17 and already having chest 'troubles'!

[jonnytruckfest]

Before anyone starts no it isn’t a ‘sore’ chest of the sort of thing you have when you’re coughing your guts up and sound like your innards are turning to outards so to speak

So already a discussion has started in my pictures thread from my final final project I thought I would explain things and make people aware of the situation and give advice to other young folk and a few older people if they are having similar troubles.

I’ve been getting chest pains for a good part of 8 months, first thoughts are muscle pains because as I go to the gym I thought it was just added pressure I was putting onto my chest so I eased off at the gym a little. Due to financial circumstances and my knee getting worse I stopped going to the gym but I still kept working in the garden clearing it out to keep busy and keep the muscles busy from the sudden stop going to the gym and to get the garden ready for the big plan for our big garden to how we’ve all said it was going to be for years and now actually getting round to doing it and yes I am actually going to be working hard well as much as i can

Two months ago the pains started to get worse and getting to a point where it was beginning to effect me in day to day life, with the knowledge of the history of heart problems in my family regarding my grandad having heart problems and my grandma dying from heart failure also my mum having heart problems of her own I thought the safest and smartest bet would be to see a doctor and prove to myself and hoping it is just muscle pains and theres nothing up with me.

Got to the doctors his first words to me when I said about my chest pains was that I needed to lose some weight because at my age at my height and weight I am medically obese. Yes I know I’ve had one too many chocolate bars as a child
He measured me in at 6 foot 3 at 126 Kg and I know it’s stupid to say but I don’t look as big as I am and considering my dad use to be 24 stone at his heaviest
my waist is still 38 inches which baffles folk when I tell them.
He took my blood pressure which I think was something like 149/71, that to me doesn’t look good at all and is worrying enough.
He said for me to go for an ECG scan just to be sure even though he doesn’t think there is anything wrong with my heart but to put my mind at ease. 2 days ago I went for my ECG scan and correct me if I’m wrong but you’re supposed to find the results of the ECG scan then and there? Well I never got the results, instead I am waiting until the 31st of this month to find out the results and to see if anything needs to be done. In one way I’m glad because I can prepare for him to come out with the worst but in the other I’m ■■■■■■ off because I could know then and there what I need to do. I saw the scan and to me it didn’t look normal and looked a bit odd but I’m not a doctor so I couldn’t say.

I thought from this I can go a long fine and hopefully things won’t get too bad and I will be alright for another 2 weeks. Well got into college yesterday 1 day after my ECG scan I started getting the regular pains and wasn’t so bad, I headed down some stairs on my way to psychology my chest felt like it was going to explode Stabbing pains were getting more intense and worse, I got into psychology thinking my pains would go away if I sat down but I got to my desk and all I could feel was pains in my chest and getting shortness of breath. I sat down at my desk and the pains were still bad, I got up and asked my teacher where the first aid people were at (Never used first aid at college before!!) she said herself I didn’t look alright and looked ill and to me it’s worrying when people can tell by looking at you, you look in a bad way. She sent me to the main reception with a lad from the class to make sure I got to reception okay, I got to reception okay and had the first aider come down and know it all boffin here. ‘Well you aren’t having a heart attack because you wouldn’t be able to clutch your chest and you wouldn’t be able to feel the right side of your body’ along them words,

I was just wanting her to shut up and do something other than just sit there tell me what isn’t happening too me. She asked if anyone could come and get me to take me to the hospital, I told her no because my dad was at work and my mum doesn’t have her car because my dads using it at the moment to get too and from work. She started putting on the your parents should be there and have a plan of action incase things like this happen, and you shouldn’t go through this alone.
Maybe your mum could contact your dad to come pick you up. I just laughed and said how would you get a 44 ton truck through the college gates to come pick me up
Thankfully my dad was working in the office yesterday so he dropped the car off at home for my mum to come through and pick me up. As he still had a job to do and I understand that.
My chest pains were easing off slightly, my mum called in at the shop on the way back for my brother to get some water so I could take some pain killers to see if it would take off the pain but jack the lad thought it would be a good idea to get some sour pastels for his trouble how thoughtful .

Thankfully it took off some of the pain but when mum went over speedbumps I was ■■■■■■ and blinding at the pain she asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital or whether I wanted to go home. I wanted to go home and said if the pain got any worse to take me to the doctors than they have to do something about it. I got home and I had something to eat and something to drink and sat on the sofa trying to relax, got on the laptop and started doing some work and talking to folk on the tinterweb. I started getting really drowsy so I went upto bed for about 1:30 - 2pm and that was that up to 7 this morning. And a lately my sleep has been bad going to bed late up early o clock hours!!!

