Tachycarida, palps and very low BP....please help!

[meg_02]

I'm a 34 year old female

[Cleveland Clinic]

Yours is a complicated case: you may have POTS or inappropriate sinus tachycardia, but this is difficult to treat because of your slow pulse and blood pressure. You may need a pacemaker to prevent any pauses or slow heart rate, if the clonidine or beta blocker takes away the tachycardic symptoms.
I am not sure why you have low blood pressure any more than I know why millions of people have high blood pressure: genetics and lifestyle are its main components.
The ASD may cause atrial dilatation and in time right ventricular dysfunction which could possibly cause your symptoms. If an ASD/VSD was diagnosed in the past you probably should have a repeat Echocardiogram to document its closure, and right sided enlargement. You also may benefit from ASD/VSD closure.

[meg_02]

Thank you so much for your answer!  My cardiologist seems a little lost at the moment, so if he doesn't share the same views as you, I will prob go to a new Doc.  You have helped me greatly and I very much appreciate it!!

[meg_02]

My message didn't post correctly, so here it is again....

I'm a 34 year old female.  In 1995 I had an ablation for SVT with AV node reentry.  I was told that it was successful and the continued palps (skipped beats) I felt would become unnoticed in time.  I continue to have the palps, only more often as the years pass.  My skipped beats are constant and cause me frequent dizziness as well as loss of breath (when skipped beats are back to back).  I recently had a loop monitor and was told once again, that my skipped beats are nothing to worry about.  

I have been suffering with low BP for a long while now.  My systolic resides in the 70's and 80's.  My distolic can range from 33 to the upper 50's.  I'm constantly dizzy, feeling faint, confused and tired; having blurred vision.  I've managed to keep from completely fainting when I feel I am about to.
A week ago, I failed a tilt table test, only after I took the nitro tablet.  My heart rate skyrocketed in seconds, while my BP plummeted.  The Doc put me on Clonidine, suspecting POTS Syndrome, but took me off it a couple days later due to lower BP readings and a pulse in the upper 40's and low 50's.  He is going to start me on a Beta Blocker, and I am worried it will have the same effect as the Clonidine.

I also suffer from exercise induced tachycardia.  When I start to exercise, in a matter of a couple minutes, my heart rate jumps to over 200.  I then feel chest tightness and pain; pain in the left side of my neck, shoulder and arm; numbness and tingling in my left hand and fingers; and dizzyness.  My Doc is concerned with this, but says he currently doesn't have answers.

I do not know if the tachycardia is causing my low BP, or if the skipped beats are too frequent, causing the tachycardia and low BP.  My main concern is, what could be causing my low BP??  I've had nothing show up in my blood work and am generally healthy otherwise.  

After a 1999 Echocardiogram, the initial report was read as small ASD and small perimembranous VSD.  After a meeting with another cardiologist, MY cardiologist decided against the ASD (although he said his partner still believed he saw a small ASD).  He stated there may be a very small, perimembranous ventricular septal defect, although he wasn't positive.  Could any of this be the cause of my low BP, tachycardia, or skipped beats?

I very much welcome any help anyone can give me!!  Thanks!