heart races and pounds in chest

2 months ago I started feeling numbness and pain in my left arm and chest. This had been happening for a few days in a row. I noticed it came on shortley after drinking coffee so I stopped. A day later at work Was sitting down and all of a sudden my vision started to dissapear from the outsides inward like tuinnel vision in both eyes. At the same time my head felt like it was on fire like a hot flash. When my vision came back it was blurry and hazy and I now have several floaters in each eye. My coworker took me to the ER. On the way my left hand turned a dark red/blue color and my fingers started to cramp. When I got to the ER I could barely talk I was so scared. For a few weeks I have these symptoms. Bad pain for two weeks in the back of my head torward the base of my scull. My left side of face goes numb everyday, pain in the top of left hand, muscle cramps in bicepts. Tingling/numbness in nose, hands feel week, my heart races from normal 75 bpm to 115 bpm just by doing simple tasks like walking five feet to the bathroom, hip pain, eyes feel dry and stiff and hurt just by trying to open them in the morning, headaches everyday the list goes on and on. I had a brain mri, echocardiogram, corotid duplex, stress w/cardiolites, thyroid bloodwork, comprehensive metabolic panel, nerve conduction test, lyme test, event monitor that I am currently wearing. All test have com back normal except the event monitor where the cardio doc sees the spikes in hb. My primary doc has no idea whats wrong and the nuero on can say complicated migraine. I have been on amitryptiline for over a month with no help. Optho says he cant find any damage to eyes but states he sees all the floaters. Two ER docs stated possible ms, the cardio doc said maybe lupus or collagen vascular disease. This is ruining my life. Please help!!!!

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

time to see a rheumatologist.  that is too many organ systems to be purely cardiac.  It is reassuring that the other tests are negative, but you do need an answer.  I think a rheumatologist is the best place to look for an answer.

I hope this helps.

[tickertock]

Have you seen a rheumatologist?

[kitcurious]

Agree with tickertock.  My first thought reading this was also migraine, but you should also see a rheumatologist, as they are great at diagnosing peculiar combinations of symptoms that don't have a specific diagnosis in the other specialties.

[rowjer]

My primary sent a rheumatologist a referal a few days ago. I called to make an appointment but they said they are so booked that the doctor would read the referal and they would let me know if he will see me. They said I would find out Monday. Guess I am in holding until then. I also have an appointment next week with a new primary. Idont feel my primary has my best interest so I am switching after two months of paying tons of co-pays with no results. Thanks for responding.

[tickertock]

Just get an appointment as soon as you can, usually its just misery and nothing life threatening , I know as a sufferer of ankylosing spondylitis which for me is acting up quite bad right now, I thought it had given me a break, then it reared its ugly head and unbelievable symptoms, but you know what I don't give it a nurse bottle and I keep going. As usual DR.MJM knows the right direction to point you to, his contribution to this forum words just can't express its value.Good luck.

[LukeL]

While it may seem underhanded, if you really want to see a doctor now, go back to the ER, say you have a tentative dx of some rheumatoid condition(somewhat true) and you are having another flair up. They will probably call a rheumatoligist for a consult and that way you can get the  ball rolling.

I know this sounds bad but hospitals are so overbooked nowadays that sometimes the only way to get things done is to bend the rules a little bit. I had a doctor give me a dx of a malignant tumor (the tumor had about a 5% chance of spreading or turning into cancer) so medicaid would cover it, then after the biopsy results came back he changed it to benign.