The pains have been bad again this morning and it didn’t help that my bus didn’t turn up this morning so I walked half a mile to the next bus stop, I got more pains in my chest waiting for the bus this morning and were getting quite bad and I still get bad pains in my chest from time to time now. So now I’m hoping that my chest is going to be fine up until the end of this month because I can’t afford to get time off of college with my exams. Another thing that put me off the hospital when I told the first aider about my exam today her telling me if the hospital says no to me taking the exam for me to not do it and re-sit I told her in kind words that isn’t going to happen!!

From this what is going to happen.

My diet wasn’t currently bad, actually from the doctor telling me I needed to lose weight a good 2 weeks ago, my diet has got better and I’m not eating the same junk so I’ve just enhanced my diet and started eating non fatty stuff all together and drinking more water, eating more fruit etc.

I’m applying for full time positions, and apprenticeships so I have some form of income and all have been manual labour jobs so that in itself would be good for me but using the money from that to start going back to the gym and not having my mum and dad pay for me to go.

It’s not an easy fix and I’m still not fully sure what is wrong with me all I am hoping is it isn’t too drastic and is nothing to stop me from getting my HGV license in the future. I don’t want to go down the same route my dad did with his health problems when he was overweight so I am nipping it in the bud now before I get any worse.

I expect no sympathy from folk regarding my weight, I know I’ve done it too myself and I have only myself to blame. Blah blah blah but I am doing something about it.

I thought I would share this with everyone and some strong words of advice, If you start gaining weight and a lot of it, nip it in the bud before it’s too late because you will find it’s a pain in the arse to shift!!! You don’t have to go to a gym to shift the pounds but that’s my preferred method of exercise because I enjoy going. If you are having chest pains it’s better to get them checked out then to find out later on when it’s too late to do anything about it.

Take care of yourselves folks!!

Cheers

Jonny

[big_joe]

Hi jonny
You say you get chest pains, does it spread to any limbs and/or the neck area ?.

jonnytruckfest:
I went for my ECG scan and correct me if I’m wrong but you’re supposed to find the results of the ECG scan then and there? )

If there was anything seriously amiss with an ECG, the panic button would have been pressed there and then and you would have been in hospital asap.

Because of what you say about a past poor diet, it may be a gastric ulcer or similar, not pleasant either and difficult to get rid of

[wheel_nut]

I will tell you one thing Jonny, you will make a fantastic lorry driver, you don’t half moan a lot

Anyway get well soon and stick with the photography exams.

By the way, who ever heard of a thin healthy lorry driver who doesn’t moan about everything?

[jonnytruckfest]

Big Joe:
Hi jonny
You say you get chest pains, does it spread to any limbs and/or the neck area ?.

jonnytruckfest:
I went for my ECG scan and correct me if I’m wrong but you’re supposed to find the results of the ECG scan then and there? )

If there was anything seriously amiss with an ECG, the panic button would have been pressed there and then and you would have been in hospital asap.

Because of what you say about a past poor diet, it may be a gastric ulcer or similar, not pleasant either and difficult to get rid of

When I get chest pains they tend to ease off then sometimes I get muscle pains in my arms or legs. Always tends to be my left side that gets them.

Well I’d assume there was nothing wrong on the ECG but what gets up my back is the nurse didn’t take a second look at it just a quick glance and telling me she’ll pass it on to my doctor.

The doctor hasn’t suspected anything of a gastric ulcer he’s just putting it down to muscle pains but surely if they were muscle pains I wouldn’t have had them for months, and not to this extent of pain. I do have a high tolerence to pain (Having legs waxed for charity wasn’t painful to me shows the high pain barrier )

Hopefully it won’t be all bad and be something minor and silly but with me it’s never that simple.

Cheers

Jonny

[jonnytruckfest]

Wheel Nut:
I will tell you one thing Jonny, you will make a fantastic lorry driver, you don’t half moan a lot

Anyway get well soon and stick with the photography exams.

By the way, who ever heard of a thin healthy lorry driver who doesn’t moan about everything?

I’ll take that as a complement haha! I was only informing people of my current health situation I didn’t moan too much

I will try to get better and my photography exams are up thank christ!! Just got to finish some bits of coursework and have this final psychology exam completed on Friday and I’m done. I’ve just come out of an English exam…Yeah enough said Oh dear.

