Chest pains but normal test results?

First of all I would like to let you all know that I am a 30 year old Female. Well I have never had issues with my heart in my life. I have had some chest pains before but usually they were from asthma attacks, or anxiety attacks, or pneumonia. However heart issues run very highly in my family. Not sure if this matters but I had a molar removed (not wisdom tooth) at the beginning of this month and have been running a low grade fever (between 99.0-100.5) since. The tooth area no longer hurts or swells and there are no signs of infection during the whole time. However, I believe I did have Dry socket. I doubt this matters but I know the mouth can cause tons of other issues in the body. So i thought I would offer the info. Also there is only other time I have had severe weakness in my body like this. The last time i was this weak for a long time ago. My kidneys had shut down and I was on the transplant list. after 2 years they started to work again and I have been fine. But when that happened I had horrible pain in my kidneys prior to the weakness.

On Sunday March 30, 2014 at a few minutes after 8am I woke to severe pain in my upper stomach under my ribs that quickly moved to my chest and through my back. It was very hard to breath like someone was sitting on my chest. My right arm was extremely weak and tingling to the point of hurting. I could feel my pulse heavily pounding in my artery in my neck and it was racing quite fast (confirmed by my husband). I was very dizzy and lightheaded which I assume was from lack of oxygen.

These symptoms lasted for about 15 minutes or so and then calmed down and even though It still felt like a labor to breath it wasn't as bad and the pain was minimal. I really thought it was over. So I relaxed in my recliner and told my husband what was going on. Unfortunately I only had a 10 minute break before the next wave of excruciating pain started again but worse this time. This wave lasted another 15-20 minutes and relaxed again. Knowing now that hope for it to be over was probably not wise I looked up symptoms of a heart attack in women. Seeing that I had pretty much every symptom I told my husband that if the pain started back up I wanted to go to the Emergency room. Well once again the pain started back up fiercely and he took me to the ER. I arrived at the ER at about 10am.

The moment I waddled into the ER barely to walk they rushed me to a room to triage me. I never saw what my pulse or O2 levels were but my blood pressure was 106/79 As they were getting a few details about my medication and family history they called the doctor who said to start a full cardiac work up immediately. They gave me some kind of chewable orange flavored pills and then had me place a different dissolvable pill under my tongue. I asked what they game me and they said Nitro pills. They put me on oxygen through a nasal cannula so i guess my oxygen might have been low. They started an IV port on one arm as another nurse drew blood from the other arm. I am quite scared of needles and stressed myself out further during this process and lost all strength in my body and most of the feeling. I couldn't even hold my arm on the side bar of the bed without it falling to my side. After a few burst veins and plenty of my blood spilled on the floor, they were able to get the IV port started and the blood drawn.

From this point I was too weak to move and barely able to open my eyes. They did an EKG which came back perfectly normal. They did 2 chest x-rays one from the front and one from the side. During the x-rays I was told to hold my breath while the x-ray was taken. This only took about 5-10 seconds yet felt like I was suffocating and passed out each time. The x-rays came back normal as well. I spoke with the doctor when all tests had come back and he said that even though they came back normal he didn't want to rule out heart attack and was going to keep me over night for observation. And he said I looked very tired. I let him know that I was sleeping when the pain woke me up so I was tired but much more than I was when I first woke up. So he told me he was going to give me sedatives to help me sleep.

After I was in my room they hooked me up to a small machine that was carried in my gown's pocket and was hooked to pads all over my torso. They said it would monitor my heart activity over the rest of the day and night and report to the nurses' station. I became very nauseous and threw up a small bit and they gave me Medication through my IV to stop the nausea. And they gave me Ativan (supposedly to help me rest) which the doctor had prescribed for every 12 hours while I was there. They let me rest with often visits to take my vitals. My blood pressure had to be taken twice most of the time because the numbers were far too low for them to consider accurate so they made me sit up and take several deep breaths and take it again. The lowest it went was 88/49 the highest it ever reached was 103/49. My blood pressure often does run low but usually not this low. My normal blood pressure is around 110-115/45-55. In the middle of the night they redid the EKG and blood work. I didn't have any chest pains again but the labored breathing persisted.

Around noon the next day the doctor came in to speak to me. He let me know that all of the tests came back normal but he was not counting heart attack or heart issues out of possibilities of what was going on. He told me that even though the test came back normal right now doesn't mean anything because it could take anywhere from hours to days for the tests to really show anything. He didn't prescribe me anything for home but said that he wanted to do a follow up visit in 1 week to repeat testing. He told me that if the symptoms returned to come to the clinic if it is open or the ER after hours.

I went home and rested for several hours before I got up to get online to talk to some friends and play a game. I didn't realize I was still pretty drugged up and made a very embarrassing mistake and stressed myself out about it and the chest pains returned for about 30 minutes but no where near as bad as they were before. It went away slowly and hasn't returned. However I still have the feeling like I am working harder to breath than normal and I am still very lightheaded and slightly dizzy. Today was the first day I tried to go to the grocery store and after walking around, even slowly, I almost passed out several times.

So I guess what I am wondering is, has anyone else had this kind of things happen? and what was your outcome? Also does anyone know what else may be causing these symptoms?

Lyn,

You have a very interesting history.  Can you share a bit more about, "My kidneys had shut down and I was on the transplant list. after 2 years they started to work again and I have been fine. But when that happened I had horrible pain in my kidneys prior to the weakness." ? Were you on dialysis?

As JR mentioned,  look to the Drs. to decide what is going on with you and until you see your Dr. you may want to keep a diary of how you are feeling.  Also return to the clinic or ER if you experience any more episodes you suspect may be cardiac related.

You mentioned you waddled into the ER - just checking - are you pregnant?  Pregnant women refer to themselves as waddling..............

