Fast Beating Heart

[sindy987]

Hi
I am a 38 year old female who had been on ventolin all of my life for asthma. In July last year i had a very fast heart beat and called the ambulance, they came and took ecg and said it was normal but fast. 120 beats a min. These attacks as i call them happen 2 or 3 times a day, my first symptom unable to get my breath followed by 2/5 mins of very fast heart beats and then into shivering bouts which last 20mins.
I have had the heart monitor on 24 hours with no result and now my gp thinks that it could be non malignant tumors on the lung or bladder which release adrenilin into by body causing these problems. I have to have a 24 hour urine collection next week to confirm this.
As a single parent this is all very scarey, please could you confirm this, or do you think that there could be another reason, or any thing I can do to relieve symptoms as I really dont enjoy these

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

Common things being common, the most common cause of sinus tachycardia in bouts associated with shivering is panic anxiety.  The tumor you speak of, pheochromocytoma, is so rare that when someone is diagnosed with it, doctors talk about for years.  At major referral training centers over 8 years, I saw two cases.  A tumor is a very unlikely cause, but always important to rule it out -- if you don't look you never find it.  I doubt you have to worry about that one.

If the fast heart rates are associated with nervousness, feelings of impending doom, nausea, restlessness, etc, it is much more likely to be frequent panic attacks.  Ventolin can cause tachycardia and can also make people that are predisposed to panic attacks, have panic attacks.  There are other rare causes of what looks like sinus tachycardia that include atrial tachycardia or or a rhythm called sinus node re entry tachycardia.  Capture an event on monitor and observing changes initiation, termination and fluctuation in time can help make the diagnosis.

I hope this helps.  Rest easy, tumors are rare events as a cause of intermittent fast heart rates.

[ireneo]

Backing up just a little - how often do you have to use your ventolin? If it's every 4 hours every day, then your asthma is not very well controlled. Just trying to figure out how your lungs are doing right now.