Does anybody have inappropriate sinus tachycardia?

[Tuckins1]

I also have bouts of "bubbles/fluttering" in my heart. I had some tests done and they said it is just a minor atrial fibrillation. I am curious, what are the symptoms that you experienced to warrant getting things checked out?

 

[Callisto]

Date: 1/14/2010 5:46:48 PM
Author: princesss
A few random thoughts:


Tachycardia and adrenaline - definitely a correlation for me! Also I find that caffeine can really affect it. It doesn''t cause it, but I am more prone to bouts of tachycardia when my caffeine intake is high. Just something to pay attention to.


Trouble breathing - What happened for me was that I finally had enough and went to see a pulmonologist. After finding out my lung function is pretty darn awesome (somewhere around 120% of normal), my doc started asking about when it started. It turns out that my heart and ability to breathe normally are super sensitive to my weight. I lost 10 pounds and the majority of my problems went away. So if you think back and there''s a possible correlation, don''t forget to mention that. (It usually only happened when I was stressed, and I''d feel like I couldn''t get a good breath in - what works for me is leaning forward. Seems silly, but it takes all the weight of the *ahem* feminine bits off your chest and makes it that much easier to breath.)


Btw - I realized I hadn''t told you guys what I''ve got! I have myocardial bridging (where the heart muscle grows over one of my bigger arteries and squeezes it shut when my heart beats, so I get insufficient bloodflow, which made my heart beat faster to get the blood pumping correctly - my resting heart rate went from 62 to 99 in 6 months) with a small mitral valve prolapse. They thought there was an electrical problem too, but it turns out I''m just borderline - woohoo! One less problem for me.


And just an FYI - it''s cold and flu season, so remember heart patients and pseudophedrine DO NOT MIX. Don''t do what I did and naively believe your doctor knows best - my very panicked post from the night I took it is floating around here somewhere.

Princess- Did they do anything to fix the heart muscle? I''ve never heard of that before. Glad they figured it out.

I can''t think of anything associated with when I started noticing these issues... I know the breathing issue began sophomore year of high school, and it was REALLY bad when it started, pretty much constant. Now its just bouts of it. Oddly the thing that feels like it helps me the most is taking a big breath and just holding it for a few seconds, that and just relaxing overall.

Oh I agree about the caffeine. If I drink too much on accident it messes with my breathing and heart rate (and usually screws up my digestion too). I really need to drink less in general.

 

[Novel]

Date: 1/14/2010 4:27:31 PM
Author: Callisto

Date: 1/14/2010 2:37:46 PM

Author: Novel

For me its just with changing positions or standing up too long. I don''t know about with the adrenaline but I totally understand why its worrying. Have you ever talked to someone about this? Were there any ideas put forward?

I have gotten the difficulty breathing looked at when I was in high school, they tested me or asthma and didn''t see any problems and figured it was just mild anxiety since I thought I was wonderwoman in high school and was going nonstop from 6am-midnight every day.


My primary doctor for the past 21 years has been a pediatrician but I never really mentioned the heart issues to him, especially since I was worried if they put a 30 day monitor on me and I didn''t happen to have an episode that month they would just think I was overreacting.


I''ve known I have fairly low blood pressure for a while so I always assumed that that was the cause of the blacking out. I just try to be careful when I get up and just deal with it. I''ve never fainted from it or anything so it hasn''t posed a threat to me.


Also I know this is a really bad thought, but I don''t want to get all checked up and end up with some mild issue that would then give insurance companies a reason to deny me from anything. I have really good health for the most part and I hate for something minor and nonthreatening to me be a scratch on that record. I know that''s not a good reason to put myself at risk - I don''t need to be reassured of that. It''s just a thought I''ve had.

Callisto, I totally understand that, about the insurance. I''d feel that way, except I''m past that point. So mostly I feel that way and it freaks me out for no reason. My concern, for me, was that what if this stuff led to something bigger? I have this unexplainable chronic pain condition and I had to have my gallbladder out at 21 (which is weird, and young). So I needed to figure out what was wrong systemically that made these other things happen, or might have. If blood flow through my body is all messed up, injuries don''t heal right, organs don''t get the right amount of blood, etc. Maybe. It might be something minor, but it can also lead to other things. But I know, insurance. I know...

