Heart problem following child birth

[goodeys]

gave birth to my son on 12th feb. I didn't feel well the day after which i just ignored as i would imagine no well feels too hot after a 15 hr back  to back labour. 2 days after the birth i thought that I had an infection as i just didn't feel right, my midwife did a swab and sent it off. I then went down hill quickly that afternoon and my husband called the do ctor out. Doctor called for an ambulance and i wazs taken back to the maternity hospital where they treated my infection. During all this I started to devlop some chest pain which ignored and put it down to stress. " days of antibiotics and I collaped/fainted. When i came to they sent me to the local a and e. Before I collapsed i remember feeling the chest pain and had the worse headache ever when i came to. The hospital, ct scanned my head and did chest x-rays, Stayed in intensive care and the chest pain got worse each day and went through to my back. They reassured me that my heart was fine. I ended up staying in hospital for four weeks, chest pain got worse and never disappeared, same with the pain in my back. I have had echo's done since then and have had a chect CT on 26th Feb. all are apparently normal, all ecgs are normal.

However my pulse now races all of the time or it is really slow under 50 beats per minute. I feel like I am dying. I also have lots of ectopic beats (extra beats) when my heart is now and I also now have an arrythmia. The doctors are strying to write it all of to anxiety and i swear on my childs life that I know that this is my heart and not my mind. I have suffered with anxiety in the past so i know the difference. The colour of me seems to change too, all of a sudden I will be white then I will be a purple sort of colour.

The doctors are willing to do no more and I am seeing a private cardiologist and am awaiting results from an echo and a 48 hour ecg holter test. He has said though that my echo looks normal.

I also wake up with burning pins and needles down both arms. I get some pins and needles when awake and this is not through my breathing. I get tight crushing on my chest and back and the pain never goes. I get shooting pains up my left arm and sometimes my right arm too and my pulse just races even when I am relaxed. Sometimes i feel short of breath and over the last few days I have developed that god awful headache on the left side of my head.  My blood pressure is 140/100 most of the time which is very starnge for me as I have always had low blood pressure, the highest my blood presuure got when i was pregnant was 120/80.

Please can someone help me. I know that something has been missed as when the pain is really bad my heart beats slow so I know that it is not a panic attack. I also feel dizzy at times and have a fullness to my neck which sometimes turns in to a sharp pain up the left hand side.

I know that I have something serious but it is just being missed, no matter how many times I tell myself that it couldn't be missed and that it is not my heart it just gets worse.

What could cause the pain, tachycardia-bradycardia ectopics and arrythmia. I feel like I have strained a heart muscle or something during birth.

please Help I am sure that I am dying. It gets worse each day and it has gone on for almost 8 weeks - i know that if this isn't sorted soon then it will kill me.

Many thanks in advance and I promise that i am not crazy!!!
x


This discussion is related to irregular hearbeat post partum.

[RNichols8]

I realize this thread is very old but I have the exact same symptoms of you.  I am now 3 months postpartum, but it started about 3 weeks pp.  Please let me know what you figured out.  DId it go away on its own or with help?  If so, how long?  Thanks!

[ireneo]

Have you looked at PPCM (post partum cardiomyopathy)?  It does happen sometimes. Perhaps the holter results will help determine what's going on. There's also the chance of post partum depression. I had a bit of that after my firstborn. But I didn't have the symptoms you're having. I just wanted to run away from home :-)