Dad, 32, Received Shocking Heart Failure Diagnosis. The 5 Symptoms He Initially Ignored: ‘I thought it was anxiety.’

ORLANDO, FL — Heart failure doesn’t wait for old age. It’s on the rise among young adults because underlying symptoms can be difficult to detect and are often ignored.

A new survey from Orlando Health reveals only about one in ten (9%) Americans would schedule an appointment with a cardiologist as soon as possible if they were to experience classic heart failure symptoms, such as unusual fatigue, shortness of breath, unexplained weight gain, bloating, or an irregular heartbeat. Meanwhile, half of Americans would not even call their primary care doctor to schedule a new, non-urgent appointment.

“When it's a young patient, it’s usually dismissed. It is not standard to think that somebody that young is going to be sick,” said Yahaira Ortiz, M.D., cardiologist at the Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute. “If you're going to a provider that’s not recognizing persisting symptoms, you should seek further medical attention.”

Dr. Ortiz said many of her patients miss the significance of their early symptoms. Some do not realize that they have an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia, and instead brush it off as feeling jittery or anxious. Others chalk the fatigue, shortness of breath, weight gain and bloating to a virus instead. She said her patients are shocked when the diagnosis turns out to be heart failure.

“I thought that's something that comes with old age,” said Alex Balmes, a 32-year-old father from Orlando, FL. “I always just said, ‘That's anxiety. I don't need to go to a doctor.’”

Balmes experienced all of the underlying symptoms, and his organs began to fail. Dr. Ortiz recommended a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) implant, a surgical procedure where a doctor implants a battery-powered pump in the patient’s chest to help move blood through the body.

“You don't realize how sick you are until you get healthy,” Balmes said. “Now, I'm back to playing regularly with my daughter. She forgets that I have batteries. I’ve just got to slow it down a little bit. I try to say, at least for me so young, I just got older faster.”

Patients typically recover from an LVAD implant within three months. It’s usually used as a temporary measure while the heart repairs itself or the patient waits for a transplant, like in Balmes’ case.

“Witnessing Alex regain his life, especially the ability to enjoy his family and young daughter reignites a sense of purpose and meaning to the work we do,” said Heather Parrish, mechanical circulatory support coordinator with the Orlando Health Heart and Vascular Institute. “It changes the clinical tasks to a story of us, where his recovery has become a shared victory. It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of it all.”

Dr. Ortiz said there are a variety of risk factors for heart failure among young adults, including obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, the regular use of alcohol, as well as genetic and environmental factors.

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health is a private not-for-profit, integrated academic healthcare system with $14 billion of assets under management, that serves the southeastern United States – including Florida and Alabama – and Puerto Rico. With corporate offices in Orlando, Florida the system provides a complete continuum of care across a network of medical centers and institutes, community and specialty hospitals, physician practices, urgent care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare, and long-term and behavioral health care services. Founded more than 100 years ago, Orlando Health’s mission is to improve the health and the quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve. The system provided nearly $2 billion in community impact in the form of community benefit programs and services, Medicare shortfalls, bad debt, community-building activities and capital investments in FY 24, the most recent period for which the information is available. For more information, visit orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X.