Age-related ❤️ heart issues, are you living with any?

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RobertoC_73@reddit

Congestive heart failure at 45. Now I’m 52 and with bigger fish to fry. But I made it almost six years in between first hospitalization with heart problems and the second one.

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I 58 and started slowing down over the last couple of years. Thought it was age related. Got put on testosterone but when all my bloodwork came back my hormones were all out of whack. Had a brain MRI to look for a Tumor on my pituitary gland. No tumor but showed signs of a stroke some time in the past. In the process of checking blood flow in my carotid arteries my ekg was abnormal. The more they dug with stress tests, echocardiogram, and finally a heart Cath. I have 5 blockages in one artery that couldn’t be repaired with stents. I’m having bypass surgery on the 9th.

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Mudlark-000@reddit

Born in 1973. I have a family history of heart disease and Covid did a number on me (I’m on SSDI due to Long Covid issues). Apparently, I have very early heart disease - muscle hardening, right bundle block, and issues that cause an “eddy” in the bloodflow within my heart that denies me about 5% of oxygen. Not much, but I start breathing jard and sometimes pant if I exert myself too hard. Arteries and the rest look great for now. Just started a med for my issue this week. Hoping I can get back to working out soon.

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Motozeke@reddit

Born in 65; after years of clean stress tests (bad family history so I was having regular checkups). I changed cardiologists and the new one wanted me to take a calcium score CT. Results were not good, so I have a nuclear test in a couple of weeks. No fun, but I still feel ok.

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Future_Usual_8698@reddit (OP)

What are the implications of that test? It's probably for the best that they caught it early if it's a concern-

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RevolutionJones@reddit

The Calcium scoring CT is intended to assess/ predict future heart attack risk. Speaking only for myself, my doc recently retired and my new doc immediately ordered one for me. That test came back with a moderate risk score, so then had to have a stress test. Despite the moderate risk indicated by the calcium scoring test, the stress test was clean and showed I was at low risk. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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Motozeke@reddit

That’s what I’m hoping for, but my score was much higher than the highest (worst) risk bracket’s floor.

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RevolutionJones@reddit

Truly sorry to hear that, man. I’m hoping that’s the case for you too.

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Motozeke@reddit

I’ll find out next week…

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Future_Usual_8698@reddit (OP)

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trUth_b0mbs@reddit

almost 50, had amazing blood work (in fact, my doctor said that she had never seen numbers that good before and to keep doing what I was doing) but then menopause hit and now my cholesterol and blood sugar levels are rising.

what the actual fuck.

yep, turns out that low estrogen levels impedes liver and pancreatic function so my body no longer optimally metabolizes lipids and glucose. Joy.

the "good thing" as per my doc -- if I didn't live the lifestyle I do, it would be WAY worse...... So I basically kill myself every day at the gym and deny myself the pleasure of cake and sweets and what not just to maintain kinda shitty levels. Rage.

while I'm happy that my levels aren't totally in the toilet, I'm also salty af because I want cake dammit.

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Zealousideal-Sea4843@reddit

Slap on an estrogen patch and eat some 🍰!

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HonestBeautiful1672@reddit

I’m 53 I developed a heart murmur or arrhythmia a couple of years back . I do have heart decease on my mother’s side of my family . I don’t know if it’s a family trait or from having Covid

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digdugnate@reddit

i have heart issues, chiefly tachycardia and a super high heart rate (in addition to the cholesterol thing). i had to have a heart cath a few years ago, but otherwise i'm on medications to help. I'm forty-eight.

incidentally, my cardiologist yearly checkup is friday. lol

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hateriffic@reddit

I have an aortic aneurism. .5cm too small for surgery. I can hope it grows so i can get surgery to repair it, wait for my semi annual visits to see how it changes etc.

Found out 5 years ago. First year or two I was very concerned. +.1mm this year etc, margin of error change the next.

I was pissed and concerned the first 2 years but have since just blocked it out from my day to day. I know its there, I go get it checked, but this year I cut it from 6 month to annual follow up. It could rapidly grow in the interim, burst and i could die on the spot. Or it couldn't. I can't deal with fractions of centimeters at a time anymore. Too frustrating. Am I wanting it to grow faster so I can get my chest cracked? not a fan of that either.

I take care of my health the best I can and in the end it is what it is.

Not going to drag me down

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Tom_Slick_Racer@reddit

My cardiologist said I needed more cardio workouts to improve my heart health, but years of abuse to my knees made it very difficult. Then I discovered Water Aerobics, it was life changing, yes I'm the almost the only guy and probably the youngest person there at 50. I have regained movement, have lost leg pain and have lost weight while increasing my endurance.

