Aa
abnormal ekg
I'm a 41 year, weigh about 125lbs.and am 5'4". I exercise at least 3 days a week and eat pretty healthy.
I was just diagnosed with RBBB. All the other cardiac tests came back normal, but I am still having chest pain,which radiate down my arm and in my back,light-headedness, extreme fatique,shortness of breathe,and headaches. My family doctor wants to put me on Fludttocort(0.1mg) to regulate my bp, but can't tell me why my bp is doing this. It also fluctuates while I'm sitting still.
My biggest concern is that I will pass out while driving my driving while my kids are in the car with me.
What's goning on and could it still be my heart or something else?
Thank you for your time.
Kat Bo
I was just diagnosed with RBBB. All the other cardiac tests came back normal, but I am still having chest pain,which radiate down my arm and in my back,light-headedness, extreme fatique,shortness of breathe,and headaches. My family doctor wants to put me on Fludttocort(0.1mg) to regulate my bp, but can't tell me why my bp is doing this. It also fluctuates while I'm sitting still.
My biggest concern is that I will pass out while driving my driving while my kids are in the car with me.
What's goning on and could it still be my heart or something else?
Thank you for your time.
Kat Bo
Does anyone remember the swimstats website regarding palpitations a couple years ago? It was a great site with a surveys, book reviews and message board. swimstats.com doesn't exist anymore as far as I can tell and I can't remember the name of the guy who started it. I wonder if it has a new web address. Any info appreciated. Thanks!
Hi - the tachy I captured was one I can induce any time I use an benzoyl peroxide-containing preparation - how weird is that. And it comes on at other random times as well but that is what I use if I am going to be wearing an event recorder. It was simply diagnosed as "inappropriate sinus tachycardia with a re-entrant tachycarda not ruled out but extremely unlikely". Still have not caught a certain type of PVC symptom that I get where it seems like I have 2 or 3 in a row or on top of each other. I worry about those.
As far as adding on a psych diagnosis to a person with chronic arrhythmia: I think we are a unique group - living under extreme duress with the ever present fear of being stricken down. Afraid all the time - (well except for the ones who so gracefully have learned to cast off their fear) Not post-traumatic stress disorder, but ever-present traumatic stress disorder. Is there a name for that? To me it seems like a different animal than OCD but let me know if reintroducing stuff works. (for me it would just be too scary, for example to embmark on a cross country trip, driving by myself, like I did when I was younger).
As far as adding on a psych diagnosis to a person with chronic arrhythmia: I think we are a unique group - living under extreme duress with the ever present fear of being stricken down. Afraid all the time - (well except for the ones who so gracefully have learned to cast off their fear) Not post-traumatic stress disorder, but ever-present traumatic stress disorder. Is there a name for that? To me it seems like a different animal than OCD but let me know if reintroducing stuff works. (for me it would just be too scary, for example to embmark on a cross country trip, driving by myself, like I did when I was younger).
No, I am not the guy who had the support website to which you refer.
No, I have not captured the tachys. They are not frequent and whenever I where holter or loop monitors nothing happens. What kind of tachy was captured for you?
The IST article is interesting. Thanks for that. I would be interested in what happens with you Medical College of Ohio appointment.
Not sure about the OCD diagnosis. The psychiatrist said I was a text book case. Looking for and eliminating causes of what you obsess about is just one of the classis symptoms. He also said he did not believe all of the things I have eliminated are really triggers and that it is coincidental that my arrythmias occur in conjunction with these things. So he now has me reintroducing these things. I am skeptical about this as I have been thorough in analyzing the links to triggers.
The best time for posting that I have noticed is like at 7 til 9 through the week and around 11 on Sunday. Just my two cents worth.
Thanks for the info. That's too bad about Hankstar though because from what I read, he was always helpful. PS: Great nickname!
It is my understanding that Hankster has been banned from posting any questions or comments.
Sunnygirl, here is my story ...
