I'm just wondering, can heart disease begin in teen years? I'm 21 yrs old now. But all through my childhood up until I turned 20, I did not eat vegetables! Fruits, occasionally I did eat. But my diet mainly consited of anything junk. I ate fast food almost daily, tv dinners, and packaged snacks everyday. I had slight anemia as a child but ignored it. I just loved fast food. Particulary mcdonalds fries and nuggets! I lived off it.

When I turned 20 I started having chest pains that felt like jolts on the upper left part of my chest. My doctor gave me acid reflux medicine for it and said heart disease is nearly impossible for a young lady my age. And recently, a year later, i've actually felt my pulse and heart skip a beat..And many times. I talked to my doctor, the same doctor, about my pulse skipping and she said it could be stress related, after all- I am a college student.

I've changed my eating habits, when I started getting the chest pain. And now I eat no fast food, almostno junk food, and veggies! But I have fear that maybe all that junk I ate as a teen might have built up and narrowed my arteries. I fear that the cause of my chest pains is not acid reflux ( the medicine didn't help..I'm off it now..) and that the skipping is not due to stress, but also..Possible heart disease. Is it possible for someone at my age, young, to have heart disease even after improving diet? I did get my cholesterol levels checked, and they turned out ok. Would that be able to tell if I have heart disease? Or, even if I eat healthy now, could I be at risk, because of not taking care of myself in the past?

I am very concered and if anyone has an answer to my question, it would help alot..And I would appreciate it greatly!

Thank u....