MVP? PVC? or something else I don't know about

[SnakeBiter]

Hi there,

I'm a 25 yr old male, with a fit body, I started smoking when I was 18 and I now I've not been smoking for the past 4 months.

My issues started in 2004 when I was 19. I had mild chest pain and some s fever, went to the doctor, got my anti-biotic, fever went down, but there was still some dull chest pain after that.
A month later (or maybe more), I got another fever, abdomen pain, loss of appetite and fatigue. I was moved to the hospital as my doctor couldn't diagnose me at all. I had ECHO, MRI, X-Ray, CT scan, blood tests, urine tests, and some other tests and they found nothing at all.
The had me on anti-biotic and Glucose during that period, and then they gave me Penicillin. That took the fever away and helped me recover.
After getting out of the hospital, one of my veins where they had the anti-biotic needle plugged in my left hand, has become hard and it clogged my vein, so I went to the doctor and he said this will go away.
After few days I started experiencing some itches in my left hand, and some mosquito-bite like on that hand, and it goes away after 1-2 hours, and it used to wake me up during the night sometimes.

Things were a little bit better after that, however, after 3-4 months I started experiencing some skipped beats in my heart, so I went to the Cardiologist and he gave me a holter for 24hours, after that, he said that I have mild MVP.
Symptoms includes: Rapid heart beats, Hearts beats sensation ( I can count my heart beats without touching myself, day or night), not being able to take a deep breath, slow heart beats when scared or surprised, fatigue after standing up, pounding heart when going to bed, or also pounding heart beats after meals especially if I skip meals, or drink alcohol, fast rapid beats when for example switching from left to right side while trying to sleep, panic after a skipped beat, dull left chest pain, my left hand is weaker than what it used to be, and I feel I'm generally not very active anymore, I get a skipped beat if I get too excited, and I feel my heart nerves become stiff after excitement.

A year later, I started experiencing some depression, anxiety, fatigue and not being able to take a deep breath, so I went to anther Cardiologist, he did ECHO and told me that I have MVP, and he said, you need to relax.

Few months later, I started experiencing same symptoms, and I went to the doctor again, did another ECHO, he said, I have MVP with very mild Mitral Regurgitation and my Aortic root is 40mm. By that time I was body building, and having some whey protein shakes. He put me on beta blockers, so I used them for a month or so and then stopped them gradually.

After that, I tried to maintain a healthier lifestyle, but I was still smoking (sad!!).

This year 2010, I started having some fatigue, rapid heart beats (which I had before), anxiety and depression so I went to another Cardiologist, he did Echocardiogram and Stress test, Oxygen rate in blood, and EKG he said, that I don't have MVP and my Aortic root is 36mm, but he said that I still have this skipped beat and it could be something related to heart electricity so he put me on Beta-Blockers now, then he'll go ahead and do holter and see if these are benign.

Now I have been using beta blockers for about 20 days, things are better, but I still feel the sensation of my heart pulses, I got some anxiety, and I still can't drink alcohol at all, not even a glass of beer. I also have pounding heart especially after meals.

I'm sorry, I'm trying to make my story as short as possible, but that's actually a long story, I just hope that I didn't miss anything. But I'll answer your questions.

Anyway, I'd love to know what could be done to diagnose my issue, I feel that it's related to some sort of neurological issue that I'm having that is affecting my heart and stomach.

I know try to eat as much healthy as possible, I also work out 2-3 times a week now.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[craigory1962]

I have almost the exact same cardiac issues that you have described. My docs also said that it is nothing serious and to relax. He explained that it often is related to abnormal conduction pathways in the cardiac muscle. I know how difficult it is to keep calm (i lost about 10lbs in a bit more than a month, from worrying im sure) but now use my beta blocker when needed and have tried my best to not dwell. Feeling and eating a bit better now. Hope you get well.

[SnakeBiter]

After doing some research, it seems that this thing is related to the nervous system and not the heart.
I eat well now, but it seems that this nervous issue causes some depression and thus I start losing my appetite.
My issue is like a mystery, I have had this issue for the past 6 years, and no one figured out exactly what it is. If the doctor tells me to relax then he has no explanation to that, and all of them said the same. Perhaps I should go to a Neurologist.
But thanks all..

[Heiferly]

I followed your posts in angina, and thought I might offer some links to help you interpret your cholesterol test results:

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/services/tests/labtests/crp.aspx
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=183

As you were told over in the angina community, skipped beats are almost always harmless, so I agree wholeheartedly with the posters over there and with your docs who have told you to try not to stress out over them.  In fact, research has shown that the more we focus on our skipped beats and get anxious about them, the more of them we can actually end up having (ugh!) so difficult as it may be, trying to ignore them and not let it stress you out really may help to alleviate the problem somewhat.  

I think exercising several times a week is a great start, and that will also help your HDL level!  Quitting smoking is really important too, especially considering the test results you just got back (the Cleveland Clinic URL I gave you mentions quitting smoking as one of the changes you can make to lower your cardiovascular risks).  

Have you gotten the results of the holter yet?  It's good that your thyroid checked out okay.  I'm not really sure what else to suggest, as it sounds like you've gotten a pretty thorough cardio workup so far.  When you say you have had loss of appetite, have you lost a lot of weight over all this time?  Or are you still managing to eat enough?

[LivingInHope]

Did they check your thyroid function and ferritin levels?  Hyperthyroidism and low iron can both cause rapid heart beat.  Hyperthyroidism can tend to make a person feel more anxious.  Low iron can also cause fatigue.  

Your heart normally speeds up after eating as your body tries to metabolize food, but if you have dysautonomia, that may be exaggerated.  Also, exaggerated heart responses from simple movements can be related to dysautonomia.  You may want to get catecholamine and metanephrine testing to see if any of those numbers are high.

Have you had a GI doctor take a look at your stomach?  Have they checked to see if you have irritable bowel syndrome?

I don't understand why your doc would put you on the beta blocker and THEN do the holtor- I would think they would want to do it the other way around.  Do you have any huge change in heart rate when you stand up versus lying down?