Follow-up to painful palpitations and tricuspid regurgitation questions

[Tim]

First of all, thank you for all your responses, they've been very helpful.  

The event monitor showed only PVC's.  The stress echo test looked great except for one thing: The tricuspid valve is leaky.  The doctor didn't think it looked too serious. He wants to look at it again in a year.  Could this be connected to the PVC's or the painful PVC's?  Does it cause anxiety like mitral valve prolaps seems to?  Or, could my anxiety have caused the tricuspid problem?  What is a typical prognoses for someone with this?  I also get pressure in my face and sometimes dizziness: Could this be related to the tricuspid?

As mentioned in the original post, I have had breathing trouble for the past four years.  Could my breathing difficulty be pulmonary hypertension resulting from the tricuspid anomaly? When breathing is tough, I'll get the erg for a deep breath, I'll try to take it, but I wont get that satisfied feeling.  There's no fluid in the lungs, no wheezing and no asthma.  In fact, doctors have not been able to give a diagnoses.  My breathing gets better with regular exercise; and, when it's been bad enough for the ER my oxygen saturation has always been normal.  Except for what I've mentioned here, I don't seem to have other symptoms of pulmonary hypertension or tricuspid regurgitation.  

Or, does my breathing difficulty sound anxiety related?


Thanks again for your help
Tim

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Dear Tim,

Thanks for the update.  The good news is that nothing serious was found.  Tricuspid regurgutation (TR) is a very common finding and is usually nothing to be worried about.  There is no connection that I know about between TR and PVCs or anxiety.    They can estimate pulmonary pressures from the echo and you could ask your doctor if the pressures were elevated.  It's hard to say whether the breathing difficulties are due to anxiety or if the the anxiety is due to the breathing problems.  I would make sure that all causes such as asthma, etc. have been excluded before the problems are blamed on anxiety.

[Hey Tim]

Tim,

I have had alot of the same symptoms.  I went for the asthma test, the one where they give you an inhalant of Metha-something.  I flunked it!  I was shocked too!  I am on Atenolol (for pvc's), which is what they think brought these symptoms out of dormancy. Get it checked out and best of luck.

[Buzz]

Sounds like a touch of Asthma to me.  I went all my life with asthma until I got really bad chest pains.  Thats when I found I have asthma.  Next I found out about the GERD.  Now I've got a super fast heart rate.  All these together is not uncommon.  All of theses together sure do cause alot of pain.  But I am slowly learning which is which when I have pain.  Numbness in one arm and short tabing pain is my heart.  Pain mostly dead center is my GERD.  Pain that cover whole chest is my asthma.  I never wheeze and is short of breath alot.  I find that when my heart is acting up I get short of breath then also.  When the heart is working faster it is trying to get oxgen. So what does the body do - but breath faster.  Contol the breathing or you will get to much of the carbon stuff and make both arm go numb. (hyperventalate)

Now that I have meds for all three, I am slowly getting my life back.  However I still like to sleep more then the norm.  But it sure is nice not to sleep durning lunch at work.

Good Luck,
Buzz

[Tim]

What is GERD?

Here are some reasons I don't think I have asthma:

1) Over the past four years breathing has been pretty consistent, it usually changes gradually over time but there are no episodes or attacks.  It is usually a little better in the mourning, but not by much.  My breathing is never what I would call "normal," but regular exercise will make it very tolerable.  2) There are no triggers, even though I have some allergies and usually exercise a lot.  3)Inhalers of any kind do no good at all.  4)Even when breathing is particularly bad, if I am not greedy and wait a minute or two to take a deep breath, the breath will be very satisfying.  5)Oxygen saturation has always been normal.  6)Onset of this problem was at age 26 (I am now 29).  7)Doctors have not found evidence of asthma.  

Web MD says, " Symptoms of an asthma attack may start immediately or take a long time to develop....Typical symptoms of mild to moderate asthma attacks include labored breathing (wheezing), shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, coughing, and spitting up mucus."  Of these, my only symptom is labored breathing.  

Is it still possible I have asthma?  I guess I could have an unusual form of it.  I must admit, it would be great to have an actual diagnosis

Thanks again for all your responses.  In particular, the doctor's comment, "Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a very common finding and is usually nothing to be worried about."  maid me feel great!!  A search for TR on the web turned up almost exclusively worst case scenarios.

-Tim

[Buzz]

GERD is Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease  
http://www.gerd.com/
read the FAQ section.  
As for the asthma, reading what you posted then I don't have asthma either.  However I do.  Only when my asthma is bad do I have them systoms.  Most times only the labored or shortness of breath.  Exercise is good for asthma, it helps to increase oxgen and strenghten the muscle that pushes the air out of the lungs.
If you want to be sure about your breathing go to a specialist (pulmonary doctor) he can then run test.  But as my husband says, if it works and if it ain't broke, don't touch it...LOL

Sincerly,
Buzz

[asthma]

Take the test, its the only way to tell.  a mild case would be all thats needed to make you a bit wacky.

[Dave Collingridge]

Here are some things that I would like to say.

A little over a year ago the stress of graduate school and my anxiety final caught up with me - a heart monitor revealed PVCs.  I always got them when I felt a bit of tension or whenever I bent over to tie my shoes.  My physician did not refer me to a cardiologists because we surmised that it was benign and stress related.

I have done pretty well over the past year.  For a few months the PVCs would go away, for a few weeks they would return.  I worked on relaxing and reducing my stress level - this has helped a lot.

I too have GERD that I am treating with Prevacid and Pepcid AC on occasion - raising my bed, changing my diet, and not eating after 8 pm has helped a lot.

What is weird is that I sometimes also experience a touch of breathlessnesss - it is hardly a problem and if I get really busy with something I don't even notice it.  It doesn't make me feel dizzy or like passing out.  It is sometimes just there and sometimes it makes me feel like I want to take a big breath.  I too find that exercise helps.  There is some kind of pattern with the posts here:  GERD, PVC's, and a touch of breathlessness.

I hope that the breathlessness is not heart related - any ideas?
My GERD has been under control for over a year, so I don't think that it is the cause.  I know that I have sports induced asthma (a touch of asthma when enaging in hard, prolonged exercise).  Could this just be an occasional flare up of asthma?  Or could it be due to some sort of inflammation? - I think this is the cause.

Anyway, this breathing thing seems to come and go for a while.  I look forward to seeing it leave for a few months.

-Dave