Something new....weeeeeeeeee

[RNRita]

Listen, you just can't beat your body for striving to entertain you......This am:  All is fine.  At work...telephone call about some nonsense from a friend that I took out the back door.  While I'm listening comes this:    Out of nowhere I felt like my chest was empty with a kind of "tickling" feeling.  Felt slightly lightheaded.  Now, everyone knows I've had it all. Not this. It would NOT let up.  I am at work with nurses and an AED and thought it was the big one.  Lasted about 20 minutes.  All the while, my pulse felt steady, although a little fast for me. This was really concerning because my mental rhythm strip was not being activated. lol  I, sincerely, thought it was IT!  
Went to clinical.  BP went up to 146/75, and still pulse was regular.  I understand PVCs, PACs, PAT, AF, SVT, tach.....what was THIS?  The feeling and symptoms without arrythmia?  It wasn't anxiety, I'm pretty sure. Anxiety and panic are funny to me, now.  So....did it morph?

[bigkev414]

G'Day mate...

Firstly, I have had all this crap for nearly 20years. You name the feeling - I've had it! Most of the ER staff at the local hospital know me by now. (used to be a cop and the paramedics give me special treatment too...lucky me)

Your BP at 146/75 is nothing to worry about. 15 years ago this was considered normal.

Unless it stays up we don't worry about it.

Now - there are a number of things that might have given you this 'turn', and you mightn't have felt a burst of SVT. What had you eaten or not eaten?

Indigestion will give you these things, especially if you sit for long periods and are a bit on the well upholstered side like me.

This is what I suggest - IF it happens again, and it probably won't, grab a gulp of Mylanta or Gaviscon or whatever you 'foreigners' call it, and a glass of H2O. See what happens.

Get some Valium and take  couple of mm. 2 should work.

If that doesn't settle it, and if it continues get an ECG done while it's happening, and go from there.

A lot of Doctors poo pa the digestive thing, but ask us old hands and we will tell you that they are wrong.

I bet one of these things work, but as I said it probably won'y happen again.

As they say here in Aussie, pay on the way out and come and see me next week.

I'll give you a referral to a cardiologist, but I don't think it's cardiac related.

He is very good, and only  charges $350 per minute......there is parking available outside his 'rooms', and you will easily find them by looking for the new 7 series BMW's in the reserved for doctors section...
Kev

[RNRita]

HAHAHA...too funny.  Yup. I know that stomach issues can cause stuff.  I also know that my BP was not worrisome, just showing that my norm of 110/60 was up.  I am an old timer, as well. Started all these at the tender age of 18..poor little girl being told I had a "touchy ticker" and for the next several years fears I was going to drop dead.
I was a cardiac nurse and have seen the whole lot of arrythmias.  I have had them, too.  I used to hook myself up to the telemetry when I worked on the cardiac unit.  Some of my fellow nurses used to yell up the hall, "Hey Rita, you're in VTach again!"  Whoopee.  I've had some strange times, lemme tell ya.
This one was new, and very crappy.  I have handled 6 weeks of bigeminy like a trooper. This one made me totally freak out.  My pulse was regular the whole time.  If I had an arrythmia, it would have made sense. This didn't.  So, maybe it was digestive, since the vagus nerve, which I hear isn't that bright, cannot distinguish between the two. All I know is that I felt like I was going to pass out and I do not love that!  I mean, I do have to drive to live....ugh.
Well, nice meeting you. Heck of a way to meet.  :)

[achillea]

If you didn't get at least *some* of the symproms of an MI--profuse cold sweat, nausea, chest pressure, pain radiating to left arm/jaw, etc--it's a good bet that this was indeed some kind of morph of anxiety, with maybe a touch of hyper-awareness of cardiac sensations (a pretty common feature among those of us posting on this board).

[Lilymin]

Hi Rita, I've had irregular beats for around 21 years.  When they first started I was around 40 and they weren't the scary crazy beats I get now.  My worst one was when my heart went hay wire, like an engine that couldn't turn over, it felt stuck in an weird beat, like not a full beat.  My left arm started to tingle and I could feel my heart pounding in the left upper chest.  By the time we got to the hospital which is really close, and they took my vitals, of course BP was elevated and heart rate, can't remember the number but was high.  Any how after what I believe was 12 to 15 minutes from the time it started until they saw me at the hospital, I got up to go to a room to be hooked up to a heart monitor and it stopped after taking a few steps, so no one saw what ever the heart was doing.  Never found out what it was.  I've also had my heat get stuck at 160 beats and had to have that shot to stop and restart the heart to a normal rhythm another fun time.  Now I can feel okay some days and then I get some pausing ones that automatically put me on guard and afraid.  I don't know that I've found anything to lessen them, but I do take a magnesium supplement when they start to pick up, can't hurt.  The one thing that helps because of the anxiety is Klonopin, I try not to over do it, I wish I didn't have to take anything, but I would'nt be able to function without it some days.  I've had other strange sensations I can't describe, some that I would record on a monitor and they didn't see what I tried to describe at that time.  Frustrating, because although they say not to worry mechanically your heart is fine, when you get some of the ones that feel like they may stop your heart, its not very comforting.  I never took any heart meds., have metroprolol but when my doctor said it could cause more problems I just haven't had the courage to take them yet, that was years ago, now he says if the beats bother me, I should give it a try.  Some day maybe.  I truly hope someone can fix this problem for the thousands of people that have it, including my own daughter now, which bothers me more than myself.  I remember your post telling about you working on a cardiac floor, I had thought if I had a job that would be a good floor to be on in case something happens and you can get monitored quickly.  Sorry to hear you are having more symtoms that don't sound common.  I guess the road a head for us will be bumpy.  Klonopin helps for a less bumpy ride for me.  I hope you can find something that helps you.