Monday, April 16, 2012

I am unable to say a long sentence without running out of breath. Does this show heart disease

I am unable to say a long sentence without running out of breath. Does this show heart disease?
I'm hypertensive and taking medication to control blood pressure. Now BP is 140/90. I have high cholesterol but not taking any medicine because the risk ratio of HDL to LDL is good. I do walk everyday (about 40 minutes). Has family history of BP. Drinks red wine moderately. Don't like oily/fatty foods. Actually, it's not even a long sentence. A normal sentence can cause the breathlessness too. Thanks Brian and Nurse Bennet. SOB started this year. Seen a couple of MDs but no definitive answer. No diabetes, asthma, or heart attacks. Quit smoking 25 years ago. Found slight heart murmur in 2003. Did echo/Doppler test - LV size and systolic function normal. Exercise/stress test - no symptomatic or ECG evidence of myocardial ischaemia. Lung x-ray clear. LDL 6.1 mmol/L, HDL 2.5 mmol/L. I believe cholesterol too high even if good ratio but am afraid of taking statins. Was told there is a risk of general muscle degeneration, including heart muscles which can then lead to heart failure. So what is the advice re statins and risks? Which brand is best or recommended? Appreciate opinions - I understand no responsibility imputed to anyone giving opinion. Thanks.
Heart Diseases - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
maaybe its just because your not taking your time and just not letting yourself breathe as you talk.
2 :
run on sentences
3 :
This is not definitive of heart disease. You obviously have some cardiovascular involvement, but there could be other sources of your SOB. Further history would help. Do you smoke? Have asthma? Is this new? What causes the onset? This is definitely something you should see your family MD about.
4 :
That's a difficult question since you say you walk 40 minutes per day. Is it difficult to Breathe when you walk? Normally only severe CVD including Heart failure causes people to become breathless under little or no physical activity. It could be some Sort of restrictive lung disorder or fluid retention within pulmonary cavity. Have you ever had a heart attack? If so a weak heart can cause fluid to back up in your System. Have you been evaluated by a physician for this? If not, that is the the first thing you should do. Also if your BP is still 140/90 while on antihypertensives your physician needs to be more aggressive about lowering it as close as you can to 115/75. As for your cholesterol the ratio is not very important if your LDL is above the current guideline which in your case is probably an LDL < 130. If your diabetic it is should be at least less than 100 if not lower. Statin drugs like Zocor, Lipitor, Pravachol, etc. have shown many benefits beyond lowering cholesterol like decreasing primary and secondary heart attacks. Also we have a lot of new data coming which shows these drugs may be neuroprotective and may even prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's. So make sure you make an appt. with your MD to evaluate your cardiac and pulmonary function along with asking him to be more aggressive in treating your BP and cholesterol. Good luck and God Bless. Brian

Read more discussions :