Yesterday and today I’ve been short of breath to the point that I’m always thinking about my breathing. Nothing normal about that. Right now, have chest pain, squeezing/tightness feeling. Been experiencing chest pain on and off for more of this year.
So I did some internet searching for young people with heart problems, and found the story of a 25 year old woman who had heart problems. They worked on her, did tests, did a heart transplant (!), and yet 3 months after her transplant, she continued to have problems. It was found out that she had mitochondrial disease.
Upon looking up mitochondrial disease, I fear it’s what I have. It explains all of my symptoms. It can cause heart problems (angina, heart attacks, shortness of breath), gastrointestinal problems (I’ve had this for years), urination issues which I’ve had for many years, muscle weakness and fatigue which I’ve had all year, vision and hearing problems which I’ve had for a few years, diabetes which I THOUGHT I had, learning disability which I have (diagnosed in 2018, started drug 2016 quit in 2017), lactic acidosis (I will go into detail on this in a bit), and other issues. I listed the relevant ones to me. Guys, this is what I truly think I have, which if I do, is horrible.
Upon thinking that I have mitochondrial disease, I finally requested an appointment with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. If I’m going to die young, I want to at least have a CONFIRMED diagnosis of what the hell is wrong with me, and what caused my suffering and eventual death. I’ll probably have to get a muscle biopsy, which should be fine, as I’m willing to go to great lengths to find out the problem. Hopefully I have enough money for this, if I don’t then I’m wasting my time and yours.
To explain the lactic acidosis. So my understanding is that this is a buildup of lactic acid in the body. I’ll try to explain all of this briefly, but the summary is that I think I’ve had mitochondrial disease my whole life (or at least as early as 16), and finasteride exacerbated it.
So heres the story. I first suffered from heart-like symptoms at 16. Had shortness of breath so bad, it took me one hour after gym class to fully catch up (this was during lunch I remember, was too afraid to eat cause I just wanted to breath). Would spit up blood as well, everyday. Basically appeared to be heart failure. Would feel a pressure in body that would move around every few hours. Would start in left arm, then go to neck, then chest, then right shoulder, then right arm. I’m thinking this was lactic acid buildup. Ate really healthy, prayed, and after 4-6 weeks I got better and didn’t experience it again for a few years.
At 19, I’m doing a workout at the gym. I over exert myself on a machine, and start to feel weak, short of breath. Go to sit down somewhere, my dad walks by, says I’m pale. Go to the er, get checked out, “nothing wrong”. Had a tight/squeezing chest everyday for one month. Also had the same lactic acid feeling as when I was 16. It was like a ball of pressure that would appear in a place, then move later in the day. It was awful. Ate really healthy, actually lost 20 pounds, eventually felt better after 4-6 weeks. Very similar to the incident when I was 16.
Never had any heart problems until this year, in february. Woke up at night, was weak, nauseous, fatigued, sweating, couldn’t say more than one word, tight painful chest, almost passed out but didn’t. Went to er, blood pressure was 140/82, they do tests, determine I didn’t have a heart attack, send me home. but ever since then, on and off I’ve had the same heart symptoms, just like when i was 16 and 19.
So now I think I’ve had mitochondrial disease since I was at least 16. The lactic acid buildup thing is what’s got me convinced. That’s just not normal to have that at that young of an age. Now it was never diagnosed, but it sure seems like thats what I had looking back. So, I think finasteride has exacerbated a condition that I suspect I already had, and I am going to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to determine this. I don’t have a date yet set, but am awaiting their call to set up an appointment.
Sorry that my spelling and grammar are horrible. I write a lot better than above, it’s just that this is such a horrible way to live and has consistently gotten worse. It’s hard for me to be motivated to care about seemingly trivial things like grammar when there’s a not insignificant possibility that I have a serious permanent disease that has robbed me of my youth and will probably lead to a premature death. Of course, I sincerely hope this is NOT the case, that maybe it’s stress that is causing problems (and I am stressed and have been since I was 12 in all honesty, but that’s another story, and not stressed 24/7, but generally stressed). But that whole lactic acid buildup is what’s got me convinced. I didn’t even know about that until this year when an alternative health practitioner suggested it to me. Now I see that mitochondrial disease can cause it, so it’s got my suspicions up.