short of breath and not feeling anxious

[LORIANDTOM]

I have been having a lot of pvc's over the last four months and my Cardiologist says they are benign or ventricular arrythmia.  Along with these disturbing skipped beats I have been very short of breath.  I had a pulmonary function test which came out normal.  The doctors say is is stress related and want to put me on Paxil.  However, this is a constant and i don't feel stressed all the time.  Of course, sometimes I do, but I don't think this is stress related. What else could cause this?  I have also heard that Paxil can actually give you more skipped beats.  I tried beta blockers for the pvc's but they made the short of breath feeling worse.  Any idea what could cause this shortness of breath (also feels like I'm not getting the greatest circulation or fatigued)

Thanks
Lori

[muxy]

Hello all,
I've posted again because my symptoms have not gone away. My forearms, chest and face are flushed, I feel the need to take deep breaths about every 5 minutes. Aerobic tolerance is fine, altough I can count my heart rate by the throbbing sensations found in my neck. I have experienced terrible nights in which my heart pounds, my temporal arteries feel like there smashing against the pillows, and I need to take voluntary breaths because my own breaths feel inaduquate.Just when I am about to fall asleep I get these involuntary body movements that wake me, such a finger movement or shoulder movement, leg movementonce my tongue even shot out of my mouth I have had about 15 of these nights and had attributed it to alcohol consumption, but it has been 8 weeks since I have ingested any alcohol and I have now had 2 further episodes. I wonder if it is an adrenal issue or an allergy issue. Anyone have any clues?  Also my blood pressue used to be 120's/60's and 70's now it seems to usually be 140/85 and as high as 160/104. I wonder if it is the allergy or my body's normal state now and do I need to go on a pressure pill? One of the cardiology MD's at work said he thinks it may be anxiety or panic attacks. If that is so then why the red flushed skin and the daily breathing irregularities. I am having an official echo done today, also a neuro appointment, and I am seeing an allergy guy on Friday. Anybody know what these symptoms may be?

[muxy]

Hello all,
I've posted again because my symptoms have not gone away. My forearms, chest and face are flushed, I feel the need to take deep breaths about every 5 minutes. Aerobic tolerance is fine, altough I can count my heart rate by the throbbing sensations found in my neck. I have experienced terrible nights in which my heart pounds, my temporal arteries feel like there smashing against the pillows, and I need to take voluntary breaths because my own breaths feel inaduquate. I have had about 15 of these nights and had attributed it to alcohol consumption, but it has been 8 weeks since I have ingested any alcohol and I have now had 2 further episodes. I wonder if it is an adrenal issue or an allergy issue. Anyone have any clues?  Also my blood pressue used to be 120's/60's and 70's now it seems to usually be 140/85 and as high as 160/104. I wonder if it is the allergy or my body's normal state now and do I need to go on a pressure pill?

[LORIANDTOM]

Well the pvc's are back.  Not as bad but they are there, and wondering what to do about them.  Does one go to the doctor occasionally and have them give you a once over and make sure they are still benign?  I was hoping mine would magically disappear which they did for a few months.  I would guess I am still having thousands a day but am doing my best to ignore them.  I do pretty well with them but every now and then I get a bit concerned and a little freaked by them.  Talk about feeling mortal! Just looking for some guidance.

Thanks!

Lori

[muxy]

