Info?

[wyogurl2010]

Hello. I am a 22 year old female. Revently my fiance and I had to relocate to a town that I don't know anyone and I am kinda far from anyone I know and so I had been having some anxiety and stressin out that I was home alone alot while he was out on the rails. Anyway I had been having some heart thing going on so I went into the ER and they said I had an extra heart beat and that my pulse was high. I do have high blood pressure and have been on pills for a few years now. Anyhow, he checked my potassium, white blood cells, and thyroid by blood and it came up all normal. My EKG showed that I wasn't having a heart attack just the extra heart beat. He put me on a medicine called Anteolol 25mlg. Its a beta blocker. I have been stressing alot more and stuff because I am affraid this is a heart condition that is going to kill me or make me have a heart attack. Is this a cardiac desease? Do many people have this and live a long time? I do see a regular dr in a few weeks. I guess he will determind if I see a cardioligist or not. Anyway, can you please help me. Thank you so much for your help.

Michelle
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[cindy707]

Hi i read your post and what you have in the extra beat on occasion is called an extrasystole and millions of humans get them and many don't even know it.  I agree with globalhiking that you may very well just be reacting to the change your life has taken and this may all be anxiety based.  You want to keep in mind that when moving into a new town or city people are only strangers to you until you say hello the first time and then start a converation and they are no longer strangers at all.  I also am on antenolol at the same dosage and it works well for me in correcting a racing and irregular heart and i have no side effects what so ever.  It is a pretty light beta blocker in the BB family and my heart doc says that eventually it will be a maintenance medication that even healthy humans will take because it is actually pretty good for our hearts and bodies.  You would go through some pretty crazy symtoms if you were having a heart attack and the odds are totally with you that you will not especially at your age...you'd have a better chance of winning the lottery than having a heart attack i swear.  It sounds to me like your emotions are all over the place with the adjustment that you are making with the move and until you get to a safe place in your heart and mind with this your imagination may just be taking over....i would seriously give the doc a call that gave you the antenolol and tell him that you are so stressed out and not dealing well with it and ask him/her if there is a little something that they could give you for just say a couple of weeks to get you over this hurdle of adjustment.  I know that for myself a number of years ago i too moved with my two daughters when they were very young at that time to Southern California , i live in Northern California and it took me a good 2 months to feel like i could get into the swing of things and began exploring the area....i didn't feel safe, no friends, a career move, all of it....once i accepted it i had alot of fun unfortunately right after i began enjoying the area i was in something happened and i moved back home up north....but i still go there for vacations at times....relax...try to find new things to do, a way to meet new people that is a safe environment for you, diversion is the best in forgetting issues of the heart when it can be forgotten,,,,good luck to you my friend.....

[globalhiking]

Hi Michelle,

Sorry to hear about having to relocate somewhere where you don't know anybody, that can be real tough.

Extra heart beats can be a natural occurance in otherwise healthy prople.
By any chance would you know the type you had? Atrial (top part of your heart) or Ventricular (bottom part)?
Usually atrial ectopic (when electrical signals for a heartbeat originate in the wrong part of the heart muscle) beats are potentially less severe than venticular ones.
Do you know how many there were on the ECG trace?
Ventricular ectopic beats can be caused by a few things, but the biggest culprit is usually a low potassium level (hypokalemia), and yours came back normal, so that is a good thing :-)
as is having a normal thyroid function.

You mentioned that you suffer from high blood pressure - What was your BP before you were put on Atenolol? and what it is now?

What other symptoms do you have in general, and with those extra heart beats?

Do you have a family history of heart disease?

You did not mentioned other tests you had beside the blood draws, but those might be useful ones to ask your Dr to rule out any more severe problems, or alleviate your fears about heart attacks -

Holter monitor
Treadmill execise stress test
Echocardiogram
Tilt table (do you have any dizzy spells or lightheadedness when you have those extra
                beats?)  
Other blood test you could have are - Magnesium and Calcium levels; Total Cholesterol + HDL LDL; Triglyceride; Homocysteine; CRP (C Reactive Protein).

Maybe with more information I could be more useful :-)

Keep us posted.