#DyingAt20 #HeartFailure #AnorexiaRecovery #HealthIssues
🚑 Are you feeling weak, short of breath, and experiencing chest numbness? I understand how frustrating it can be to feel like something is wrong with your body, but not getting the answers you need from doctors.
Here’s a breakdown of what might be causing your symptoms, and some possible steps you can take to address them:
## Symptoms
1. Weakness: Feeling weak and unable to walk up stairs without your heart pounding is concerning.
2. Chest Numbness: The constant numb feeling in the left side of your chest should not be ignored.
3. Breathing Difficulties: Struggling to breathe and being unable to sleep for more than 4 hours due to a racing heart is alarming.
4. Anorexia History: Your past battle with anorexia could be a contributing factor to your current health issues.
## Possible Causes
1. Heart Failure: Given your symptoms, it’s possible that your heart is not functioning properly, leading to the weakness and breathing difficulties you’re experiencing.
2. Anxiety and PTSD: It’s common for individuals who have struggled with an eating disorder to also experience anxiety and PTSD, which could be exacerbating your symptoms.
3. Nutrient Deficiencies: Years of severe calorie restriction and excessive exercise may have led to nutrient deficiencies that are impacting your heart health.
## Steps to Take
1. Seek a Second Opinion: If you feel like the doctors you’ve seen so far haven’t taken your symptoms seriously, it might be time to seek a second opinion from a different healthcare provider.
2. Nutritional Counseling: Seeing a registered dietitian who specializes in eating disorders could help address any potential nutrient deficiencies and provide guidance for a heart-healthy diet.
3. Mental Health Support: Addressing the trauma and anxiety resulting from your past eating disorder is crucial for overall well-being. Seeking therapy from a professional experienced in treating eating disorders can make a significant difference.
4. Support System: It’s essential to surround yourself with supportive individuals who understand the complexity of your health issues and can provide emotional support.
5. Lifestyle Modifications: Consider making changes to your daily routine to manage stress, prioritize sleep, and engage in gentle physical activity that supports your heart health.
## Final Thoughts
It’s evident from your message that you’re feeling overwhelmed and unsupported in your health journey. It’s essential to know that your symptoms are valid and deserving of attention. If you’re not feeling satisfied with the care you’ve received so far, don’t hesitate to advocate for yourself and seek out alternative healthcare providers who will take your concerns seriously.
You are not alone in this, and there are steps you can take to improve your health and well-being. Don’t give up on finding the answers and support you need. Keep pushing for the care and understanding you deserve. 🌟
For further information and guidance about heart health and eating disorder recovery, visit [Your Website] for additional resources and support.
Have you had an echocardiogram with a holter monitor? Also: thyroid test (TSH) and chemistry panel?
It’s really had to give specific advice without having all your data here, but even if it is an anxiety attack, the fact that you feel like you are dying is a sign that you need to get help asap
I’m sorry you’re going through all this. You can help us help you by saying what tests have been done and what the results have been so far.
(Edit: note that my field is neither psychiatry or cardiology)
My guess is that a) there’s nothing structurally or functionally wrong with your heart, apart from some irregularities like supraventricular extra beats, and b) you have anxiety/depression and/or a stressed relationship to your own body that distorts and amplifies the (benign) symptoms you get from your heart into something way out of proportion.
If ECG and Holter ECG is all good, I doubt there is anymore to add to the workup. Perhaps an exercise test.
It can be hard to accept that the heart is physically fine, and it may take until you one day note that you’re not dead yet. Sometimes the patient’s health anxiety transfers away to some other issue, or resolves.
My recommendation is to see to your mental health, and try to engage in physical activity, yoga, mindfulness or anything that strengthen the mind-body connection.
Could you clarify the timeline of your weight gain following your anorexia? You had anorexia at 15–how quickly did you gain weight afterwards? May I ask how much weight you put back on?
I’d have to check where I’m remembering this from, but I’ve read that recovering from eating disorders has to be done in a controlled manner—otherwise it can alter cardiovascular hemodynamics, possibly due to fluid retention. Changes in blood flow can probably cause aberrant hormonal/natriuretic peptide release that doesn’t help or possibly exacerbates your condition.
If it’s purely a hemodynamic issue, there might not be any specific EKG/structural problems. Do you notice exacerbations of your symptoms with postural changes or exercise? If so, a stress echo might be helpful.
Lastly, it’s possible there might be wall motion abnormalities that are going undetected by echo, which again could be due to drastic/rapid weight change causing stress on the heart, which possibly damaged some myocytes. Something like this could be possible i suppose, but that’s a long shot. If you absolutely wanted to get that checked, it would have to be via cardiac mri (probably would get it with gadolinium contrast to check for any perfusion defect), but insurance would have to give the green light for this.
Most of what i wrote would be very unlikely, so probably best to rule out what everyone else here is saying first (blood tests, thyroid, hormones, and yes even psych). But if they all are dead ends, then maybe look into some of what i mentioned. Although im just a student, so massive grain of salt.
You’ve been to multiple doctors and had many tests, and you don’t believe the results.
What do you want from this sub? All we can go on is what you tell us, which is that all your tests seem appropriate and they’re all normal.
No one thinks you’re lying. What they think is that your anxiety is manifesting in physical symptoms that have no other cause and therefore are not harmful nor do they require treatment (unless the treatment is addressing the anxiety).
Why do you think you have a heart issue? From your testing it sounds like your heart is completely fine. No one is arguing that you don’t have the symptoms, I think your physicians are just telling you it’s not your heart and it is not at risk of failing or dying on you.
This sounds very much like possible anxiety, which is often found in people with eating disorders, or some form of long COVID, assuming that basic blood work has been done (thyroid, blood counts, electrolytes).