Hello Everyone,

Glad I'm not alone. Websites like this really make a difference.
Here is my story, which is continuing to evolve.
I'm 5'11" 230 lbs and 31 years old. Family history includesa grandfather who died of AMI at 35 yrs. For the past six months after ingesting alcohol I have experienced palpitations, warm flushed skin, bounding heart rate [as if I can feel the blood squeeze out of my heart], I feel a tremendous need to stretch, especially my hamstrings, my blood pressure goes up to 160's over 100's. The following night I am unable to sleep, I experience myoclonic movements just as I am nodding off[ one time my tongue shot out of my mouth]. The symptoms usually last 36 hours. I work in a hospital so I consulted a cardiologist. He said it sounded like holiday heart syndrome. Fine if that is all it was I'll just avoid alcohol. Well, it took about 2 months after experimenting with all types of alcohol to realize that any type of alcohol causes these symptoms.
One time while experiencing these symptoms I had one of the Doctor's listen to my heart. He heard an S4 and said he would do an unofficial echo on me. He did and said I did not have MR, no LVH, some TR "but everybody does", normal EF, . No AS, no, pulmonary hyprtension, but had a stiff or noncompliant left ventricle. He said this was normal in atheletes - I am very physically active- . S4 is consistant with stiff left ventricle. Not to worry he says.
However, lately I have, at times felt a warm feeling in my chest and very frequently feel the need to take a deep breath. My ecg shows NSR with sinus arrhythmia and my BP has been up 140 and 150 systolic over 80 to 95 dialstolic.  Somtimes I'm normal at 124/72. This shortness of breath is frequent and has me worried. My exercise tolerance is fine[ 45min cardio] but sometimes a couple steps and I need a deep breath -then I'm OK. THE READING THAT CONCERNS ME ISTHE PULSE OX WAVEFORM. WITH A PO2 OF 98-100 I'M OK UT THE WAVEFORM SHOWS A VARYING A WAVE WHICH IS MORE OFTEN THAN NOT PICKED UP AS PULSE. WHY IS THIS AND IS IT SIGNIFICANT? I'm having an official echo done in 2 weeks. Until then I appreciate any input.  
ps: I wore a holter moniter while drinking per MD order and had, 0 pac, 0 pvc, mean hr 88, mas hr 144, in hr 55. That was the last time I drank.

[jazzin55]

Oh My Gosh!!!  The last two posts I read are exactly me.  I've been suffering from this "panic/anxiety" disorder for the past year and I tell you my life has never been the same.  I suffer from heart palpitations, to "what if" thinking, to tingling feelings in my hands and arms.  I've never been tested to see if I'm pre-menopausal, but after reading the last two posts, I may be experiencing pre-menopausal.  I'm afraid of everything, especially when my heart (I think) feels as though it's skipped a beat or that my pulse is pounding so hard it feels like it's going to pound right out of my body.  I've seen a doctor only once and he did some blood work and said that my thyroid was borderline and that my cholesterol was high and my blood pressure was slightly high (first time in my life).  So, I've thought myself into having every possible thing the matter with me.  Today, I am soooooooooooo afraid to go to the doctor and Lord knows I should.  I don't know why I have such a tremendous fear.  I know this post is totally off the point, but after reading so many posts here, I had to comment.  I worked myself up into a panic after reading many of the posts.  Well, thanks for listening.

[LORIANDTOM]

You pegged my symptoms pretty well!  I have found that the xanax only helps slightly as well (does this mean it's not mental?)  I had a pulmonary function test and chest x-ray that came out normal but this shortness of breath persists.  I don't know whether to go to a Doctor or psychologist!  It's tough because it IS a physical symptom even if it's caused by a mental state.  My pvc's have calmed down, yet this symptom still continues.

Where do we go from here?  

Lori

[nansus]

For the past 2 weeks I have the sensation that I cannot take a deep breathe.  Occasionally I can take a deep breath and feel fine for about 1 minute then the sensation returns.  The doctor checked my blood work for my thyroid levels which were good, did a CBC and Sed Rate and also Hormones. He said it is fine except it shows I am pre menapausal.  He told me to take Xanax which only helps a little bit with the breathing.  I keep thinking this could be a cardiac problem.  He says no. I am so tired now after taking the xanax, but I cannot stand this feeling anymore.
I also have MVP which the doctor said is very mild. Could this feeling be possibly because I'm pre-menapausal?  It is so hard to believe.