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MorganFerdinand@reddit

High blood pressure and cholesterol, both genetic and i'm on meds for both. So far, that's been enough. I pay attention to what goes on at my mom's heart appointment for an idea of what might happen in the future and what signs I should be aware of

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Mysterious-Dealer649@reddit

Yes. Born 1970 had a heart attack about 6 months ago waiting on a scheduled bypass surgery. Getting a cat scan out of them finally is what finally got things moving, and had to switch docs to find someone who took an 85% blockage seriously. Terrible family history on my dads side, I’ve outlived him by 7 years already, demand a cat scan is my advice

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Infinite-Lychee-182@reddit

Born in 68. I needed cardiology clearance for a foot surgery i need. They gave me a chemical stress test and found a few things, to include scarring. From what I can tell, chances are I had a heart attack and didn't know. I also found out in a chest x-ray that I have a fractured rib as well, lol.

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Oktodayithink@reddit

52 and working to lower cholesterol, but know it’s probably a losing battle. Women after menopause don’t stand much chance doing it without meds.

So I hit the gym 3-5x a week to keep my heart healthy and bones strong. I do 45 min of a hill climb on an elliptical and my heart rate can hit 180. I know that “high for my age” but it doesn’t hurt and i do it weekly so I have stamina.

I may not be able to lower my cholesterol, but I can keep the blood flowing in hopes it doesn’t settle and clog.

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limitless__@reddit

Get a calcium score test done. It's cheap and 2 minutes, non-invasive. My Dad and Uncle both had heart attacks so my doc recommended I get one to check. My score was a zero which I was SUPER happy about. I checked my Dad's paperwork and his score was a 1900. Which explains the heart attack. It's such a simple test but because it's not covered by insurance many docs don't think to offer it. It's $100 so I don't understand why everyone who is remotely at risk doesn't get one as standard practice.

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emememaker73@reddit

After years of being told "Your heart is fine," blood tests showed otherwise a couple of weeks ago. I (51M) started seeing a cardiologist last month. The doctor signed me up for a whole battery of tests (which I haven't completed yet, mostly for financial reasons). A sonogram of my heart showed it isn't pumping as well as it should be, and I'm left waiting to see what's going on (again, because of the unfinished testing). I'm currently awaiting a call from the cardiologist's office regarding whether I should start a statin the community clinic prescribed, because I walked away with so many questions the MD didn't answer and rushed away before I could ask them.

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emememaker73@reddit

What's changed since the "Your heart is fine" discussion was getting norovirus this past February. I noticed the lower parts of cuticles of my fingers had turned purple while I was in the hospital for norovirus, but that discoloration hasn't gone away since.

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Fluid_Anywhere_7015@reddit

Born in '66. Recently developed POTS-like symptoms - extreme tachycardia coupled with dizziness and sometimes syncope whenever I stand up.

A recent battery of cardiac tests (and they pulled out ALL the stops for these over a period of three days) was run in an attempt to rule out something heart-related.

The post-test meeting with the cardiologist was both hilarious and frustrating. He told me my heart was "annoyingly healthy". No defects. No enlargement. No blockages of any kind detected. He proclaimed that I was in the upper 20% of cardiac health for men my age - which means my heart is healthier than 80% of men my age.

Which means it's either a neurological condition (most likely), or something to do with my endocrine system. Joy.

So...more specialist visits and more tests before I can get some sort of definitive diagnosis - and start some kind of treatment.

Still - it's annoying and scary as hell when your heart suddenly kicks up from 80 BPM to 140 BPM in less than two minutes when I'm on my feet. The only thing that stops it is to sit or lie down and elevate my legs - and then, like a goddam light-switch got flipped it just...stops...as rapidly as it started.

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IMTrick@reddit

'66 baby here too, and... yeah. I'm a a couple widowmakers and a few stents into my coronary journey.

For what it's worth, the first heart attack was in my mid-40's (interestingly, as I found out, almost exactly the same age my great-grandfather dropped dead from his). Though there were some rough years in there, after a bunch of tweaks to the meds and some unconventional therapy earlier this year, I'm doing great these days and haven't felt this good in a long time.

I can't help being reminded of goldfish I've had that got sick and then got a sudden burst of energy right before going belly-up, but it's been a few months now and I'm not dead yet.

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da_mess@reddit

3 stents. Went into a cath lab with a 99% blockage in the Widow Maker artery (LAD).

I've been active my whole life. Part of the reason this got so bad was I was atypical, too healthy. My issue was genetic cholesterol & stress.

Heart issue was a non-event. I'm on a statin but I've always eaten clean. I figured the stress shit out and actively remove it from my life (respecting my job is stressful AF). Other from that, I live my life fairly normally.

