Hi,
I am a 60 year old female, a little chunky, not obese.
I have never smoked, never used alcohol, never used any illegal drugs and never abused any prescription drugs.
I have low cholesterol (thank you lipitor, zetia and flaxseed oil) #:>)
And I have very mild hypertension (cardizem la 120mg daily) easily controlled and with a usual sitting BP of 110/70.
(Sometimes, I can go for months without needing any medication for the hypertension.)
I have had unexplained shortness of breath most of my life. I have an air diffusion rate of 41% (DLCO) and I test positive for obstructive breathing function.
I have allergies and take allergy injections weekly.
I am very concerned (due to increase in severity of symptoms) because:
Whenever I stand, my HR and diastolic BP rapidly increase.
Within a moment or so, my HR rapidly increases its rate by about 60 points to 125 - 135 BPM and continues to climb.
My diastolic BP rapidly elevates about 40 points and continues to climb.
My systolic BP remains similar to the sitting BP with only a slight variation of a few points (up or down).
As long as I stand, The HR and BP contine to climb until they reach a point where my BP monitor can not detect it. It will give me an E error message which means it can not detect a pulse.
While I am standing my head hurts; my heart hurts, my legs and hands shake, my face reddens and I sweat profusely. I am profoundly short of breath.
I have intermittent nausea especially after standing.
I have transient dizziness - standing, sitting or lying down.
As the day progresses, I feel worse.
I have also been experiencing chest pain that awakes me from a sound sleep (as much as twice a week as little as once every 6 weeks.)
I recently had an echo that stated:
Mild left venticular hypertrophy
Mildly dilated right ventricle
Mild Aortic regurg
Mild Mital regurg
Trace Tricuspid regurg
I had a holter monitor test.
The Holter monitor demonstrated frequent ventricular ectopic beats, 37 supraventricular ectopic beats, isolated PACs, couple PACsone 5 beat atrial tachycardia at 150 bpm. During maximum sinus rate there was some mild, fairly horizontal or slightly downsloping ST segment depression. Notation that myocardial ischemia could be considered.
Lowest heartrate 43 bpm.
During the holter monitor testing, I felt too weak to do any physical activity due to my symptoms.
I did push myself to wash and blowdry my hair because I knew that the activity would trigger the irregular rhythms.
The 150 bpm were during the time that I was blowdrying my hair, (not running, not exercising, not working out).. I was just standing and blowdrying my hair and taking sitting breaks when I couln't stand.
Several years ago, I had an elevated normetanephrine and elevated alkaline phosphatase but I do not know if that is related.
My daughter also has had on going trouble with arrythmia, often feeling like she is going to pass out and shortness of breath issues also. She is petite, thin and very fit but struggles during exercising because of the feeling of impending collapse or fainting.
I would appreciate any wisdom or insight into this matter.