[LORIANDTOM]

So tapering of xanax can cause shortness of breath or just the drug itself.  I have been taking it for 4 months and began tapering off a month ago- am only taking .25 mg a day right now.  However, I have had shortness of breath for about 3 months.

Has anyone out there had good luck with paxil or zoloft and the shortness of breath or know of any self-help things to try.

Thanks

Lori

[trudyjh]

General comments:

A couple of people in this thread have mentioned taking xanax and ativan.  Both of these can cause addiction, that is, if you continue to take the same dose over some period of time, your body gets adapted to it and unless you take more you will start having withdrawal symptoms.  Shortness of breath is one of the worst.  Withdrawal can require a very slow tapering off over several months, as addiction to benzodiazapines(sp?) is the worst from a physical dependency point of view.  Even very low doses, like a 1/2 mg a day of ativan can cause addition if taken long enough.

Also I know I get very short of breath when I am having frequent pacs, and I think, personally, that pvcs make me feel worse than pacs.  I don't care if the heart is structurally normal, it just is plain inefficient when it doesn't have enough blood to pump because of these premature beats.

Someone mentioned feeling really really non-functional.  I have had that happen at a time when I was fortunately wearing a heart monitor, and it was SVT, super ventricular tachycardia.  I have never had svt show up in the doctor's office and they wouldn't have known about it except for this chance.  The doc put me on digoxin for it.

[hilfgirl33]

About 2 months ago I was sitting at my computer (not feeling anxious) when I got a palpitation (which I would get from time to time), but I immediately felt light-headed, short of breath, sick to my stomach.  I wound up at the ER with heart rate in the 140's that did not return to normal for 3-4 hours.  I was sent home on beta blockers.  Two days later I had another episode of tachycardia but not precipitated by the palpitation.  I was worked up with echo, Holter and an event monitor.  The Holter showed 22 skipped beats but I was on 50 mg of Atenolol at the time.  The cardiologist actually did not say it was anxiety and I almost wish he had because he couldn't find anything wrong.  I do have some hormonal problems (I have polycystic ovarian syndrome) and he felt that it could be related to that - the hormones making my heart freak out.  He had no suggestions other than staying on Atenolol or taking it as needed.  I really think the Atenolol made me feel worse.  However, I really started to pay close attention to when I got a lot of these palpitations.  After this happened, I was feeling anxious and scared then and I was treating myself to a lot of goodies.  After eating an extra sugary piece of cake one night, I felt like I was in a tunnel, dizzy and just weird.  That night and especially the next morning, my heart rate was above normal and I felt really bad.   I started thinking about my blood sugars and insulin.  I do not have diabetes, but I believe my heart does not like when I eat too much sugar or high carb foods.   I have been following a diet called the Insulin Resistance diet which is not drastic at all, but it does cut back on carbs and you have to link them with protein when you eat them.  Anyway, I just really started this but I haven't noticed as many cardiac symptoms and if I cheat, I feel racy.  

I am now taking Ativan, too, because the anxiety of this happening has me half crazy and I figure if I didn't have stress hormones before and I had these episodes, I don't need to pile them on now.

Anyone ever notice anything similar?  I think my body has decided to go haywire for a while and I'm trying to lasso it back on track!!

[LORIANDTOM]

I do notice one thing- the more pvc's, the more shortness of breath?  Does anyone know if this can be a part of the PVC's?

Thanks

Lori

[Susan @ Manderley]

hi - with the shortness of breath thing I have found the more you focus on it the more you will be aware of it until it's dominating your life.
I have general anxiety disorder as well as the pvc/pac's and have episodes of this breathing thing.  
I think another important point is that many people who experience these heart flutters really cut down on exercise for fear of bringing them on and this leads to an overall state of being very unfit - hence shortness of breath.
Also - try reading a good book on hyperventilation.  More often than not a low level of hyperventilation can cause these symptoms more or less constantly and it's a fairly simple thing to re-train your breathing.
Hope this helps
Susan :)

[art123]

