Ask Lemmy

My dad died at 48... my older brother died at 47... as I approached 48 I had quite a bit of anxiety about it. Around age 40 I let my doctor know that I wanted to keep an eye on my heart (that's what took them both out) and he said that he didn't see anything wrong with me, but relented. The first thing we did was got a heart scan. It was a $50 imaging cost and even the woman doing the imaging said that she never sees anyone under the age 50 getting that scan, but they did it... and saw that my aorta was slightly enlarged. Then my doctor had me do a sleep study since I'm a snorer. Sure enough, sleep apnea. I got a cpap and both my wife and I are sleeping so much better now. I felt like I was doing everything right and then around the age 42 I started getting consistent heart palpitations. Even when laying down or resting. That's when I started seeing a cardiologist. She put me on a beta blocker and that fixed the palpitations (or managed them because I'll likely always be on these meds now). But my cardiologist says that I'm her favorite patient because I'm doing everything right (other than exercising)... with the meds, the scans and the cpap she said that I'm on top of it. And my last 2 scans have shown that my aorta is back to its normal size and I won't need any other scans for a few years (likely when I reach 55). I turn 49 next month and as much as I was dreading turning 48, I'm really looking forward to 49 so I can put it all behind me and stop feeling like I have some barrier put up by my brother and dad that I have to get over.

Good luck to you over the next 2 years... I know that dread feeling and I wish I knew a way to get past it rather than just going through it, but make sure you're seeing doctors and doing what you can to stay on top of your heath. That's really the only thing you have control over.