Well I know skinny truck drivers and I know truck drivers who hardly moan. But I don’t know any of them with that combination Typical.

Cheers

Jonny

[jessicas_dad]

johnny you a fat ■■■■■■■■ you need to shift a boat load of weight.

sorry mate but i have to be blunt.

at 17 year old and weighing just under 20st is just not acceptable. it will upset you this thread as i know cos im a fat ■■■■■■■ myself. when i was 16 yrs old i was weighing 16st and i thought that was bad… which it was.

your body is at the prime time for losing that weight, you will shifting puppy fat and starting to take shape. if you do not shift the weight and keep it off i guarnatee if you get behind the wheel of a lorry within a few years you will knocking on 30 stone.

ive just started serious dieting after hitting a high off 19 st 2lbs and after 3 weeks im now down to 18st 5lbs and ive started the gym.

at the gym forget weights and just cardio, you have to get rid of the fat and forget the muscles until you near the 14/15 stone mark as all you will do is put muslce on under fat.

forget sweets, cakes, pastry’s, pies ect… fruit and vegatables is the way forward and cut down the size of your meals.

its very hard to do and will take plenty of will power and will power is what i struggle with but i have passed a point where i think its just not acceptable and have to do something about it.

[robk]

jonnytruckfest:
He took my blood pressure which I think was something like 149/71

It either was or it wasn’t. Or have you just plucked those figures out of thin air? Doc will tell you what your BP is usually anyway so if he hasn’t ring him up and ask as it’ll be recorded on your file. Remember that your blood pressure will be affected if you are anxious about something being wrong with you. My systolic figure dropped by 20 just by laying down on the doc’s bed for a mins to relax. I suspect your real figure is more like 135/70 which is about normal for someone of your age, perhaps a smidgen high.

I was at the docs myself only yesterday having another check-up after having some “heart issues” myself at the end of last year. My BP last year was 160/95 which caused my ticker to have a funny turn. A fairly strict exercise regime and complete diet change has seen me lose around 2 st in weight and my BP is now 130/70 along with the ‘all clear’ from blood and urine tests.

Re the ECG, that is normal for it to be passed to your doc. The nurse either isn’t allowed/doesn’t know how to read it, that’s why they don’t tell you anything at the time.

I think you’ll find you’re worrying about nothing and the doc will simply point you in the direction of the gym and the local greengrocer for you to shift the 6 stone that you are overweight with.

[robk]

jessicas dad:
johnny you a fat [zb].

ROTFL.

[robk]

jonnytruckfest:
I’ve been getting chest pains for a good part of 8 months, first thoughts are muscle pains because as I go to the gym I thought it was just added pressure I was putting onto my chest so I eased off at the gym a little.

From that it sounds more like you have Tietze Syndrome to me, which is often mistaken for heart pains.

[coffeeholic]

Johnny, I hate to be the one to break it to you but you are going to die. There is nothing you can do to avoid this and all you can do is get on with living life and stop worrying about every ache and twinge.

[jonnytruckfest]

jessicas dad:
johnny you a fat [zb]. you need to shift a boat load of weight.

sorry mate but i have to be blunt.

at 17 year old and weighing just under 20st is just not acceptable. it will upset you this thread as i know cos im a fat [zb] myself. when i was 16 yrs old i was weighing 16st and i thought that was bad… which it was.

your body is at the prime time for losing that weight, you will shifting puppy fat and starting to take shape. if you do not shift the weight and keep it off i guarnatee if you get behind the wheel of a lorry within a few years you will knocking on 30 stone.

ive just started serious dieting after hitting a high off 19 st 2lbs and after 3 weeks im now down to 18st 5lbs and ive started the gym.

at the gym forget weights and just cardio, you have to get rid of the fat and forget the muscles until you near the 14/15 stone mark as all you will do is put muslce on under fat.

forget sweets, cakes, pastry’s, pies ect… fruit and vegatables is the way forward and cut down the size of your meals.

its very hard to do and will take plenty of will power and will power is what i struggle with but i have passed a point where i think its just not acceptable and have to do something about it.

Don’t be sorry mate, it’s better to be blunt then to sugar coat it

Since I went to the doctors I have done a lot of things I know early days yet, but I have cut down on what I eat and what It is that I eat etc. I walk more and over the next couple months I’m going to be in the back garden sorting it out for the summer and I’ve been at it for a full week with my older bro and my dad when he has the chance to pitch in and help.

Even after a couple weeks of the change to the diet and more exercise I’ve gone from 19st 8lbs to 19st 1lbs and that’s without the use of going to the gym so I must be doing something right.

