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H/o rheumatic fever, abnormal holter monitor results, can you explain?

Hello, I am a 22year old female, last year I had an episode of untreated strep which caused joint inflammation, skin rash, fatigue and my antistreptoliasin (sp?)  antibodies were incredibly high. It was deamed  I had rheumatic fever after seeing multiple specialists, ruling out other autoimmune disorders and realizing I had untreated strep from multiple sore throats chalked up to tonsillitis and going without antibiotics. It took nearly a year to diagnose. I had my tonsils removed and my Pcp called for long term antibiotics, to which my rheumatologist said was unnecessary and I did not take. Another year later my pcp is concerned about my heart valves after going without antibiotics and ordered a holter monitor.

My results say (vaguely from what I wrote down) I don't have a print out

14 hours of Bradycardia with the lowest rate at 40 bpm
2.6 hours of Tachycardia with the highest rate at 185bpm
1362 beats with supraventricular ectopic activity
186 atrial couplets
701 late beats
477 PACs with 6 in trigeminy
Longest R interval was 4.6?

The tech read me these over the phone but did not really know what it meant and told me to follow up with cardiology. I'm terrified my heart was affected from the rheumatic fever. Is this possible or are these results considered within normal?
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Avatar universal
It sounds like you should definitely have an echo done. If your heart valves are damaged and potentially causing your abnormal holter results, an echo is the best way to go. It's a really easy test, just an ultrasound of your chest. If your valves are severely damaged, it's important to know. Best of luck!
Helpful - 0
11548417 tn?1506080564
Rheumatic fever can damage the heart valves. An echo will show if this has happened to your heart.

Also for the holter results you need to consult your cardiologist.
40bpm are not necessarily too low, but quite low for a 22 year old female.
185bpm are not too high, when this heart rate happened during exercising and not during rest.  
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Yeah an echo was originally ordered and I deferred it. I don't necessarily want to have it done at all, which is why we did he holter. I expected it all to be normal.
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