Howdy all –
After searching around on here and not finding a situation that matches mine, I figured I’d put this out there for some assistance.
Short story: I’m 30, pretty healthy and fit (I eat healthy, have a healthy weight, and healthy cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides levels) have been cycling for a few years, and have had some on and off pain that mimics angina pain (chest compression and pressure/pain that radiates, most commonly up into my right or left jaw/ear). But I can’t consistently produce the symptoms. Anyone else my age deal with that?
Long story: I first got the pains in August 2012, after I’d been riding for about 9 months. I ride mostly to work (16 miles each way) a 3-4 days a week, plus a longish weekend ride (50+ miles). Unless I’m doing intervals, I keep about 80% of my max heart rate (around 170bpm). Sometime late August I started getting the pain during and after my rides: intense chest pressure and pain, usually on the left side, with pain that would radiate down my left shoulder and up into my left jaw and ear. Only happened twice.
Then had no more of it until November 2012 where it flared up again pretty bad (and were rather painful), on and off the bike. There were times I’d get up from a table and would get nailed with an episode that would last 20-30m.
Given that I’d had a nasty pulmonary embolism two years prior, I played it safe this time and headed into the cardiologist who I’d seen before. He listened to me for about 3 minutes before saying it was a freak thing, there was no way I could be having angina pain, that it was most likely some random esophageal muscle spasm, and that there was no need to do a stress test, since he considered my riding my bike a stress test and I could obviously do that OK. With that, I was shooed out the door and told not to come back for 20 years. Seemed reasonable and I hadn’t had another episode (aside from a little one in mid 2013) until this week.
The episodes haven’t been as bad as the past ones in 2012. But they’ve brought to my mind the issue and that maybe something is up. I looked around on some running and cycling forums and have found numerous people (though above my age, usually 40+) who’ve had the same issues (and more consistently), were perfect specimens of fitness, were cleared by their cardiologists, and then all of a sudden had a heart attack. That’s kind of unsettling. A friend of mine told about a 40-year old Cat1 racer he rode with all time who started having angina symptoms that he ignored until he collapsed dead during a ride from a massive heart attack.
I’m planning on getting into a different cardio very soon, but I want to know if you personally or you know someone who is around my age and has dealt with a similar issue, and if there’s any insight you have.
Thank you so much for your time and help!
After searching around on here and not finding a situation that matches mine, I figured I’d put this out there for some assistance.
Short story: I’m 30, pretty healthy and fit (I eat healthy, have a healthy weight, and healthy cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides levels) have been cycling for a few years, and have had some on and off pain that mimics angina pain (chest compression and pressure/pain that radiates, most commonly up into my right or left jaw/ear). But I can’t consistently produce the symptoms. Anyone else my age deal with that?
Long story: I first got the pains in August 2012, after I’d been riding for about 9 months. I ride mostly to work (16 miles each way) a 3-4 days a week, plus a longish weekend ride (50+ miles). Unless I’m doing intervals, I keep about 80% of my max heart rate (around 170bpm). Sometime late August I started getting the pain during and after my rides: intense chest pressure and pain, usually on the left side, with pain that would radiate down my left shoulder and up into my left jaw and ear. Only happened twice.
Then had no more of it until November 2012 where it flared up again pretty bad (and were rather painful), on and off the bike. There were times I’d get up from a table and would get nailed with an episode that would last 20-30m.
Given that I’d had a nasty pulmonary embolism two years prior, I played it safe this time and headed into the cardiologist who I’d seen before. He listened to me for about 3 minutes before saying it was a freak thing, there was no way I could be having angina pain, that it was most likely some random esophageal muscle spasm, and that there was no need to do a stress test, since he considered my riding my bike a stress test and I could obviously do that OK. With that, I was shooed out the door and told not to come back for 20 years. Seemed reasonable and I hadn’t had another episode (aside from a little one in mid 2013) until this week.
The episodes haven’t been as bad as the past ones in 2012. But they’ve brought to my mind the issue and that maybe something is up. I looked around on some running and cycling forums and have found numerous people (though above my age, usually 40+) who’ve had the same issues (and more consistently), were perfect specimens of fitness, were cleared by their cardiologists, and then all of a sudden had a heart attack. That’s kind of unsettling. A friend of mine told about a 40-year old Cat1 racer he rode with all time who started having angina symptoms that he ignored until he collapsed dead during a ride from a massive heart attack.
I’m planning on getting into a different cardio very soon, but I want to know if you personally or you know someone who is around my age and has dealt with a similar issue, and if there’s any insight you have.
Thank you so much for your time and help!