I’m feeling better for the weight loss, and I feel more energetic so to speak so I’m going to stick to it and hopefully get down to 15 st which to me is my ideal weight

Cheers

Jonny

[jonnytruckfest]

RobK:

jonnytruckfest:
He took my blood pressure which I think was something like 149/71

It either was or it wasn’t. Or have you just plucked those figures out of thin air? Doc will tell you what your BP is usually anyway so if he hasn’t ring him up and ask as it’ll be recorded on your file. Remember that your blood pressure will be affected if you are anxious about something being wrong with you. My systolic figure dropped by 20 just by laying down on the doc’s bed for a mins to relax. I suspect your real figure is more like 135/70 which is about normal for someone of your age, perhaps a smidgen high.

I was at the docs myself only yesterday having another check-up after having some “heart issues” myself at the end of last year. My BP last year was 160/95 which caused my ticker to have a funny turn. A fairly strict exercise regime and complete diet change has seen me lose around 2 st in weight and my BP is now 130/70 along with the ‘all clear’ from blood and urine tests.

Re the ECG, that is normal for it to be passed to your doc. The nurse either isn’t allowed/doesn’t know how to read it, that’s why they don’t tell you anything at the time.

I think you’ll find you’re worrying about nothing and the doc will simply point you in the direction of the gym and the local greengrocer for you to shift the 6 stone that you are overweight with.

Well I am only going from what I saw on the BP machine that the doc used, he never said to me what it was but I will find out on tuesday no doubt when I go back to the doctors again. He even told me then that I needed to lose some weight when I first told him about what was wrong. So I knew from the right off I needed to do something, because in all fairness it’s one thing for any person to say you’re fat and need to lose weight but when my doctor is telling me I need to lose weight I know it is bad!!

They’ve not done any blood/urine tests yet so whether that’s something he is going to do or not is another matter, but I thought it would be better for me to get it checked out as my family have history of heart problems so I did the safe bet and went to the doctors.

No doubt I’ll let everyone know what the outcome is on Tuesday, and more than likely it’s just me worrying and nothing is too wrong with me. More than likely it will be down to my weight or just in my head but it’s better too be safe than sorry

Cheers

Jonny

[jonnytruckfest]

Coffeeholic:
Johnny, I hate to be the one to break it to you but you are going to die. There is nothing you can do to avoid this and all you can do is get on with living life and stop worrying about every ache and twinge.

I don’t worry about every ache and twinge If I did i’d probably the nut who’s always in A&E demanding to be seen too because there’s always something up with him

I wern’t too keen on going to the doctors myself because I hate the sight of them, I only go if I really think I have to go

Hopefully it won’t be too bad

Cheers

Jonny

[robk]

So did you find out what your clock speed actually was then?

[jonnytruckfest]

RobK:
So did you find out what your clock speed actually was then?

Yes, Indeed I did. Well not exactly just the doctors verdict on the scan being ‘ok’

Sorry for not keeping updated on this, a million and one things to do and not enough time to do it in!!

I went to the doctors, was hectic getting in there soon as I went through the doors. I turned up at 7:20 thinking I was early and turned out I was 20 minutes late even though on the slip they gave me it says 7:30

Results of the ECG scan from his words are that it’s okay and he doesn’t see anything wrong on that BUT with my mum having heart problems it would be best if I get sent to a specialist about my heart Also he wants me to go for a fasting blood test.

Fasting blood test is on tuesday so that should be interesting as I dis-like needles a lot

I thought my appointment with the specialist for my heart/chest would be in a few months. A shock with the NHS I got my letter yesterday from the hospital thinking it was a letter from the council inviting me back for an interview. 30th June at 11:30 I’ve got an appointment in the new hospital in pontefract. Should be interesting as I’ve never been before

The one thing I don’t get is, if my ECG scan was ‘okay’ in his words. Why would I be seeing a specialist and as soon as this Especially after he said to me that he was going to wait until after the results from the blood test.

So I won’t know what’s happening until the end of this month. I’ll keep posted best I can.

Cheers

Jonny

[robk]

Blood test is fine. They just make a small prick into a vein on the inside of your elbow and take a sample from there. It’s around 0.5 second of discomfort. I’m sure you can cope with that.

[jonnytruckfest]

One time I had an injection at the doctors it took the nurse 8 attempts to find a vein. So hopefully this nurse will know what she’s doing. After that it will just be a waiting game for the hospital end of this month.