I said in a previous post that my awareness of arrythmias started 20 years ago. In truth, I do have a vague recollection that as a kid of about 10 I mentioned to the doctor one day (I think I was there for another reason) that I could feel my heart doing strange things. He was not concerned and I don't recall them being an issue until the real turning point about 20 years ago when I had wisdom teeth extracted under a general anesthetic. I woke during the procedure and was put back under again. When I finally came to I was a mess (blacking out, intermittent paralysis down one side of the body, etc) and I specifically remember having this feeling that I was not going to be right again for a long long time. The first thing I noticed after the operation was that I had this heightened awareness of every single heart beat I got and that has stayed with me to this day. Coupled with that were these incredibly
painful ectopic beats (felt like being stabbed by a knife). It was not long before I saw my first cardiologist. Many tests were run and the verdict was that my heart was normal. No holter or loop monitor tests were run at this time. I also remember around this time getting infrequent tachy arrythmias, but these did not further elevate my anxiety as at that time I did not understand the potential significance of these arrythmias. To cut a long story short, as the years ticked by I was aware or more and more arrythmias, I did more and more research which, as I know you know, just creates a downward spiral of self destruction (what makes my situation worse is that I am an electrical engineer, so I am analytical by nature,
and to top that I actually designed an EKG machine during my university degree, so I have a pretty good understanding of the electrophysiology of the heart). Over the years I have seen many cardiologists and have had many tests done. Holters and loop monitors have captured PVCs, normally conduct PACs and aberrantly conducted PACs, but never the tachy arrythmias that are my greatest concern. I always told my doctors I thought they were a VT and not a SVT. I know I cannot know for sure, but
I am sure you know yourself that over the years you get to know what is what by the way they feel. I get a multitude of different feelings. Sometimes the pain, sometimes other burning sensations, sometimes a violent kick, sometimes I can actually feel the ectopic beat contraction take quite a while
to occur (I feel it ripple through the heart muscle), sometimes I can feel a quivering or a flutter, and the list goes on. I wish I had a dollar for every time a doctor has told me I am just feeling the compensatory beat after I have just finished telling him or her that I, without question, feel the ectopic beat and associated with it can be any of the feelings I have described above. I am always checking my pulse and have noticed different pulse pressure affects with different arrythmias and have tried connecting that with the type of arrythmia. As my fear levels went up, I then started to look for what was causing the arrythmias and started eliminating them. Some precipitating factors for me are: coffee, tea, alchohol, spices, garlic, exercise, pollens, molds, reflux, indigestion, sleep deprivation, sudden movements, deep breathes, any medications, excessive multivitamins, chemical fumes, and the list goes on. Over the years I have eliminated just about all of these. It is often suggested to me that if this was going to be fatal it would have happened by now, but I often wonder what would have happened had I not eliminated so many precipitating factors. I have tried many different medications for anxiety and depression, but they all have side affects, one being an increase in arrythmias. I was recently diagnosed with OCD over my obssession with the heart (surprise surprise). Started another anti-depressant (Zoloft) for the OCD and it has been OK on the standard dose. I thought I was doing well to tolerate this dose and then the doctor told me I need to take 10 times as much to treat OCD (forget it!). I have also tried hypnosis.
I have rambled on enough about me. I still worry not knowing whether the tachy arrythmias originate above or below the ventricles. I hope you get a little bit of comfort knowing I am not too different to you and I am still here after many years. You sound pretty down so I hope you have people around you to support you (although like you say you
have to go through this to truly appreciate its impact on your life). I would be interested in anything else you have to share and in how you doing.
Jeff
P.S. I have been trying to post a question for a while now about some changes in my echo tests over the years, but so far I have been unsuccessful. Have you successfully posted a question before?
