What Tests Should An Obese Person With A History Of Heart Disease Do?

Posted on Tue, 14 Aug 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 Answered on

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 Last reviewed on

Question : I just had an EKG and the comments said “minor inferior repolarization disturbance, consider ischemia, LV overload or aspexific change, flat or low negative T in aVF with negative T in III. What does all of this mean?
Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Bhanu Partap (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Kindly upload the ecg image

Detailed Answer:

Hello,

After going through the medical details provided by you I understand your concern for your health and I would like to tell you that whatever comes printed on ecg is actually machine interpretations which mostly is not reliable. So I would like to suggest you to kindly upload a good image of that ecg and upload it here so that I can personally review it and then advise you accordingly.

Also I would like to know about your age, any symptoms if you are experiencing any, any family history of heart disease, if you have diabetes or hypertension, obesity, smoking habit?

Kindly revert back with the required information.

Regards,
Dr. Bhanu Partap

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D

Follow up: Dr. Bhanu Partap (57 minutes later)

I am a 23 year old female and I am having chest heaviness, trouble breathing, pain between my shoulder blades and soreness in my jaw. I do not smoke or have diabetes or hypertension but I do have obesity. My grandma died of a heart attack. I had an ekg done yesterday 8/12 that I included a picture of which was read as normal, and then the one that I had today 8/13.

Answered by Dr. Bhanu Partap (41 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Follow up

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

Your today’s ecg is also normal just some non specific changes which are very commonly encountered in young females. So ecg is not a concern.

However as you said you are obese and has a family history of heart disease also so it’s advisable that you should get some basic cardiac screening tests done like TMT and echocardiography to rule out any underlying pathology (the possibility of which is quite less considering your young age group and female gender).

Hope to have been helpful. Please feel free to ask if you have any other doubts.
Regards,
Dr. Bhanu Partap

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Remy Koshy

Follow up: Dr. Bhanu Partap (7 hours later)

Thank you for your feedback. My major concern is just the jaw and upper back pain as I have never had these before and know they are commone symptoms of heart issues.

Answered by Dr. Bhanu Partap (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Follow up

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

That’s the reason why I have suggested you to go for echo as well as TMT to rule out whether or not these symptoms are due to any underlying cardiac cause. And after that consult a cardiologist personally for proper physical examination.

Till that time avoid using big pillows while sleep.

Regards,
Dr. Bhanu Partap

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng

Follow up: Dr. Bhanu Partap (2 hours later)

I had these tests about a year ago and everything was fine. They did an echo stress test, I wore a holter monitor, and did the scan where they inject XXXXXXX into you and they said it was all ok. Also, why would my ekg have gone from reading normal to having those other readings in just one day?

Answered by Dr. Bhanu Partap (12 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Follow up

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

If you had these types of symptoms before and all the cardiac tests were normal just an year back then there is no need to get them repeated again.

As I have already assured you that your ecg is normal both before and present one. Those changes are non specific and can happen due to machine and operator variation and sometimes also due to slight misplacement of electrodes also.

For your pain I would like to suggest you to take any mild analgesic along with a proton pump inhibitors for 5 days after personally consulting a general physician so that you can get a written prescription for the same.

Hope to have been helpful.
Regards,
Dr. Bhanu Partap

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Remy Koshy

Follow up: Dr. Bhanu Partap (15 hours later)

What type of pain medicine would you suggest I take? And what is the proton pump inhibitor for?

Answered by Dr. Bhanu Partap (7 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Hello again

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

You can take analgesics like Acetaminophen after discussing with your primary physician.

Proton pump inhibitors are the medicine used for the treatment of hyper acidity. As hyper acidity can also cause similar symptoms which you are experiencing.

Regards,
Dr. Bhanu Partap

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D