Irregular heartbeat and other issues

[JAD7888]

Back when I was in high school I enlisted with the Marine Corps. and while I was doing my physical on base they flagged me for high blood pressure and an irregular heart beat.  I knew I had an irregular heart beat before then but my doctor told me it was most likely related to a growth spurt, and the heart trying to catch up with my body.  None the less the high blood pressure at 17 years old scared me and I backed out of my enlistment with the Marines because I feared of dropping dead during recruit training.  I got my doctor to refer me to a cardiologist and they ran all kinds of tests, from EKG to an ultrasound on my heart as well as a stress test and test where they injected me with a solution and looked at my kidneys through a MRI.  During the stress test my blood pressure hit 226/163 and the doctor was shocked I wasn't laying on the floor passed out.  Roughly 10 minutes after the test my heart rate was back down and my blood pressure was also down to 133/72, which was as normal as I've ever seen it.  He told me that the ultra sound showed no leaking valves or any other abnormalities and told me not to worry over it.  He gave me a 2 week supply of Paxil CR samples in case my high blood pressure was related to stress of social anxiety.  I never took them because I don't like those kind of medications.  I'm now about a month from turning 21 and after not having an irregular heartbeat for a while, I've decided to join the Air Force next week, feeling motivated towards it and I feel like it would give me a lot of benefits.  Just the other day I noticed my heart beat is becoming irregular again, it will beat fine then pause for a second or two then do a double beat very quickly as if it's trying to catch back up.  A few days ago I was laying down watching TV, I stood up to get a drink and my heart rate slowed down drastically, about to the point of 1 beat every 5 seconds, I lost my sense of balance and leaned against the wall, my vision started to go black even though my eyes were still open.  After about 20 seconds it passed and I felt fine again.  It definitely  gave me a good scare and has gotten me worried about my heart again.  I drink a lot of tea using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar, pretty heavy smoker, not really in shape at all, I get winded going up stairs, and I do not keep a solid sleep schedule, sometimes I don't even sleep for a day or two.  I was wondering what would cause that episode I had the other night, and if this should give me reasonable doubts about the well being of my heart or if I should just not worry about it like my doctor told me and hope I grow out of it.  I am really trying to not worry about it, I am so motivated to join the Air Force to get myself on my feet finally and do something positive for myself, if my heart keeps me from doing that I'll be crushed, but I also don't want to go to military training as a heart attack or heart failure waiting to happen.  I am trying my best to stay out of the cardiologist's office unless its absolutely necessary because since I last saw him I have lost my health insurance and have no money to pay a medical bill right now.  Any advice would be more than greatly appreciated.

-Jason

[stutterheart]

Hey Jason,
Sorry you are feeling this again. I get exactly the same thing: pause, then rapid burst of beats. They don't know exactly what causes that but have found a few other problems that they say are benign (knock on wood). And standing up, twice a month I'll get that tunnel vision blackout and feel my heart freak out. I think that is more a blood volume issue than  a heart thing though.
Definitely see a doctor and press them to do another round of tests. You should get them to give you a portible event monitor that you can take with you as you train. If you aren't having symptoms when you train, then go for the airforce. But definitely don't go for jets. I have many friends who fly or have flown jets for the Navy and I'm pretty confident that you couldn't take it. All were in increadible shape and had to go through a lot of g-force testing and physical exertion that you or I wouldn't be able to take. For example, one friend was bleeding very badly in his intestines because of a disease he had not been diagnosed with yet. He tried to cover it up for months but then he passed out over the ocean in a training flight. He got honorably discharged unfortunately. Lucky his REO took over. You don't want that happnening to you. But if you want to serve, they'll find a way for you to do so.

[Wisconsin2007]

I'm going to give you this advice from a totally pragmatic viewpoint.

If your heart is in such bad shape that you'd drop dead during some PE training for the Air Force, you're also likely to drop dead the next time you climb a set of stairs or rush to catch the mail man.  

If you're in the military, you'll get healthcare.  And even if they find something that prevents you from joining, then at least you now have that knowledge and can take some kinds of steps to address it.  Right now you don't know anything except that something might be wrong.  So I'd think that following through with your plan can only be a positive.