me the all clear. Nice, strong heart :)

I think you may find the reason that more sports people seem to be affected by SADS could be that some may already have existing heart conditions (which are generally not very dangerous) but when they add a lot of strain from vigorous exercise, they can do damage without realising.

It's difficult to say whether such people do hve symptoms before they die, because you find that in sportsmen they tend to ignore a lot of pain and abnormalities in their bodies as 'just another sports injury'. In other cases, I suppose there may be symptoms, but it is hard to tell because it is such a rare occurance. Symptos would likely be different for each person depending on their bodies and underlying medical conditions.

[alwaysworrying19]

Good to hear you're going to steer clear of nasty google :)

I think you may find the reason that more sports people seem to be affected by SADS could be that some may already have existing heart conditions (which are generally not very dangerous) but when they add a lot of strain from vigorous exercise, they can do damage without realising.

It's difficult to say whether such people do hve symptoms before they die, because you find that in sportsmen they tend to ignore a lot of pain and abnormalities in their bodies as 'just another sports injury'. In other cases, I suppose there may be symptoms, but it is hard to tell because it is such a rare occurance. Symptos would likely be different for each person depending on their bodies and underlying medical conditions.


Thats what I thought. Do you how many people die from SADS each year by any chance?

[anthrokid]

I have no idea, I assume it would be very low though.

[alwaysworrying19]

O right. When I've been reading up about it in the past, I've seen a figure of 500 people in the UK. So when you think about how many people live in the UK, it doesnt seem too many does it??
How do you think I could get rid of these thoughts and stop the worrying about it happening to a loved one? I know I'm not looking on google anymore so this should help but what else could I do?

[alwaysworrying19]

Also do you know if SADS run in families? Sorry about all the questions! I just want to feel normal again if you see what I mean :(

[anthrokid]

500 is a very low number. The estimated population in the UK is about 618,000,000. This means that it would end up being 0.0000008% of people or something ridiculous! So maybe if you think about it in those statistics instead of numbers.

[anthrokid]

I have no idea whether it runs in families or not, sorry.

[alwaysworrying19]

The odds are tiny then!
Thank you for all your help today! You have helped to put my mind at rest about it abit and helped me realise it really isnt worth worry about so much. :)

[anthrokid]

You're very welcome :) Good luck! Just remember, think statistics and noooo more google!

[blueangel]

I've just looked a couple of bits up on your behalf as well - Amiee's figure of 500 per year is about right, and evidently 90% of the deaths are in young men, and only 10% are in women.

Also, the commonest cause of this is a condition caused Long Q-T Syndrome, which if I understand it correctly, means that the electrical impulses from the heart don't work in a "normal" way (all of the various peaks and troughs on an ECG are named with letters, and in this condition the interval between the Q peak and the T peak is too long). I'm sure that if you had this, it would have showed up on a standard ECG.

Hope this helps!

[alwaysworrying19]

I've just looked a couple of bits up on your behalf as well - Amiee's figure of 500 per year is about right, and evidently 90% of the deaths are in young men, and only 10% are in women.

Also, the commonest cause of this is a condition caused Long Q-T Syndrome, which if I understand it correctly, means that the electrical impulses from the heart don't work in a "normal" way (all of the various peaks and troughs on an ECG are named with letters, and in this condition the interval between the Q peak and the T peak is too long). I'm sure that if you had this, it would have showed up on a standard ECG.

Hope this helps!

Hi. Thanks for all that information. I had read about Long QT Syndrome in the past. What worries me is that the news etc says that there are no symptoms to these conditions and so how would you know if you had any of these conditions without being tested?

[blueangel]

Well, I think that the answer to that one os that you wouldn't necessarily know. If I remember rightly, there is certainly a condition that is hereditary (might be long Q-T syndrome, but I'm not sure), whereby if more than one case of it pops up in a family, they will test the others, as I think something can be done to prevent it.

However, you don't need to worry about this as you've had an ECG.

[Gems1850]

Hi! firstly let me just say that i have only joined today so thats the reason behind my 3 month late reply!!
Secondly i am really sorry you feel as anxious as you do about SADS. I can assure u i know exactly how this fear makes you feel. Let me tell u a little about myself. I am 27 years old and in 2003 my 16 year old sister collapsed and died of an undiagnosed heart condition on her first day of collage. Obviously as a result of this i have to go through some pretty scary heart tests just to be told that they dont think i have anything. This is a good thing, but for quite a while i was terified that it was gonna happen to me too, the docs wanted me to go back every year for check ups but i decided against this for two reasons. 1. i didnt want the constant fear and reminder hanging over my head and 2. if all the tests that they did showed up no condidtion then i am confident that i am in fact in the clear.

As for your concern about there being no symptoms of SADS, unfortunatly there are often signs but they get mistaken for other things. My sister for example used to go very faint and light headed, this was always put down to heat and anxiety! She also on a few occasions complained of heart burn. Also there is a strong family history of SADS.

But to reasure you, if a doctor has given you ECGs and is happy with the results believe him that is the truth! The anxiety over possible problems will often create the symptoms of heart problems (diziness, chest pain,) and feed into your anxiety. I hope i havent been too frank with you but i feel that as someone who is a high risk or hereditory heart conditions i can be honest with you and tell you not to let your anxiety and fear over a very unlikely sudden death stop you living the one that you have!!

Feel free to message me back if you would like to chat to me further, i would be more than happy to give you my email address.

Take care. x

[Mika13]

Hi everybody, I know this thread is old but I've only just come across it.
I too, get this overwhelming feeling from time to time, and turn to google. Which usually never helps, just makes me even more worried.

Well, my name is Michaela and I'm a relatively fit 20 year old, I train every day during the week. I've passed out 4 times in the past year. 3 times naturally and the other time it was brought on by the tilt table test. The first time being when I was on holiday with my friends. It is without doubt the scariest feeling ever. It also usually happens in the middle of the night, i get a bad abdominal pain which wakes me up, and then i pass out. I've also worked out that it tends to happen every 8 months, at the end of the month. Im preparing for the next episode to occur in August, as the last time it happened was the day after christmas.

I've been to the doctor whom referred me to the hospital. I've had a tilt table test which shown that the reason i pass out is because my heart rate suddenly slows down, from this I had an ECG and was referred to a cardiologist which told me this is nothing to worry about. I cant help but feel they're being careless in their diagnosis, which I feel will ultimately end my life (AHH!), as I've read all about people whom have been to hospital, who have fainted etc.. but were never diagnosed before they passed.

Has anyone else ever experienced it the way I do? In kind of like a pattern? With excruciating abdominal pains? Does anyone think this is something to worry about or am I just being paranoid?

Thanks peeps. :)