Any gallbladder disease in your past? What was your discharge dx on the paper work you received on discharge from your inpatient stay?

Do let us hear from you after you see your Dr.

Kindly,

Kitt

I am still having swelling in my feet, ankles, and hands. I am also having numbness and tingling in the extremities as well along with pain walking in my feet. When I stand for more than 10 minutes or so I still practically pass out.

I just went for my follow up visit the the dr. He said my pulse was high 115 and my blood pressure was 129/62 which he said is extremely high for me. And I saw my O2 level was 94%. He is putting me on HTCZ 25 mg 1 per day for 1 week then as needed for swelling after that. And he is going to have me fit for a heart monitor (I forget what he called it) that will monitor my heart for 24 hours to see if anything weird is going on in my normal day to day life since the hospital I was resting the whole time.

I went to the pharmacy right after and stood for a good 15 minutes holding onto a counter and my feet actually turned purple and went completely numb. When i started walking I still couldn't feel then. when I finally sat in my recliner with them elevated they now hurt really bad with pins and needles. We will see how the meds help and what the monitor shows.

I'll keep you guys posted.

I have no not had either of those done. But the treadmill one wouldn't work right now since I can barely walk I would assume. If these don't work who knows what they will try next. the heart cath I really hope you were asleep for that. just sounds too scary to me.

Thank you. I absolutely agree that I want it healthy. And until I feel better I am not giving up. And it is a very big relief to know you were asleep. I am a major pansy when it comes to needles and stuff. I will keep you posted.

So I'm not trying to scare you at all BUT they should have done an echo on your heart while you were there. You have symptoms of a lot of things and most of those require intervention right away! I'm very surprised they sent you home. The swelling in your hands and feet suggests that your heart is not working properly it sounds to me like heart failure for some reason. I hope you put your foot down and make them get to the bottom of this!

Mel- I have not found anything out yet. They were supposed to fit me for a heart monitor this week but I never got a call to schedule it. So I will call on monday to find out what is going on.

Update- the symptoms continue as before. Today I woke up feeling a lot better with minimal pain in my feet and practically no swelling at all. I was able to walk but felt like my legs were jelly. I guess that is from lack of use lately. I went out and picked up dinner for my family and then was very out of breath and just extremely tired. So I guess I over did it. I can't seem to get myself to wake up now. I took a 3 hour nap thinking that would help and it did not. So back to just sitting here again.

Update: The dr's finally got me set up for a Holter Monitor. I got hooked up today and I am trying to be active so the monitor can show what my heart does when I do little stuff like walk out of the hospital, walk to the kitchen, stand at all. I have a log to write symptoms in and I am.
My symptoms have persisted this whole time. and the swelling in my feet has gotten worse and spread to my legs up to my knees. The swelling gets so bad that I have tons of red dots from broken blood vessels all over my ankles and feet. My hands still swell but less than before. The pain in my legs and feet are worse to the point that it hurts to take showers and wash below my knees. I also still have to continually keep sitting down in showers so I don't fall. I have told the dr all of this and he just says we need to wait for the holter test results.
I am still getting random bouts of nausea, chest pains, Random tightness in my chest, breathing troubles, numbness and tingling in my extremities, severe cough (white flem), muscle aches, Low grade fever (constant 99.5-100.5), Severe fatigue, Muscle weakness. But I have also gained random heart pounding, pulsing in my body, decreased movement and strength in my lower body, and I cannot keep my ankles and feet warm, and my skin has become more dry than ever over my entire body and somewhat scaly looking on my legs and feet.
I am still avoiding all stress, excitement, scary events, and over exertion if possible. I am still taking my HCTZ 25mg as prescribed, though the dr said I should only need to take it for 1 week straight and then only as needed up to once a day for swelling. the swelling hasn't stopped, so it is still daily.
My depression about the situation has grown worse, to the point that I have arranged plans for my children, cats, and hubby in the event that I don't last much longer. I have made my wishes known to my hubby and dad for any event. My hubby and dad think I should also make a will just in case but I just haven't yet. I also want to pay for my cremation plans but I don't have the money at this time so I haven't yet. Though I have made plans I am not giving up because I just can't for too many people. I am not suicidal or a harm to myself in anyway. My depression about other things is almost non existent oddly.
Well i guess that is everything. I go in tomorrow to have the monitor removed and the cardiologist will read the results wednesday and send them to my dr. I will keep you all posted. Sorry it has been such a delay in posting.

stkitt- I have not adjusted my diet because I have always stayed away from sodium for the most part.

And I have been drinking far more liquids than I normally would because I can't seem to stop the thirst. I am not dehydrated though because the skin pinch test is immediate.

As for the GI specialist, I had an endoscopy and colonoscopy in august on 2012 (right before I had my gall bladder removed). The dr's have told me that everything was perfectly healthy (other than my gall bladder) and I have pics to prove it. lol. However they did say I create too much acid and they put me on Nexium 40mg. Later another dr said that I have Epstein Barrs, not sure if that matters. But they said they didn't need to do another scope because the last one was so recent. I am still on the Nexium 40mg.

For anxiety and depression, I am on Prozac 40mg, Seroquel 100-200mg, and xanax 0.5 twice a day. However the only thing I have a poor outlook on is my current health issues, not life itself. I have not pulled away from any relationships, actually I have gotten closer. I do not sleep more often, actually I sleep less bringing me to an average adult sleeping amount. I still continue with all the things in my life that I enjoy, nothing has changed. My psychiatrist knows all that is going on and how I feel, and he says I am not depressed at this time I just lack hope of recovering. He tells me as my health gets better so will my outlook on the health issues. This is coming from the same psychiatrist that gets concerned over every little thing that happens to my mental state.