Hi all! I am 28 year old female. I have been a type 1 for almost 20 years. Today while sitting at my desk, I felt my chest tighten for probably 3 or 4 minutes straight. I was short of breath and have felt sick and tired since. I of course, googled symptoms and came up with a possible silent heart attack. Has anyone ever experienced these symptoms or had a silent heart attack or regular heart attack? I'm pretty sure I have freaked myself. Anything would help. Let me know what you think! Thanks!
Katy
I would think you would want to make an appointment right away with your doctor; heart symptoms are nothing to play with. Hopefully it is nothing, but you will find that out from your doctor. If you have a repeat of the symptoms, don't hesitate to go to the ER or call 911. Again, let's hope it's nothing, but posting on an online website is not sufficient insurance of that fact. Call your doctor tomorrow morning.
I would see a doctor as soon as possible. I've had two false alarms with chest pains going to the ER. Better to be safe than the alternative!
It may have nothing to do with your heart but the symptoms are too similar to heart symptoms to ignore. 28 is way too young for this but you never know.
After you make sure you are not in immediate crisis, you also want to get an appointment with an endo and get an overall evaluation and some support on a program of management. Your A1C indicates an average blood sugar in the 300s which can cause numerous complications including heart disease. Please take care of yourself. It may seem overwhelming, but one step at a time and you can do a lot to improve your health and make things better overall going forward. You're very young and have a long full life ahead of you!
I agree with Zoe and Terry,
Go to an er if you get those symptoms again and get a work up- what you want to hear is this isn't serious, and it's better to hear that for sure. Go to your endo, get everything checked out such as your lipids etc. if you haven't and work to get a lower a1c because that is putting you at risk for cvd and more. I would also go to a cardiologist to get a full work up. I have been having symptoms on and off for a long time, palpitations, out of breath, fatigue etc. They were worse going into dka and after I got out of the hospital I went to a cardiologist. I just had another echo-cardiogram today because my gp thinks I have a heart murmur. So far nothing serious has shown up on tests fortunately. But I'm still having symptoms so who knows, maybe it is something else causing it like bg fluctuations and being on insulin.
If it comes back , call 911 or go to the ER. I agree with Zoe and everyone else here: do not hesitate. Your A1C is also very high, so you might be in dire straits if you don't see a doctor soon as possible. I mean it could be panic, but if you're feeling fine other than physical symptoms and not emotional ones then I'm not sure? I mean, I went to the ER with a panic attack and severe chest pain thinking I was dying but my heart was fine , better to know than not! (that's when I found out I had diabetes)
Yes Katy, please go to your doctor and check it out. I just had an incident myself and will be having a stress echo next week. I was trying to help a 2 year-old climb a wall in a blowup jumpy house (toddler birthday party!) holding and pushing him up over my head for a minute or two. Afterwards had extreme pounding heart, dizziness, shortness of breath, and squeezing feeling in my chest with minor pain. Not something I had ever felt before so I went to the doc and had an ECG. It wasn’t normal and showed possible ischemia. I’m 54 with no history of heart disease. Although my fasting BG is normal, I do have a history of acute blood glucose swings. This seems to also be a risk factor for heart disease so we shall see, hopefully I’m just really out of shape…
Yes, let's hope so, Lilli as well as Katy...I've learned that you can have a lot of things wrong with you - including heart related that can be managed.I trust my cardiologist to keep me well a lot more than I would trust my endo..if I had one!
You may not be missing anything Zoe. My endo recently told me after I quit the orals becuz of side effects to continue to eat 150 grams of carbs a day. So that means I will spike to 150-250 after meals. Obviously not the best advice. If I do need a heart doc I hope I can find one that better helps me manage that body part:)
Katy, how are you doing? what did your doctor say?
Katy, how are you feeling? Any follow up or news?
I saw from another post that your average BG is 300. That's way, way too high. Despite what some may say, it's is fairly simple to achieve an average BG in the 120s-130s.
What works for me:
Low-carb diet--cut the carbs! See the Bernstein group and read his book. Also, read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Food is THE #1 thing in treating diabetes!
Frequent monitoring
Take insulin boluses to have a range from 70-140
Get a continuous glucose monitor so you can see how different foods affect you
Get a pump
Wait after injecting for your insulin to start to work before eating.
Use TAG--see the forum here on TAGging.
Katy has no other posts...just this one. I hope she is okay.
Checking in again Katy... Please let us know you how you are doing.
I had triple bypass surgery at 34 years old. I am type 1 and have been for 26 years. I thought I had really bad chronic heartburn (acid reflux) but it turned out to be coronary artery disease. You are welcome to read my blog posts about my experiences on my page or on my blogger account (TamraGarcia.blogspot.com). I would say no matter how you feel, even if you had mild symptoms for a short time, you should go see a doctor. Better safe than sorry.
The advice here is not strong enough. Go to the ER now.
My Dad's an internist. Can't tell you how many stories just like yours I've heard over my life, and with those symptoms, even if they go away, should be examined immediately.
Even now, they can tell with blood tests and an EKG if something bad happened. If something did, it's a potential timebomb. Don't wait for it to go off.
EDIT: OOPS! A little late on this one... didn't see the OP date. In any case, the advice stands: Anyone, if you feel like this, get to the ER. Even if it goes away. Don't wait and schedule a visit later to have it checked out. You might not make that appointment.