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HCM-ers: Introduce yourself or just say hi
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) | Last Active: Nov 14, 2025 | Replies (1089)Comment receiving replies
@bigheart12345 , welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, and thanks for sharing your story.
It sounds like you have been living with HCM for quite some time, and know yourself very well. And how crazy to be told you had a heart attack and didn't know!!
You ask if others get discomfort/pain near or directly over their hearts. I can only answer for me, and I had chest pain in the center, that radiated up into my neck and around to in between my shoulder blades. It was random, and not always associated with exertion. I no longer have this after open heart surgery.
I'd like to ask you if you feel confident in your current treatment, or have you considered a second opinion? I know you just saw him recently and felt reassured, but it sounds like you still have some lingering feelings in the back of you mind.
You have reasons to be concerned and I would want to be assured all is well. This could be non-related to HCM or it could be from it, but knowing is best.
My pro-BNP was very elevated before my surgery because my heart was failing. It was not normal to be that high in a patient with no history of heart failure.
When will you see the results of all tests and the final diagnosis?
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@karukgirl thanks for that, yes very confident in my current consultant which is my second opinion. I am just curious about things, he explained that chest pain can be as a result of smaller capillaries being squeezed. I am just super alert to sensations around the heart and like to link them to something. As the discomfort never occurs with exercise or exertion and always feels better when gas has moved (I hiccough quite a bit) then I feel reassured. I have already had his verbal final diagnosis just waiting the written report. I did ask him yesterday about the Troponin result and he said that it's mildly elevated and common to be so with this condition. Could you describe SoB, I know that must sound like a stupid question, is it when you are out of breath so breathing quickly or is it that you are breathing but don't feel like any oxygen is getting in or something else. Prior to diagnosis of this condition I can recall walking upstairs late at night and immediately having to lie down because I just couldn't breath, not had that since the diagnosis and the beta blocker.