I said in a previous post that my awareness of arrythmias started 20 years ago. In truth, I do have a vague recollection that as a kid of about 10 I mentioned to the doctor one day (I think I was there for another reason) that I could feel my heart doing strange things. He was not concerned and I don't recall them being an issue until the real turning point about 20 years ago when I had wisdom teeth extracted under a general anesthetic. I woke during the procedure and was put back under again. When I finally came to I was a mess (blacking out, intermittent paralysis down one side of the body, etc) and I specifically remember having this feeling that I was not going to be right again for a long long time. The first thing I noticed after the operation was that I had this heightened awareness of every single heart beat I got and that has stayed with me to this day. Coupled with that were these incredibly
painful ectopic beats (felt like being stabbed by a knife). It was not long before I saw my first cardiologist. Many tests were run and the verdict was that my heart was normal. No holter or loop monitor tests were run at this time. I also remember around this time getting infrequent tachy arrythmias, but these did not further elevate my anxiety as at that time I did not understand the potential significance of these arrythmias. To cut a long story short, as the years ticked by I was aware or more and more arrythmias, I did more and more research which, as I know you know, just creates a downward spiral of self destruction (what makes my situation worse is that I am an electrical engineer, so I am analytical by nature,
and to top that I actually designed an EKG machine during my university degree, so I have a pretty good understanding of the electrophysiology of the heart). Over the years I have seen many cardiologists and have had many tests done. Holters and loop monitors have captured PVCs, normally conduct PACs and aberrantly conducted PACs, but never the tachy arrythmias that are my greatest concern. I always told my doctors I thought they were a VT and not a SVT. I know I cannot know for sure, but
I am sure you know yourself that over the years you get to know what is what by the way they feel. I get a multitude of different feelings. Sometimes the pain, sometimes other burning sensations, sometimes a violent kick, sometimes I can actually feel the ectopic beat contraction take quite a while
to occur (I feel it ripple through the heart muscle), sometimes I can feel a quivering or a flutter, and the list goes on. I wish I had a dollar for every time a doctor has told me I am just feeling the compensatory beat after I have just finished telling him or her that I, without question, feel the ectopic beat and associated with it can be any of the feelings I have described above. I am always checking my pulse and have noticed different pulse pressure affects with different arrythmias and have tried connecting that with the type of arrythmia. As my fear levels went up, I then started to look for what was causing the arrythmias and started eliminating them. Some precipitating factors for me are: coffee, tea, alchohol, spices, garlic, exercise, pollens, molds, reflux, indigestion, sleep deprivation, sudden movements, deep breathes, any medications, excessive multivitamins, chemical fumes, and the list goes on. Over the years I have eliminated just about all of these. It is often suggested to me that if this was going to be fatal it would have happened by now, but I often wonder what would have happened had I not eliminated so many precipitating factors. I have tried many different medications for anxiety and depression, but they all have side affects, one being an increase in arrythmias. I was recently diagnosed with OCD over my obssession with the heart (surprise surprise). Started another anti-depressant (Zoloft) for the OCD and it has been OK on the standard dose. I thought I was doing well to tolerate this dose and then the doctor told me I need to take 10 times as much to treat OCD (forget it!). I have also tried hypnosis.
I have rambled on enough about me. I still worry not knowing whether the tachy arrythmias originate above or below the ventricles. I hope you get a little bit of comfort knowing I am not too different to you and I am still here after many years. You sound pretty down so I hope you have people around you to support you (although like you say you
have to go through this to truly appreciate its impact on your life). I would be interested in anything else you have to share and in how you doing.
Jeff
P.S. I have been trying to post a question for a while now about some changes in my echo tests over the years, but so far I have been unsuccessful. Have you successfully posted a question before?
I forgot to say - no I have never been able to post a question. know they just take 1-2 a day. Hankstar posted a question for me once, so I'll bet he has tips on posting if he is still around.
Are you by any chance the guy who had a support website on swimstats.com a couple years ago? I don't think it exists anymore, but if you are not the same person, then there is another person whose symptoms started after dental anesthesia.
Anyway, I used to educate myself about all things cardiac and now I have a new approach of burying my head in the sand, and I know you know why. Actually, like you, I probably know a little more than the average joe about arrhythmias, because among other things I transcribe reports on bypass surgery, stent placement and pacemaker implantation, stuff like that.
Is it correct that you haven't captured your tachys? Because I thought that if they were captured, they could tell the origin of them. I had my tachycardia captured, but not some of the odd PVC sensations (I like to call the triple whammy), and I have also worried that that could be a V-tach.
10 years ago I was diagnosed with "inapproprriate sinus tachycardia", which I took to be a made up (descriptive) diagnosis, but have just recently learned that it is an actual diagnosis but hasn't been around very long. It is closely related to postural orthostatic hypertension and "dysautonomia". There is an article about it on About.com, if you are interested. One thing that I read about it is that people with IST have many different kinds of palpitation sensations, as you do also.
Anyway, there's a doc at Medical College of Ohio who is supposed to be a top doc in the US for this and I am going to see about making an appoinment. They have some interesting treaments to try for it, including increasing salt intake and also steroids such as Florinef, and even some antidepressants, although I understand the success rate varies greatly from patient to patient.
BTW, do you really buy the OCD diag? I would say you are an engineer with a medical problem. I have a family full of engineers, I know how you guys think. You try to solve the prob until it's solved, as you should, because what else is there to do, other than give up? (as I sometimes think about on a bad heart day).
Well enough for now. Thanks for your concern, and I ought to visit this site more often because it actually does help to talk to people who understand this crazy prob.
