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What Causes Shortness Of Breath, Dizziness And Fatigue In A 72 Year Male?
Question: I am a 72 year old male - am an active long distance runner - last week I experienced severe shortness of breath and dizziness and could not run - I rested a couple of days and tried again-same result- today I tried to run again and cannot run more than a minute- shortness of breath, fatigue and dizziness - I was running at a little over 10 minutes per mile now I cannot even do 13 minutes if I can even run a mile? I am a type II diabetic, take Lisinopril 10mg once per day - this has never happened to me before
Brief Answer:
I would recommend performing some tests:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully read your question and would explain that shortness of breath (also called dyspnea) during physical exertion in diabetic patients, is equivalent to myocardial ischemia (as chest pain is not a typical sign in these patients).
I would recommend consulting with your attending physician for a careful physical exam and some tests:
- a resting ECG
- a cardiac ultrasound
- a cardiac stress test
- a chest X ray study
- some blood lab tests (complete blood count, blood electrolytes, fasting glucose, HbA1C, kidney and liver function tests, cardiac enzymes, blood lipid profile).
If clinical evidence of cardiac ischemia is present during exercise cardiac stress test the next step to be followed is coronary angiography.
Hope to have been helpful!
Feel free to ask any other questions whenever you need!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
I would recommend performing some tests:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully read your question and would explain that shortness of breath (also called dyspnea) during physical exertion in diabetic patients, is equivalent to myocardial ischemia (as chest pain is not a typical sign in these patients).
I would recommend consulting with your attending physician for a careful physical exam and some tests:
- a resting ECG
- a cardiac ultrasound
- a cardiac stress test
- a chest X ray study
- some blood lab tests (complete blood count, blood electrolytes, fasting glucose, HbA1C, kidney and liver function tests, cardiac enzymes, blood lipid profile).
If clinical evidence of cardiac ischemia is present during exercise cardiac stress test the next step to be followed is coronary angiography.
Hope to have been helpful!
Feel free to ask any other questions whenever you need!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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