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Q: rapid heart beat/heart attack??
asked by: lsauren on July 30th, 2008
New User
helloo
I'm a 19 year old female, 5"9 and a healthy weight
Last night my heart suddenly started beating really really fast. It felt as if there was a big weight resting on mychest..but it wasn't difficult to breathe. Everytime I would try to time the beats per minute I could only reach 20 beats in 5 seconds before I kept panicking thinking I was having a heart attack. I tried lying down and taking deep breaths to calm myself down. My arms felt very weak, especially my left and there was pressure along the left side of my jaw. I never experienced any pain just a lot of pressure, racing heart and weak arms,etc. My heart beat slowed down after about 45 minutes but continued to beat fairly fast for the next 2 hours

I had taken a few hits of mairjuana in the previous hour before this happened but didn't have enough to be anywhere near being high and it was not my first time smoking. I really don't think there is any relation..but idk

In the past I've had high blood pressure that the doctors couldn't explain for someone my age and health and recently at a blood donation center I was told my pulse was over 100 and was deferred from donating blood.

Today I feel fine...so I guess I'm wondering what happened to me? I feel silly even thinking I could have had a heart attack while I'm so young.. And is it even worth going to the doctor or am I just overreacting?

Sorry for the long post & Thanks for any feedback Smile
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Dr. Nikola
replied on August 7th, 2008
Doctor
Basically panic attack means suddenly to start thinking that you have heart attack or stroke. Beside the thought that you have heart attack the panic attack is also manifested with vegetative symptoms like sweating, tachycardia, fast breathing etc.

Anyway, before blaming the panic disorder for your symptoms we have to exclude any possible organic disorder with the same symptoms.

Have you ever made any medical tests for the heart or lung function: ECG, spirometry, FEV, PEF etc.?
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MarcoDB
replied on August 13th, 2008
New User
As Dr. Nikola said. The best thing would be that you make exams in cardiology in order to exclude some pathologies. It's impossible to speculate from what you told (it's not the aim of a forum anyway).

Can I ask you if there are specific circumstances that make you smoke?
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dilated_cardiomyopathy
replied on August 14th, 2008
New User
yes
go for tests you may just be overthingking it but please do Check.

stop smoking marijuana as you are doing nothing to help yourself, so you defeat the purpose of looking after your body Smile its bad
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rooaterly9
replied on July 4th, 2009
New User
One very common cause for what you have felt is Hidal hernia, a digestive problem that causes symptums similar to heart attack. If you have it, laying down would not help you. Do you occasionaly get acid reflux? if you do, your heart problem might be due to your digestive problem..

I had similar heart palpitaion for years, which would land me in emergency rooms looking for hear attack, finally discovered I had Hidal hearnia, and leared to deal with it, no more heart palpitation.
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Sarahpearsall
replied on July 17th, 2009
New User
chest pain
hey you smoke marijuana for what can i ask? and one more thing if you are so concerned about your health then you know what to do stop smoking marijuana and take help. i think doctor Nikola is correct its just a panic attack. There can be an another reason of chest pain Acid reflux disease (gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD, heartburn) occurs when acidic digestive juices flow backward from the stomach into the esophagus. The resulting heartburn is sometimes experienced as chest pain. main step would be stop smoking
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