I'm 43, type 1 for last 18yrs. I've been having some chest pains while exercising (3 times while running) and thus went to Internal Med who did EKG and ECho which will all fine. he wanted a stress test done. I went to Endo who thought same thing but referred me to a Cardiologist. The endo did say that a stress could be false positive/negative. after meeting the Card we are skipping the stress test and now scheduled for a Heart Cath. Before this i've never had chest related issues with exercising and felt I was relatively hearth healthy. Anyone else been in this situation?
I've had talked to another cardiologist who told me tell me he thinks there is a lesion (i know this dr from work but is not in my local area) ...he said this because due to the fact that research shows that the average time it takes to develop CVD after Diabetes diagnosis was 18 years. Anyone else heard that?
Separately an Endo told me that Type 1 (versus type 2) are less likely to have any cardio issues UNLESS they are spilling protein in their urnine (i.e. lab test microabl will show this) and therefore meaning that the card meant more for type 2 vs type 1 on the 18yr factor.
I'm 32 and have had Type 1 for over 22 years and can't help with the chest pains experience as thankfully I don't have that problem. But my endo says that Type 1s are at very high risk of heart and cardiovascular problems after having diabetes for over 20 years and/or being over age 30. So definitely a good idea to get it checked out! Good luck, and hopefully it's just a fluke and nothing too serious.
What I can tell you is that it's better to be safe than sorry. When I had my kidney transplant, my center required a heart cath for anyone with diabetes over 25 years. They found that many of us had undiagnosed heart issues. I didn't have chest pain and yet required 2 stents. Once they started doing this, they had far fewer diabetics arresting on the table during surgery.
Since you are having some symptoms, I would have the test. Chest pain, in anyone, D or non-D is nothing to fool with. And while there is a strong correlation between kidneys and eyes, I do not believe it is as strong between kidneys and heart. Kidneys and eyes have similar structural issues with fine blood vessels while the heart issues tend to be more with LVH or large blood vessel blockage. So I wouldn't count on being "safe" just because you are not spilling protein.
In 2005 I was diagnosed with heart disease/ heart failure . Been diabetic since the age of 2, am now 41...so about 30 years with T1. Never felt any "chest pains" just excruciating heart burn prior. Didn't know until I couldn't breathe from heart failure that anything was wrong with my heart. So, I think everyone is different. Every year I get the EKG, and cholesterol checked. My cardio says thats all I need, keep up the good work, and of course call if I have chest pains. I think it's a good idead to have the heart cath done just to make sure. Better safe than sorry. Good luck to you.
Update: had cath today and said clear pipes! Relieved as you can imagine…now moving on to what else could have been the cause…and to get better control of my diabetes which this experience and this community has sparked me to do.
I am happy that things went well for you. Did you check for acid reflux or a hernia of the esophagus? Sometimes these can cause really strong pain in the same area of the heart I believe. Just a thought.
