Just heart arrhythmia?

[underinformed]

I am a thirty five year old female. Last week I woke up feeling nauseated and very hot. I got up and then became very dizzy, very nauseated and so hot. I had to lay in the flood for about fifteen minutes. During this time my chest felt tight. That passed and every since that happened I have had a very irregular heart rate. It goes fast and then slow with some chest pain, blood pressure is up and down, jaw pain and left arm tingling on and off for about five days. I went to the doctor who referred me to a cardiologist. They did an ekg and echocardiogram and both were normal. The doctor said since your oxygen level is low (84)you must have pneumonia, so did a chest x-ray and ct scan. They were normal. He said he was not sure what was going on and wanted to do a 24 hour monitor. Did that and when I went back my ekg was not normal and the results of the monitor were high and low heart rate with almost constant irregular beats. He did not give me a name for the beats, or address the abnormal ekg but prescribed a beta blocker. I am just not sure that it is just that. I felt fine until whatever happened last week. Since then I have not been right. Please advise...

[CollegeGirl143]

Call your doctor and ask for an explanation of the holter monitor..  You need to be able to identify what exactly is going on before anyone can advise.

[Artaud]

Hi,

You mention that your Oxygen Level is 84%, is this with a Pulse OX Sensor (on your finger tip) or from an ABG (Arterial Blood Gas), which is blood extracted from an Artery (deep needle puncture, often into the wrist and past the wrist bones) and analyzed for various gases (CO2, O2, etc.)?

Sometimes people develop a pattern in their arrhythmia. These patterns are known as Bigeminy, Trigeminy, Quadrigeminy and probably others. Although people with normal hearts develop these patterns and are not a sign of a problem with their hearts, other times people develop them and it indicates that something else is wrong. One of the things that can cause these arrhythmia patterns is Hypoxia, or too little oxygen in your blood.

A Bigeminy pattern is a normal beat, followed by a PVC, followed by a normal beat, etc. Trigeminy is two normal beats, followed by a PVC, followed by a normal beat, etc. You can see that this would indeed cause many many irregular beats.

You should ask your Doctor to provide more details about your condition. You need this knowledge to make educated choices about your health. Ask the Doctor to explain what he/she has found, and ask him/her what the goals are of their treatment plan. If you have Low Blood Oxygen, and the Cardiologist has not found the cause, it may be time to pursue another Doctor for a cause not related to your heart.

Please let the forum know how you progress.

Best wishes for health and happiness.

[underinformed]

Thank you for your response.
The oxygen level was just taken from my finger.
I have to go back in a week for another 24 hour monitor and plan to get the doctor to explain better or get another doctor. This doctor is just very vague, even when asked direct questions. I started the beta blocker last night and started having trouble seeing and left arm numbness and still having chest pressure. It does not mention that being a side effect but I sure don't feel any better. Hopefully it just takes a while.
Thank you for your explanation. that was more than I got from the doctor!

[dolfnlvr]

I would suggest that you call your cardiologist immediately to discuss the newest symptoms.  As you said, these are not typical side effects of beta blockers.  Actually, BB's usually cause extreme fatigue at first...most other side effects are masked by the sleepiness....  But  chest pressure, arm numbness, dizziness and a sweaty hot feeling are all symptoms of heart attack (not saying that's what's going on.....).  You should call the Dr. and explain your symptoms EXACTLY.  If you do not get an appropriate response, you should go to the ER and have a workup done...this will include a cardiac enzyme test (a simple blood test--and the one test you do not describe having completed during your exam). It is always better to be safe than sorry...and no ER doctor would blame you for coming in, even if it turned out to be "nothing."  

A good friend of mine works in an ER.  They get several panic attacks a week, that mimic heart attacks.  Even the Dr.'s can't tell the difference until after a complete work-up, and they ALWAYS tell patients that it is better to be safe than sorry.  

Get your symptoms checked out.  And if everything is "A-OKAY" then rest easy knowing that you are on your way to a better understanding of what is going on.

[underinformed]

Thank you for responding.
About the blood test, I did have one but when I asked about that, they said they did not have the results back yet. I feel some better today, just like you said extremely tired and symptoms still come and go. I am very close to going to the ER if things get worse.

[marlinspike]

Just wanted to offer my support. When I was diagnosed with multiple ectopics (I'm in the UK), it was difficult to get any info from the doctors - they tend to be a bit dismissive and not tell you what is going on. You must persevere to get a full explanation - otherwise your mind will never be at rest. Don't be afraid of going to the ER either - that is what it is there for. It could be something as simple as a viral infection, but better to be on the safe side, especially with symptoms like chest pain. Best wishes.

[underinformed]

Thank you all for responding.
I have been getting worse and worse. I have been trying to call the doctor since Monday with no response. I finally just made an appointment with a different doctor for Friday and they told me to reduce the Nadolol to one a day until I go in. I got so bad last night with a new symptom (it felt like my heart was shivering, I got so sick, my husband said that I turned blue) that we called EMS. It took them about fifteen minutes to get here and by then it was gone. They said only that my blood pressure was high. I also finally got my results back from my heart monitor and blood tests today, by calling and asking them for the records department. The doctor had not even reviewed the blood tests yet! The results were ok as far as I can tell, I think on the blood tests. The only things out of normal range were hemoglobin which was high and MPV which was low. So I guess my electolytes are good, but not sure if these others mean anything. Like I said, can't get a call back from the doctor! The holter results were minimum heart rate of 49, max 158, 5300 isolated pvc's, 4800 pvcs in a bigeminal pattern. Only one pac. Is that alot? From reading on here I have learned that these are not dangerous, but I am still having all the other symptoms on and off and then this other thing that has started which totally freaked me out. It really hurt and made me shake all over while it was quivering. Has anyone ever felt that before? The pvcs are one thing, but this I can not handle.

[Tjalsma]

I have felt similar symptoms to what you are experiencing, most of mine related to stress/anxiety.  I have also woke up in the middle of the night feeling dizzy and sweaty.  Sometimes, postural changes can effect your heart rate and cause palpitations.  My occasional night sweats, I believe, are most likely due to me being borderline hypoglycemic.

I wish you the best of luck!  

One word of warning, if your heart is in fact normal, which it sounds like it is, your Doctor will not be able to tell you why you are experiencing what you are.  The only way you can get a definite answer is if there is, in fact, something wrong.

Don't drink caffeine, try to reduce stress