enlarged heart

Preface: I used to love exercise but now am terrified it will be my end. *waves handkerchief* dramatically.

I've had an enlarged heart since an MRI detected it in my late teens. Never had much of a cardiology work-up on the *why* despite my efforts lately.

I'm so tired of doctors accusing me of being anxious when I ask them what tests or workup can detect why I have an enlarged heart. Could be my thyroid.

Or, I could have congestive heart failure (runs on my dad's side of the family, his dad died from it despite having a pacemaker that kept my grandfather alive until the age of 100).

Supposedly, diet and exercise can shrink an enlarged heart but there's no guarantee that it will.

In my 20s, I smoked cigarettes but had no problem walking around a 5 mile circumference lake, playing tennis for an hour, or go dancing with friends for 3 hours. Then, I started noticing in my 30s, I'd get exercise induced asthma so I stopped playing tennis or doing anything fun.

When I moved my mother's furniture this summer, I couldn't stop coughing. Hello, heart problem symptoms! I think.

My health issues are my main anxiety trigger. This summer, I'd go for a 15 minute walk without stopping and would cough and be short of breath afterward. I'd call my doctor and complain and try again with stopping every 5 minutes which isn't even technically exercise.

There's an indoor track at my library I am going to use. It's $3 an hour. I HAVE to figure out what the hell is going on. Deconditioning b/c I'm a former smoker nearly 50?

Or, I have heart disease b/c my heart's gigantic b/c it can't pump blood throughout my body properly for *some* reason.

This is exactly how hypochondriasis starts. Hypochondriacs are made, not born.

I completely understand how you feel. I have tachycardia I inherited from my mom that I was diagnosed with since I was seven years old and I have athletic asthma I inherited from my dad. I too worry about heart attack since losing both of my parent to a heart attack.

Thanks Buffy for posting your experience with heart problems. sorry to hear that you have athletic asthma (exercise induced asthma) too. I am sorry you lost both of your parents to heart attacks. When I had an MRI, that's when I was told "you have an enlarged heart" but now I can't find a cardiologist to take my worry about it seriously. So frustrating. Like, I WANT to ride a road bike again (despite being hit by a truck 19 years ago while riding mine). I want to play tennis again. I want to be able to walk around the block for 15 minutes without wheezing. And I'm not fat either. That's what's confounding to me. I used to be athletic but haven't been in over ten years when all the asthma symptoms showed up.

I hope you and both can figure out a way around our heart issues and the anxiety associated with it. What have you done to help yourself with the anxiety around it? Anything?