I have had PVC's for years and no one seems to be able to offer any help. I get them primarly when leaning over, turning  or bending head and while standing. Lately they seem to make me dizzy and weak. In addition after experiencing one heart will start to beat fast. I have had stress test, echo and everything seems to be fine except for some sort of "leakage" which doctors say is not a problem. Burping seems to help when heart goes out of rhythm. Is there anything I can do? Thank you

[LORIANDTOM]

THEY HAD ME TRY ZOLOFT WHICH MADE MY PVC'S WORSE AND WANTED ME TO TRY PAXIL, BUT I DID NOT THINKING I MIGHT HAVE THE SAME REACTION AS THE ZOLOFT.  I TAKE XANAX WHICH CAN MAKE ME TIRED, BUT NOT IF I TAKE A SMALL DOSE.  I BREAK IT IN HALF AND FIND IF I NEED MORE THEN JUST TAKE THE OTHER HALF AND DEAL WITH THE GROGGINESS.  I FOUND THEY MADE ME LESS GROGGY THAN THE ATIVAN.

YOU MAY HAVE BETTER LUCK WITH THE ANTI-DEPRESSANTS THAN I DID- A LOT OF PEOPLE DO.

LORI

[pete1]

I was told anxiety as well for short of breath and different things. Was given ativan that does help but makes me very tired. Is there anything else that doesn't make you want to go to sleep? I am starting a new job in a week and can not feel like that all the time.

[anscrochet]

My husband had the shortness of breath too. Of course he ended up with heart failure, but the worse one he had I brought him to the emergency room. He was loaded withe water in his legs ankles and feet., and they found water in his lungs. He has diaabetes melitis,they think that caused the water in his limbs and lungs.They said the heart had to work extra hard because of the water thats why comes up with shortness of  breath.  You should check out for diabetes too. Does anyone know how to get rid of the water? Lasix   istnt helping much

[cgard1234]

Hello All,

Well I read through some of these forums and was shocked at how many people are having these odd symptoms, the doctors don't provide any real answers it seems....Here is what I had and here is how i remedied it:

I am a 25 year old male, last your I started feeling a "rush" through my chest, as if I was on a roller coaster. This progressed over a couple months to heart palpitations (i could  feel my heart beating, and i could even see my stomach moving with the beating of it-- what the hell?) With this, came intense periods of high heart rate,high blood pressure, chest pains, and worst of all shortness of breath!! My god I feel for Asthmatics or anyone that has ever felt short of breath. With this a lot of other random symptoms came about, sometimes sore feet, occasional feelings of weakness in my arms even tho they werent weak....Anyways to get to the bottom of this I went to the emergency room 3 times, and have been to the doctor's about 8 times. EKG, blood, urine all show nothing, my doctor said it sounds like stress. AT 25!?

I didnt feel stressed at all, but given that several doctors were telling me thats what it was I gave them the benefit of the doubt.   I have one word for you... ZOLOFT.

Of course I am not a doctor, but the only thing that has helped me through my year of hell was Zoloft. My doctor said that I could have a chemical imbalance, causing various symptoms like the ones i had described to happen, and that if I took Zoloft for a few months my body could "retrain" itself to function properly. (this was the only thing that could logically explain to me the many different symptoms I was having)  So I took it for 3 months. Well for the first time in over a year I feel like a normal person again! Thank you Pfizer! Do I sound like a Pfizer commercial yet? It took 6 weeks before I felt better, and in my third month I felt like a normal person again, what a relief.

I am now off Zoloft and appear to be functioning normally...with no major side effects at all while I was taking it  ( sleeplessness on occasion but that was it) However, I cant stress enough the importance of a good diet and regular exercise! Get those endorphins pumping through your system, it makes a big difference.

