What would early signs of heart failure feel like?

[Cubedg]

I'm a 19 year old, male, college student that is 5'11 and 285 lbs or so. I recently had been getting on and off chest pain that sometimes would have other more random areas of pain like knees, finger knuckles, occasionally toes, every once and a while also legs or something similar. I visited my general care doctor to get it looked at where he got an EKG, blood work, and chest X-ray, which all looked fine. He also referred me to a cardiologist to be sure, who set up a stress test that came back fine as well. Recently though I noticed that I'll occasionally find myself having a bit of issues breathing normally when walking around and climbing stairs, but not having really any issues when I play on my sports teams. I'm just wondering whether if I had some sort of heart problem like congenital heart failure it would have been picked up by an Ekg, and whether I should worry about this or I should chalk it up to stress and let it go. Thanks!

[Flipkey]

I just turned 31 years old and found out I have hypertensive heart disease stage 2.  The symptoms I've been feeling are swollen feet and ankles, very concerning and frequent heart palpitations, bloating in my stomach area, fatigue, chest pressure and chest pain.  I have been to 3 cardiologists and my most recent finally ordered a stress test and very thorough echocardiogram which found the heart disease.  I did a EKG and echo test before w/ the other doctors, but they did not see it.  The constant heart palpitations is what made me continue seeking doctors and figure out what is wrong.  Apparently in my case, this all started from undiagnosed high blood pressure I've had for a very long time.  I would say it's very likely you are just fine based on what you explain... just continue to keep an eye on your blood pressure and just stay in tune w/ your body/symptoms.  If you still feel concerned, seek a second opinion from another cardiologist.  

[tacolino]

Hi there. Im not a doctor but offer some general advice. Do you have any other health issues? How is your Blood Pressure readings? Well you will know that 285 is a good bit too heavy. You need exercise regieme to get it down. Its unlikely your described symptoms are Heart related. You have passed Heart tests fine. If any Failure it would have shown in the stress test. If there was any LVH which would contribute to failure symptoms, that would probably be evident on ECG also. So you are in good shape it seems! Concentrate on weight loss & exercise and be guided by your cardiologist going forward

[achillea]

Your ticker has been checked out pretty thoroughly, and you're looking good in that department--for now.

However, as I'm sure you know, 285 lbs is bit much for your height, and even with a normal heart, you *will* puff and blow with mild exertion simply from moving the weight around.  

At only 19 years, if your family heart history is good, you're probably OK, but the truth is that you are no longer a growing kid.  To be on the safe side, even a young male should be lighter relative to his height, and should exercise regularly.

To answer your original question, though, here is what the early signs of heart failure feel like:

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartFailure/WarningSignsforHeartFailure/Warning-Signs-for-Heart-Failure_UCM_002045_Article.jsp#.VszmXpMrJcA