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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Decompression related Tachycardia??
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.
Decompression related Tachycardia??
by Tanya__0__0, May 06, 1999 12:00AM
Posted by Tanya on May 06, 1999 at 21:16:30
My 31-year-old brother recently (2.5 months ago) suffered from decompression sickness ("bends")while diving. His symptoms began a few hours after the diving incident and he was flown to the nearest hospital for decompression. After decompression and subsequent follow-up, he was declared "treated." Since then, however, he has had numerous "attacks" of rapid heartbeat. It comes on suddenly, even in the middle of a normal conversation. He describes these attacks as being like a wave that suddenly washes over him. The doctors that he has seen all claim this is a panic attack, but there is no increase in respiration and he is not experiencing anxiety at the time the attack occurs.
Coincident, or related to this, he has also been experiencing back and arm pain since the diving incident. He was involved in a car accident 1-2 weeks before the diving incident, perhaps the pain is a residual of that.
Other than being accident prone, do you have any comments on my brother's condition?
Posted by CCF CARDIO MD - MTR on May 07, 1999 at 08:31:19
Dear Tanya, thank you for your question. I'm not an expert on decompression illnesses, but I don't think "the bends" should cause tachycardia that was not previously present. I'm not sure about the back and arm pain either. However, if your brother is indeed having recurrent episodes of tachycardia, then he may benefit from wearing a portable cardiac monitor for 24-48 hours to document the heart rhythm during an "episode." Depending on the results of a cardiac monitor, his physicians could do further tests to determine what is causing his symptoms. It may be that your brother was prone to developing tachycardia and that the appearance of symptoms was just coincidentally related to the timing of his decompression sickness. For further information, I suggest you speak with a pulmonologist who has expertise in treating decompression sickness.
I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions. Good luck.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.