Well anyways, I may be way off topic for the most part, but I too have had scary symptons in the past and thought I was going to die in some cases, it took over a year to even identify what the problem "might" be and now I feel much better. I used to think that I was invulnerable, at 25 what could possibly go wrong.... I was healthy, ran in track and field, but sometimes things do happen to us, and I wish you all luck in your road to recovery with whatever ails you. Take care of yourself
CG

[wilson-wilson]

http://www.drweil.com/app/cda/drw_cda.php

[CCF-M.D.-CRC]

Dear Lori,
It's hard to say if there is a connection between the PVCs and the shortness of breath.  Anxiety could cause both symptoms.  I suppose it couldn't hurt to try the Paxil and see how you do.  If there is no improvement then other potential causes must be considered.

[LORIANDTOM]

I GOT MY HOLTER MONITOR REPORT AND I HAD 15,000 PVC'S IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD.  THEY WANT TO PUT ME IN THE HOSPITAL TO TRY SOME ANTI ARRYTHMIA DRUGS-ON MONDAY.  WOULD THAT MANY PVC'S CAUSE SHORTNESS OF BREATH OR DO I HAVE SOMETHING ELSE TO WORRY ABOUT?  I KNOW IT IS NOT ANXIETY- AND XANAX DOESN'T HELP WITH IT EITHER.
I AM CONCERNED ABOUT THE SHORTNESS OF BREATH AND STARTING THESE MEDS-MY CARDIOLOGIST ISN'T TOO CONCERNED.
LORI

[pete1]

I get that same feeling too. I have also been told anxiety but it doesn't fit. I feela as if at times I can not get a deep enough breath. I beleave that after that feeling I get some anxiety. Who wouldn't. Sorry I don't have any answers...

[LORIANDTOM]

WHEN MY SYMPTOMS FIRST BEGAN I HAD SINUS TACHYCARDIA AND IT CAUSED ME TO BE SHORT OF BREATH AND ANXIETY DOES MAKE IT WORSE.  NOW I AM SHORT OF BREATH ALL THE TIME AND I DON'T NECCESARILY FEEL ANXIOUS AT ALL- MINE IS MORE OF A CONSTANT THING.  BUT I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH AND THE FEAR OF WHAT'S GOING ON CAN MAKE YOUR HEART RATE GO VERY FAST

LORI

[snhn]

Its kind of the feeling I had yesterday.  out of he blue I started to feel.  LIke I was out of breath.  So I went to get some water.  On way back I startd to feel strange in my head, like I was going to pass out.  I had 3 episodes of these types of feeling.  I actully did not pass out but was tembling all over the place. My hear rate jumped to 150 or more.

I told my Boss to give me a ride to the hopitol.  They did blood tests, EKG, Some Lung test.  iTs a test whihc a machine goes around and takes picture of it.  Anywasy all camm fine.  

Final conclusion, anxiety and stress, and was give Valium. I told them to give me a Cat scan to see if everything is ok in my head, but the doc said, everythin is good.  You were just anxious and when that happens, you tend to faint sometimes, and your hear rate canjum as high as your did.  160.  There were no irregularites, it was just fast.. Sinus tachicrda.  

What I dont understand is, why was I about to faint.  I mean it scard the day lights off me.  

Please any comments will definitely appreciated.  I would try asking this to Doc here in this forum but evertime I do that, the message says, we are full of the qutoa for the day.

Any one out who felt like this before and can some light on this matter.  I even felt like it this mornging.  Took a valium, it helped a little bit bu my heart is sitll beatin at about 110...

[Loni]

Believe it or not, if you hyperventilate you will feel very short of breath, dizzy, faint and it can cause PVC's and PAC's to become much worse.  There are lots of Web Sites with breathing exercises (one of the best is Dr Weil, I don't know the URL but if you do a seach on Weil you will find it).

My friend is a diabetic and she occasionally hyperventilates (I don't understand the mechanics of this but if you are diabetic you shouldn't do the breathing exercises).  When she does hyperventilate she has many 1000's of PVC's.

Have you had your blood sugar checked?  It might be worthwhile.

Hope this helps a bit.

Loni