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PheesGee@reddit

I was just diagnosed with irregular heartbeat and pulmonary hypertension (BP and cholesterol have been fine my whole life, still are). I'm on a beta blocker now and haven't needed additional treatment...yet. I quit smoking weed and am changing my diet. It's hard.

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Global-Jury8810@reddit

Not yet, but I anticipate them because my dad had them.

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Just-Ice3916@reddit

Living on what I think is borrowed time since men in my family normally get killed by sudden heart attacks in their forties, sometimes fifties. I'm about to turn 50, and I'm at a point where I am pretty much fed up with being dismissed by nearly every doctor since my teen years about ridiculously high cholesterol and triglycerides. Watch your diet, do some exercise, stop with the sweets and don't eat fried food, get up off the couch and move your body, you must be doing something wrong, let's try a statin, etc. And then I go through the same stories, largely as defense...

Genetically, both sides of my family are fucked with cholesterol and triglyceride levels. My weight has always been on point with little fluctuation (I happen to be very tall, medium frame, athletic enough, the only one in my family who is not even remotely close to heavy). My diet has been spot-on since my 20s. I discovered during a couple of spells of funemployment that I can get my levels perfect with a MINIMUM of 3-4 hours of intense DAILY exercise without fail over a period of 5+ months; this is not sustainable, so I do what I can as I'm able, which is probably more than enough for the average individual. Statins work perfectly within weeks (and I know this because I've tried three different ones over the years) but absolutely fuck my liver and make me feel like shit to the point where I need several months to heal from even one month of statin usage, and then of course I'm either labeled as non-adherent with my treatment plan -and in turn, inevitably, my care- entirely dropped. No analysis. No backup plan. Just an astounded look, a shrug, and then the usual speeches about diet and exercise and statins. I'm a pretty good and patient patient, I must say, but I suppose if I'm not fitting the typical in and out model of medical care in the last two decades (and heaven forbid I advocate a little more for myself, ask questions, etc.), it's way too much for most medical professionals anymore.

I feel as though there's really not much more I can do than anything I'm already doing... just hoping to squeeze as much out of my remaining days, however many there are.

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73rd-virgin@reddit

Born in 1968. My father died in 1990 at the age of 51 due to heart attack number 4 or 5, so yeah, heart issues are an issue for me.

From the mid 00s to 2015, I'd occasionally have chest pains. If they lasted long enough, I'd go to the ER. I get there, they run tests and find nothing wrong and send me home with a bill that went in the circular file.

Fast forward to this year, so far I've had four occasions of chest pains. These have been different, they feel like I'm swallowing a giant air bubble, lasting about 30-45 minutes. No ER visits, I don't have a doctor..

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Extreme-Piano4334@reddit

Afib please don't visit me, I don't want you.

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eyeroll611@reddit

I had pain like that in my neck and jaw, went to the ER and found that one of the arteries in my heart was 98% blocked. A stent was put in, and now I’m on three cholesterol lowering meds. I’ve since lost a significant amount of weight, and my overall health is better but it was super scary. Never want that to happen again.

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DominusGenX@reddit

I had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass at 39 years old, my heart is quite damaged enough that I can't work anymore. I'm about to hit 50 soon, complete lifestyle change but I'm managing to live my life the best i can

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Bozgroup@reddit

Both of my parents had pacemakers, and my dad underwent serious heart surgery that involved cracking open his chest. He took six months to heal and unfortunately, he died twice during the operation, so I’ve always been concerned about heart issues.

I discovered that I had both a right and left bundle branch block after having my gallbladder removed. While still in the hospital, I coded multiple times each day!

Whenever I heard "Code Blue, room xxxx" on the intercom, I would think, "Poor guy!" only to have more than ten people rush into my private room with a crash cart.

They informed me that my bed had been moved to another room while I was asleep. The medical team placed pads on my chest while I pleaded with them not to cardiovert (shock) me while I was awake and alert because it's incredibly painful!

I managed to talk fast enough until the cardiologists from the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit arrived with syringes of adenosine and digoxin to restore my heart rhythm to normal (sinus rhythm).

Currently, I am on multiple medications for arrhythmia and high blood pressure. However, during my recent appointment, my cardiologist informed me that my heart looks great, and there is only a 5% chance of me ever needing a pacemaker, which is very low!

Remember to take care of yourself because without health, you have nothing in life!

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Future_Usual_8698@reddit (OP)

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natedogjulian@reddit

I’m 53… zero issues, for now. Hope it stays that way.

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Future_Usual_8698@reddit (OP)

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