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Pericarditis, or something else?
by FaithNoMore, Jul 04, 2009 07:57AM
I'm male, 29 yrs old.
It all started with Flu like symptoms, which lead to a sinus infection that clogged my ears, causing usual symptoms of dizziness, etc. I was treated with antihistamines and NSAIDS, and docycycline, an antibiotic.
Soon after starting the doxy, I started feeling pains on the left side of my chest area. Sometimes in the front, right below the chest, sometimes on the left ribs, but more often than not directly to the right of my shoulder blade on the left side. The pain was not muscular. I also experienced occasional difficulty breathing deeply when laying down. Sometimes the pain seemed to subside when sitting up... sometimes not.
For 3 days I experiences a lot of premature beats... one every 2-3 minutes... and palpitations along with those.
My blood pressure was fine, my resting bpm was around 62.. and sometimes it would be slightly elevated, from 70-80, due to stress.
I went to an internist, who ran an ECG and got some abnormality back. He seemed to believe it's Pericarditis, ran a lot of blood tests and got everything back normal. That same night the pain got worse, so I went to ER... where they ran enzymes, got negative... and still got the abnormality in the ECG. My internist compared the two, and saw a difference... what seemed to be mild improvement from earlier in the day. He had given me a regimen of 400-600mg of Ibuprofen every 8 hours daily... so he assumed it had already started kicking in... that, combined with my symptoms, and showing the ECGs to a cardiologist, to him, confirmed the diagnosis.
However, I'm not completely sure of it. I hear a lot about the pain pericarditis is supposed to cause... and I only have mild occasional sharp pains in those areas. Sometimes it's dull and stays for a prolonged amount of time.
My premature beats stopped, but I'm still feeling the pain... and now I've developed different palpitations, where I can feel thumping sometimes when I breath out, in my neck area. Seems to be due to a dramatic decrease in pulse when I expire, a strong sinus arrhythmia (which I've read is supposed to be a good sign)
But the main concerning factor is that In novermber 2008 I suffered similar symptoms (minus premature beats), went to ER then followed up with a Pcp, who ran an Echo, did another ECG, etc, and said I had a benign variant, or something of the kind...a slightly abnormal ECG that appeared to be ok.
Now it's the weekend, and I'll be seeing the internist, along with a cardiologist next week. But I'm worried and anxious to know what's going on. If I had gotten similar results before, is it possible that the Pericarditis diagnosis is wrong? That perhaps this cardiac variant is not as benign as supposed, and it's causing other arrhythmias?
I've read that new research indicates that a benign rhythm variant- previously supposed to be benign- can greatly increase chances of dangerous arrhythmia, and lead to sudden death. Obviously that, coupled with my other symptoms of pain and occasional shortness of breath scared me... and I was wondering if anyone would be able to shed some light into the situation.
Thanks!
It all started with Flu like symptoms, which lead to a sinus infection that clogged my ears, causing usual symptoms of dizziness, etc. I was treated with antihistamines and NSAIDS, and docycycline, an antibiotic.
Soon after starting the doxy, I started feeling pains on the left side of my chest area. Sometimes in the front, right below the chest, sometimes on the left ribs, but more often than not directly to the right of my shoulder blade on the left side. The pain was not muscular. I also experienced occasional difficulty breathing deeply when laying down. Sometimes the pain seemed to subside when sitting up... sometimes not.
For 3 days I experiences a lot of premature beats... one every 2-3 minutes... and palpitations along with those.
My blood pressure was fine, my resting bpm was around 62.. and sometimes it would be slightly elevated, from 70-80, due to stress.
I went to an internist, who ran an ECG and got some abnormality back. He seemed to believe it's Pericarditis, ran a lot of blood tests and got everything back normal. That same night the pain got worse, so I went to ER... where they ran enzymes, got negative... and still got the abnormality in the ECG. My internist compared the two, and saw a difference... what seemed to be mild improvement from earlier in the day. He had given me a regimen of 400-600mg of Ibuprofen every 8 hours daily... so he assumed it had already started kicking in... that, combined with my symptoms, and showing the ECGs to a cardiologist, to him, confirmed the diagnosis.
However, I'm not completely sure of it. I hear a lot about the pain pericarditis is supposed to cause... and I only have mild occasional sharp pains in those areas. Sometimes it's dull and stays for a prolonged amount of time.
My premature beats stopped, but I'm still feeling the pain... and now I've developed different palpitations, where I can feel thumping sometimes when I breath out, in my neck area. Seems to be due to a dramatic decrease in pulse when I expire, a strong sinus arrhythmia (which I've read is supposed to be a good sign)
But the main concerning factor is that In novermber 2008 I suffered similar symptoms (minus premature beats), went to ER then followed up with a Pcp, who ran an Echo, did another ECG, etc, and said I had a benign variant, or something of the kind...a slightly abnormal ECG that appeared to be ok.
Now it's the weekend, and I'll be seeing the internist, along with a cardiologist next week. But I'm worried and anxious to know what's going on. If I had gotten similar results before, is it possible that the Pericarditis diagnosis is wrong? That perhaps this cardiac variant is not as benign as supposed, and it's causing other arrhythmias?
I've read that new research indicates that a benign rhythm variant- previously supposed to be benign- can greatly increase chances of dangerous arrhythmia, and lead to sudden death. Obviously that, coupled with my other symptoms of pain and occasional shortness of breath scared me... and I was wondering if anyone would be able to shed some light into the situation.
Thanks!
Member Comments (2)
by FaithNoMore, Jul 04, 2009 08:01AM
I should also mention that ever since my Flu symptoms I've had insomnia... and fatigue for a good chunk of the day.
by FaithNoMore, Jul 05, 2009 02:56AM
Does anyone have any ideas?
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