What's wrong with me? Cardiologist can't figure it out...

[njs74]

I have always had a low heart rate, averaging about 55 bpm. Furthermore, I am a very healthy and fit male at 28 years of age with no previous medical issues.

Within the last two weeks, I noticed my heart beating unusually hard coupled with pressure in my chest. The rate of my heart beating during this time was not sped up but slow and controlled- the only difference I felt was the abnormally hard beating along with pressure. This last an average of 2 to 4 seconds in duration and happened about 3 times during this last two week time span.

This last Thursday morning, I was attending a lecture in College when I started experiencing some major symptoms. Initially, I started perceiving an afterimage as if I had stared at a bright light. Yet there was no bright light source that I had looked at. This lasted for about 10 minutes and it was very hard to focus due to the afterimage during this time.

These symptoms slowly changed to include blurred peripheral vision on my left side only. The blurred vision seemed to move like water. I also started hearing a faint ringing in my left ear which seemed to get worse as time went on. This was followed by dizziness and numbness/tingling in my face as well as profuse sweating all over my body and a 'flush' feeling over my skin. At one point I thought I was going to pass out. This whole episode lasted for about 30 minutes.

10 minutes after they subsided, I starting feeling a migraine headache in the front-right portion of my head (right hemisphere/frontal lobe area). I also got very faint and nauseated. At this point I admitted myself into the ER.

They found that I had a low heart rate which fluctuated between 33 bpm to 70 bpm with the majority of time in the high 30 to low 40 area (keep in mind that my normal heart rate is 55 bpm). They did several blood tests on me, and told me that they did detect lowered levels of "cardiac" enzymes. My blood pressure was also low- about 85/40 from a normal of 111/65ish. My temp was also 96 degrees F at the time of admittance. They couldn't figure out what was wrong and had spoke with some cardiologists in Pueblo, Colorado. They decided to fly me out to the hospital in Pueblo in which they did several more EKGs, a stress test, several echo-cardiograms of my heart and carotid arteries, as well as a CAT Scan.  After observing my fluctuating heart rate which seemed to stabilize in the high 30's to low 40 area, and all the tests coming out ok, the doctors working with me decided to discharge me with the condition that I will be wearing a heart monitor 24/7 for the next month. At this time, they could not diagnose what's going on with me.

Has anyone experienced anything similar to this or know of a possible diagnoses that fit these symptoms?

[Mom2four85]

Here's some info on Dysautonomia; which can very difficult to diagnose - a tilt test would show any problems with your ANS.

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Neurological-Disorders/Autonomic-Dysfunction-FAQ/show/181?cid=196

NDRF http://www.ndrf.org/NDRFHandbook.htm

the NDRF has a ton of info back on the front page http://www.ndrf.org/index.htm

[njs74]

While reading up on dysautonmia, I came across Vasovagal Syncope/Response which seems to show many similarities in symptoms to what I experienced.

[itdood]

I thought dysautonmia as-well.

[njs74]

Thanks for your feedback on this. They didn't do a cardiac cath or tilt table test. The cardiologist did mention a possible cardiac cath but said that at this point, the risks of the test outweighed the benefit.

They were also considering and willing to install a pacemaker but I expressed a desire to further look into this prior to installing one- the cardiologist agreed with my decision.

I'll check out the dysautonmia forum though. Thanks again!

[Mom2four85]

did they do a cardiac cath and tilt table test? If you haven't you should see an electrophysiologist just to make sure you're not having any electrical problems in your heart causing the profound bradycardia.

I had low hr's 40 during the day and had to have a pacemaker implanted that regulated my hr to 60 minimum, but I have alot of other stuff going on also.  Some of my low hr's are caused by by autonomic nervous system which has a connection to my arrhythmia's.

ANS issues can be very difficult sometimes to pinpoint and diagnose.  You could always go to the dysautonmia forum here and look in the first thread, there's info on ANS stuff and dr's around the world who diagnose & help treat ans things.