Cheers

Jonny

[8_legger]

You really do need to loose a lot of weight, in my opinion about 40kg. I’m the same height as you and when I was 17 I was 15.7 stone with slightly high blood pressure like you, so I bought a bike and rode it 4-5 times a week, going out for 2 hours at a time, some times a lot longer depending on the weather. I still kept eating food that I liked just not as much, 9 months later I was at 12 stone (76kg) and felt a hell of a lot better.

You live in Knottingley don’t you? Get out on your bike, there’s some fantastic roads around where you live, get down some country lanes, you’ll ride for hours and only see a few cars. If you’ve not got a bike get to a swimming pool. Swimming is the best sort of exercise you can do, it doesn’t put strain on your joints and you’ll be working your whole body.

It wont be easy but you WILL feel a hell of a lot better for it.

5 years on and its scary to think how different my life could be if I hadn’t of got off my fat arse and done some exercise.

[jonnytruckfest]

8 legger:
You really do need to loose a lot of weight, in my opinion about 40kg. I’m the same height as you and when I was 17 I was 15.7 stone with slightly high blood pressure like you, so I bought a bike and rode it 4-5 times a week, going out for 2 hours at a time, some times a lot longer depending on the weather. I still kept eating food that I liked just not as much, 9 months later I was at 12 stone (76kg) and felt a hell of a lot better.

You live in Knottingley don’t you? Get out on your bike, there’s some fantastic roads around where you live, get down some country lanes, you’ll ride for hours and only see a few cars. If you’ve not got a bike get to a swimming pool. Swimming is the best sort of exercises you can do, it doesn’t put strain on your joints and you’ll be working your whole body.

It wont be easy but you WILL feel a hell of a lot better for it.

Well thankfully I’m starting to lose weight as a lot of folk have been getting on at me for it and it’s been getting on my nerves so I’ve started doing something about it. I do go out for walks because as you say there are some fantastic roads, and I’m one for looking at the scenery. I’ve always been a big lad so I won’t be one to get stick thin but so long as I can get too 15 - 16 stone I’ll be happy as thats where I got too last time as I have done it before as I did lose 3 stone in 3 months as I was 18 stone the first time, so I know it can be done. I go to the gym when I can afford to go because it is something I enjoy. But we’ve had to get the back garden sorted for the summer, and with the back garden being a big garden there’s been a lot of work.

So I’ve lost quite a bit of weight with that, and with being the only one in the house being physically capable of doing the heavy lifting I’ve done 95% of it. I’ve not weighed myself but I can tell I’ve lost weight because my gut doesn’t look as big

Hopefully my hospital appointment next week won’t be too bad. I’ll be sure to keep posted. But hopefully when I get this weight shifted my chest won’t hurt so much!!

Cheers

Jonny

[8_legger]

jonnytruckfest:
Well thankfully I’m starting to lose weight as a lot of folk have been getting on at me for it and it’s been getting on my nerves so I’ve started doing something about it. I do go out for walks because as you say there are some fantastic roads, and I’m one for looking at the scenery. I’ve always been a big lad so I won’t be one to get stick thin but so long as I can get too 15 - 16 stone I’ll be happy as thats where I got too last time as I have done it before as I did lose 3 stone in 3 months as I was 18 stone the first time, so I know it can be done. I go to the gym when I can afford to go because it is something I enjoy. But we’ve had to get the back garden sorted for the summer, and with the back garden being a big garden there’s been a lot of work.

So I’ve lost quite a bit of weight with that, and with being the only one in the house being physically capable of doing the heavy lifting I’ve done 95% of it. I’ve not weighed myself but I can tell I’ve lost weight because my gut doesn’t look as big

Hopefully my hospital appointment next week won’t be too bad. I’ll be sure to keep posted. But hopefully when I get this weight shifted my chest won’t hurt so much!!

Cheers

Jonny

I’m not going to tell you what to do however 15-16 stone is really still to much, if you cannot keep your weight under control at the age of 17 you will pay for it big time when you’re older, and as you’ve said that heart problems run deep into your family it should be all the motivation and more that you need to get out get active and get down to below 14 stone.

I’m a big lad that carries weight quite well, as in no one will really notice a stone come and go, however its no excuse when I put the weight back on and become fat again I get annoyed with my self and change it.

Good luck with the weight loss and sorry if i’ve stepped over the line but please aim to get around or below 14 stone, you’ll feel better for it and you’ll thank yourself in 20 years time when you know people going in for heart ops and have all sorts of other weight related problem and your fine getting on with life.