Do I have heart problems or is it my weight?

Hmm...

I actually have a congenital heart disease, and recently, I've been starting to go downhill, and your symptoms sound almost identical to mine...

I know some people said try to start exercising, but, until you go to a doctor, DO NOT DO MORE THAN YOU ARE USED TO.

I actually had to go to the emergency room recently because of one of those episodes, and I practically passed out, and the doctors told me, don't do anything that you don't usually do, and stop in regular activities the SECOND you get to feeling funny...continuing can make you worse.

It may be your weight, but the arm hurting and the fact that its when you're laying down hint that you are having palpitations. If you feel lightheaded or anything, it may be that your heart is having trouble getting oxygenated blood pumped through to your body...

Next time this happens, just sit still, and count your heart rate. If you feel funny beats (too fast, too slow, skipping a beat) then it is definitely your heart.

Either way, you need to go to a doctor.

Please, though, take care of yourself...and I know from personal experience how you feel about not wanting to tell people ("oh, its nothing, don't want to have them worrying, dont want to make a fuss") but you need to tell someone close to you, so they can keep an eye out for you...sometimes, I know, you just keep going, you want to convince yourself you're alright, but if someone knows something's wrong, they can make you stop (my boyfriend has actually made me sit down and rest when I didn't want to, but looking back, its a good thing he did)

Just take care of yourself, I hope you get better, hope its nothing serious.

the weight could definately help cause it. try to eat less trans and saturated fats, you could have plaques in your arteries from all the "bad" fat you eat. kids are eating so unhealthy these days plaques have been found in kids as young as 8. the plaques are caused by the bad cholesterol (LDL) sticking to your arteries, saturated and trans are turned into this cholesterol. eventually the plaque will get so big it will completely block a coronary artery(artery that feeds your heart) if this happens you have a heart attack. if right now you have plaques your heart works harder. there could be other causes like since it sounds like you may have alot of fat, the more fat you have the more capillaries that has to be made to bring nutrients to that new fat tissue, which also makes your heart work harder. your body needs fat but it needs UNsaturated fat and not more than the recommended daily limit. you can eat healthier even though you live in an unhealthy family, instead of eating the some of the bad stuff your family is eating, eat some fruit and vegetables, even cutting down some of the bad and adding some good stuff will help. it is possible to eat healthier, dont let the excuse of your parents end up killing you. by the way you might want to go in and get checked out the next time you have the chest pain, if it is a heart attack one of these times and you put it off it might end up being to late. the faster they get the heart attack under control the less heart tissue that dies.

It's not impossible to do. I'm a bigger girl, my husband is a bigger guy, and my father is a big man.... My mother is average and I can tell you, it's not easy to cut the snacking and stuff but chest pain and arm pain isn't something to take lightly. You can do it, just be positive and tell yourself you can do it.

I would suggest you talk to your doctor about all this. Get yourself checked out and you can talk to your doctor about losing weight as well... he/she will help.

Something you can do to help yourself: Drink lots and lots of water and start doing some exercise, even if it's just walking. Increase your exercise time by 5-10 minutes each time you do it and it should help....if you walk, go from your front door to the first street and see how you feel, then go to the next street, etc.... Or try getting ahold of an exercise tape (I would recommend going to Walmart and see if you can get ahold of the MTV Pilates dvd.... I got it a while ago, it was fairly cheap {about $10 I think} and although it will be tough the first few times you do it it will get easier...). Try not to eat too many fatty/sugary foods and eat healthier...snack on veggies or fruit instead of chips/popcorn/cookies. You could cut up veggies and dip them in salad dressing (Italian dressing is nice with veggies).

I wish you all the best of luck. Losing weight is never easy to do but you have to have the willpower to do it.

No one can tell you what is going on for sure. GO TO A DOCTOR!! PLEASE DON'T TAKE ANY MORE CHANCES WITH YOUR HEALTH. Tell someone what is going on and get help. Surely there is a free health clinic in your town or a town close to you. As for losing weight, I understand how hard it is. But even tho the whole family is overweight, you could start by just cutting back on the amount of food you eat. Also, by going to a doctor, they can set up up with a dietitian, who can help you get on a plan to start losing the weight.

Chest and arm pain.... well that tells you right there....heart problems. So, get to a doctor probably put you on blood pressure pills. Tell you to exercise and diet... Now, listen to the man...your life deserves happyness....takes work to get there.

I believe it's your weight I've heard of this before.. I can't really give you any tips because I never dealt with this.. I would suggest that you visit your doctor

Update: Well I'd just work on losing weight and see if your insurance will pay for your visit

if your having pains in your chest thats nothing to fool around with. call your doctor and tell him what's happening .

you can have heart problems. go to a doctor.