Bit of a medical question. Is pressure in the chest (certainly heart-related) in keeping with a hiking trip (hilly terrain) in pants during a heat advisory while carrying the party's water supply?

It’s never a good sign. You clearly were pushing it to the max. I would follow up with a physician just to be prudent

If you are healthy and have never had these symptoms before it wouldn’t hurt to visit your doctor. I recently had a little trouble catching my breath and this was something I had never experienced before. A trip to the doctor just to be safe might have saved my life. I won’t get into all the details but an x-ray showed a spot on my lung. I’m just saying it’s better to be safe than sorry. If you are at all concerned, go visit your doctor.

@Nullo, what was the temperature and how much weight were you carrying? Of course, you should be cautious and see a physician if you are concerned, but I know it has been record breaking heat in parts of the US. I’m wondering if you were hiking in a heatwave carrying too much weight and suffered a mild heat stroke.

When chest pain occurs with heat stroke or heat exhaustion, a medical consultation is strongly recommended to determine whether other more serious medical problems exist. Ignoring such a warning would be ill advised!

Thanks all!

@bkcunningham It was about 103*-105*. I probably was hiking in a heatwave. And it was humid, too. I was carrying maybe 10–15lbs, in addition to my personal excess of about 40lbs (and falling, ha!). At work, typically at room-temperature or lower, I can manage 50lbs over an indefinite distance, 100lbs over perhaps 50 feet, all without cardiac issue.
@jonsblond I’m healthier than I have been, and even before I was healthy save for enough extra mass to balance a third-worlder.

Kudos on the weight loss effort. Good for you. I’m trying too. Take care of yourself and get checked out though. Take precautions in the heat too. Shhewww, I’m exhausted thinking about those temperatures. It has been cooler than that here in FL.

You should not be experiencing that when hiking if everything is normal. You probably need to see your doctor and have a stress test.

Even if you are hiking in 103–104 degree temperatures with 50 to 55 extra pounds, @marinelife?

How do you know it is certainly heart related? They are symptoms to be concerned about though. Don’t put your body through something like that unless necessary. People die from heat stroke, shoveling snow, all sorts of physical stressors. There is no way you would know for sure if you have an underlying heart problem from a regular check up. For instance sometimes athletets have underlying problems, runners can run marathons, and then one day drop dead. I have a girlfriend who has that sort of condition, she is not allowed to exercise alone. Some sort of electrical problem.

You should see a doctor and get a stress test. They use a treadmill for this. Artery blockage is not all or nothing. Your arteries could have one or more spots that are only partially blocked, like 25%, or 40% or even 60%, and under no stress, you would not experience any difficulties. But under stress, such as the conditions you described, you could have the symptoms that you experienced, especially if they have occurred before, as you said.

@2davidc8 I think arteries blocked less than 50% don’t register on a stress test? I would have to do research to double check it though, don’t take what I said as the gospel, I am not very sure. Meanwhile, the OP is very very young, so I think an electrical or valve problem is more likely than blockage. And, I think it is most likely he is perfectly normal, but it wouldn’t hurt to have an EKG, just to be sure.

Not sure about the percentages, either. But 50% blockage may not show up on an EKG, either. Bottom line, though, is that these are warning signs, and they should be checked out. The physician will determine which tests to run.

@2davidc8 The EKG is for an electrical problem, not blockage. The stress test might show electrical problems also. The problem might not show when resting. My heart arythmia never showed when they did a quick EKG, I had to wear one overnight.

@JLeslie Yes, you’re right, it’s an electrical test. But a heart attack due to blockage will show up on an EKG.

A stress test is a continuous ECG while under exercise. They put you on a treadmill at progressively harder levels and follow your ECG. You do the test until a) you get tired, b) you reach your target heart rate, c) You complete the test, or d) you get chest pain. Then they look to for strain in the electrical pattern indicating ischemia.

@2davidc8 Yeah I know, my dad was not allowed to finish his, bypass surgery 2 weeks later. I have had a stress test myself years ago.

@Rarebear Is it true if the blockage is less than 50% it won’t show up on a stress test. I must have some arteries blocks 20,30,40% with my family history. Also, wouldn’t you need to do an angiogram to know for sure there was a blockage and how much if the ECG showed some scary stuff.

@JLeslie No, it’s not that simple. You don’t need to do an angiogram if the stress test is negative.

@Rarebear I meant if the stress test shows some problems, wouldn’t you need to do an angiogram to know for sure what is causing the problem and how big the blockage, if there is one.

@JLeslie It depends on what problems the stress test sees.

@JLeslie Actually, you raise a good point. I mentioned the experience to the folks and my mom pointed out that I am, in fact, still an asthmatic, and that my symptoms were consistent with an asthmatic under environmental stress. My certainty (now waning) was based on the location of the pressure, and how it disappeared after a pause.

No doctor yet, but we can maybe call false alarm on this one.

@Nullo Even if it was not your heart, asthma is a serious condition. You need to be more careful than the average person. I would assume reduced oxygen does strain the heart? I’m not sure how that all works. I know every time they have checked my heart enzymes (twice so far many years apart) when I have had non heart related problems, but chest pain so they check it for CYA, my enzymes are elevated, and I wind up having to be monitored. What’s up with that? I have no idea.