Heart Disease? Anxiety? What?

I am in a rather common situation here. I am eighteen and I have been having chest pain since I was 16. The chest pain only comes after exercise and with EXTREME, and I mean extreme, stress. The pain is a dull ache in the center and left regions of my chest. No matter what test is preformed on me, it comes back normal. I have spoken with a pediatrician about this, back when it started and I was still seeing a pediatrician, and a PCP. They both had me run the gambit when it comes to cardiac tests and it came back normal. I spoke with a pediatric cardiologist with Children's Hospital of California and he told me that everything was normal. The only issue that has ever been found is a bicuspid aortic valve, which is not causing any issues with my heart. I have been told time and time again that my problem is nothing more than anxiety. Well, I am going to try an anti-anxiety medication and I really am hoping that it helps. However, I don't get why anxiety would cause pain when I exercised. This problem has been progressing to the point that I can no longer climb a flight of stairs, walk for more than maybe 30 minutes, or run for more than 5 minutes without feeling intense pain, feeling like I am going to faint, and huffing and puffing for air. I have been told that it might be asthma, but I have tried an albuterol inhaler multiple times with no success. I have hypertension that is controlled through the use of lisinopril and atenolol. I have a bicuspid aortic valve. I have a BMI of 31.5. I am overweight by about 30 pounds. I rarely eat healthy foods. I rarely exercise. I have undergone multiple echocardiograms, multiple stress tests, a stress echo, and multiple EKGs. None of these have ever come back abnormal. I have been denied both a nuclear stress test and a cardiac cath based mainly on my age and the fact that all other tests have come back normal. I have been denied a chance to speak with a cardiologist by my PCP because she feels that my entire problem is anxiety based and that no matter how many people I speak with I will never be at rest. I just feel like I am at a loss here and I was hoping that someone might be able to help me. I recognize that it is wildly unlikely that I would have any kind of heart disease at my age, but I really don't know what else to think. Thank you all for your time.

Post Edited (ACerulean) : 2/23/2013 6:05:23 PM (GMT-7)

So sorry about your condition.  I am brand new to this forum and I think it is so great to share and it really helps the stress of it all.  I had a aortic valve replaced 20 years ago when I was 58 years old at the mayo clinic. Aortic valve is supposed to be the size of a quarter and mine was like a crushed pencil eraser.  I had a bicuspid valve.  The doctors think I was born with it or that it had been damaged when I had rheumatic fever as a child.  I am doing fine now but a fews years back they discovered that I had developed an ascending aortic aneuysm which has grown to 5.1mm.  Can't do surgery.  Since my valve replacement surgery I am on coumadin and atenolol and doing fine.  I get anxiety just thinking of the aneruysm and am trying to find the right drug for that currently.  Also found out two years ago that I had Multible nodule thyroid disease and to make a long story short, I had a hot nudule in the front of my neck which was giving me symptoms of heart trouble like fast heart rate and palpitations which I didn't know at the time it was the thyroid causing all my problems.  It also caused my social anxiety;  No one knew back then what the problem was until two years ago, I saw a thyroid specialist who found the problem.  Couldn't do surgery, so gave me nuclear medicine to kill the hot nodule of the thyroid.  After a year I began the thyroid medicine to get the thyroid going again and now that I have a properly working thyroid, all my problems are slowly being resolved.  My pulse is 75 percent steadier and just saw the cardiologist and she said my aneurysm is staying the same, and my left ventricular heart muscles are less stiff.   I no longer get episodes of weakness and my blood pressure is getting more stable.  The thyroid is the generator of our body and keeps our organs working properly the way they should work; that is why everyone should have their's checked out by getting the tsh blood work done.  I hope I have helped and will be glad to answer any questions.

Best of health to you.