Anyway, I used to educate myself about all things cardiac and now I have a new approach of burying my head in the sand, and I know you know why. Actually, like you, I probably know a little more than the average joe about arrhythmias, because among other things I transcribe reports on bypass surgery, stent placement and pacemaker implantation, stuff like that.
Is it correct that you haven't captured your tachys? Because I thought that if they were captured, they could tell the origin of them. I had my tachycardia captured, but not some of the odd PVC sensations (I like to call the triple whammy), and I have also worried that that could be a V-tach.
10 years ago I was diagnosed with "inapproprriate sinus tachycardia", which I took to be a made up (descriptive) diagnosis, but have just recently learned that it is an actual diagnosis but hasn't been around very long. It is closely related to postural orthostatic hypertension and "dysautonomia". There is an article about it on About.com, if you are interested. One thing that I read about it is that people with IST have many different kinds of palpitation sensations, as you do also.
Anyway, there's a doc at Medical College of Ohio who is supposed to be a top doc in the US for this and I am going to see about making an appoinment. They have some interesting treaments to try for it, including increasing salt intake and also steroids such as Florinef, and even some antidepressants, although I understand the success rate varies greatly from patient to patient.
BTW, do you really buy the OCD diag? I would say you are an engineer with a medical problem. I have a family full of engineers, I know how you guys think. You try to solve the prob until it's solved, as you should, because what else is there to do, other than give up? (as I sometimes think about on a bad heart day).
Well enough for now. Thanks for your concern, and I ought to visit this site more often because it actually does help to talk to people who understand this crazy prob.
Yep, I saw your post.
Hi Sunnygirl,
Maximum number of comments was reached on that other thread, so before giving my story just confirm that you have seen this.
Jeff
Maximum number of comments was reached on that other thread, so before giving my story just confirm that you have seen this.
Jeff
Thanks for responding to me. I knew you were not trying to pick a fight with me. I'm sure "Imallheart" was not intentionally making fun, and I already forgot about it. At the time it felt like salt being thrown into the wounds again, the memories came back from people including therapists who just had no clue. I'm glad you understand this condition. As for me even before I got help I always said to myself "things could be worst" I could be paralyzed in a wheelchair etc. I never talked about it and only very few people knew about it including family members out of fear of being misunderstood and being classiefied as a "nut case". Our children did not know about it until they went to College, and they found out by accident because I was afraid they'd worry or my anxiety would rub off on them. They said since then "we were wondering why you had diarrhea so often" :)when out and a panic attack hit me I ran to the bathroom telling the kids I had diarrhea.
Take care
Barb
Take care
Barb
No it isnt againt any rules. I wasnt trying to pick an arguement with you. I was just stating that many people handle anxiety differently. I understand it struck a nerve. All I am saying is that I dont believe it was his intention. He even apologized if he offended anyone. You know sometimes we step on other peoples toes and dont mean to hurt anyone. Someone that has anxiety attacks themselves isnt going to make fun of someone else that does. I can relate to you on so many levels when it comes to the anxiety issues. Believe me if I thought his intent was making fun you should know by now I would have been right there on the ban wagon with you. That was an article that he found that wasnt something he said himself. Maybe he could have cut that part out of it and not posted it. However whats done is done and I just believe he was trying to make people feel better about the pvcs.
Im sorry I used your thread to post a comment. I hope you get it all figured out and wish you the best of luck
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Kat Bo,
Thanks for the post.
Your symptoms are concerning. A right bundle branch itself is not uncommon in the population and not necessarily associated with the symptoms you are having.
A few things I would consider to rule out cardiovascular causes of your symptoms after a careful history and physical would be event monitoring, tilt testing and depending on the quality and nature of your symptoms exercise testing.
Im assuming fludttocort is used to raise your blood pressure. It would aslo be important to document your symptoms are associated with low blood pressure if you are using this a s a treatment modality.
hope this is a start.
Thanks for the post.
Your symptoms are concerning. A right bundle branch itself is not uncommon in the population and not necessarily associated with the symptoms you are having.
A few things I would consider to rule out cardiovascular causes of your symptoms after a careful history and physical would be event monitoring, tilt testing and depending on the quality and nature of your symptoms exercise testing.
Im assuming fludttocort is used to raise your blood pressure. It would aslo be important to document your symptoms are associated with low blood pressure if you are using this a s a treatment modality.
hope this is a start.
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