But the rest of it? Don''t worry about them thinking you''re overreacting. That always scared me, but really? What does it matter? Are they the ones inside your head, being worried, anxious about this? Are they ones blacking out if you stand up too fast? Will it be their problem if its something major? No. And they''re also not the ones who will have every right to be relieved if it does turn out to be nothing.

 

[Novel]

Date: 1/14/2010 4:59:55 PM
Author: ksinger

Well, this IS a thread isn''t it? Lots of great info, and everyone has been so kind. Thanks guys. It is kinda nice to know I''m not alone in all this.

On the hypermobility, I never knew a name for it even existed, until the last year or so. I just knew I had freaky fingers, really flat feet and could bend over and touch my palms to the floor and fold my ankles in (while knees are locked straight) at a 90, and clap my feet. Clapping feet like a seal: great icebreaker at parties with alcohol. (I''ve since consciously noticed that my knees and elbows hyperextend too. Talk about being unaware, huh?) Not so fun when that ankle folds in between one step and the next and you hit the ground the next instant. After 5 or six times, those injuries accumulate and they never quite heal. The real kicker was the quite severe ankle sprain I had in ''99. Never quiiiiite the same after that one. Of course Miss Stoic here didn''t go to the dr with THAT one either.

I''ve run myself through the Beighton and Brighton tests for hypermobility (which the docs did not, just listened to me, saw my hands and feet and said, ''HMS''. But I score a 5/9 on the Beighton, and have one major and 2 minor criteria on the Brighton. Pretty clear-cut. I know the cardiologist latched on to me telling him I was hypermobile, like a dog on point. Looking for Ehlers-Danlos (seems unlikely) or Marfan''s (clearly no) I suspect, although from what you guys are telling, it looks like garden-variety benign (anything but, right ladies?) HMS has some link to heart issues. And I''ve been vaguely dizzy for a while now too. I even asked my husband if I had complained recently of dizziness and he said, yes. I''d blown that under my conscious radar under the heading of ''sucking it up'' too, apparently. Dizziness doesn''t appear to be POTS, might be OH, could be psychsomatic. Beyond the obvious confirmation I''ve done on my own with the seemingly insignificant diagnosis of HMS, I really don''t feel qualified to do my own diagnosis here. Heart stuff is too complicated. But I do read a bit. Probably shouldn''t. Again, the heart issues seem to be mild compared to some. But unless I can get the symptoms associated with HMS under some form of control, I''m going downhill fast. I have one friend who honestly thought I didn''t really want to see her anymore, and I finally said, ''Look, it''s not YOU, I can''t DO what we used to do, and I just feel like crap so often.'' I think she finally understood. But isn''t that just awful? To feel so rotten that you aren''t up to visiting with friends?

I do have decent days - I don''t mean to make it sound like I don''t, but I just tire out quickly and unpredictably. An hour walking the mall can have me hurting by the end of the trip, laid OUT the next day. Very frustrating.

That sounds like my life, I feel you. I haven''t left the couch all day (I do have a full time job, but I''m not there) and tonight was our holiday party. But I''m having some sort of constant but mild asthma attacks (I don''t have asthma) and couldn''t go. And the amount of times I''ve canceled on friends! Sucking it up doesn''t make it better, you know? It just puts more distance into the equation.

 

[Novel]

Date: 1/14/2010 5:29:55 PM
Author: stepcutgirl
This has turned into nice supportive forum with lots of knowledge. I''m happy to see that. Thanks for all the supportive thoughts everyone.


Swinggirl-I''ve been told that exact thing, that the stress and damage that is happening to my heart will be improved if/when I get a pacemaker put in.I''m glad your dh is improving.


Ksinger-complain away,we are all in the same boat of sorts.


Callisto, I was told MOST people with tachycardia are very sensitive to adrenaline and that too much adrenaline pumping into your system can cause it, maybe because you do sports and on top of that get nervous you might be getting a lot? And maybe it takes hours to get through your system so that is why it still bothers you later.


Gengirl-I''m in agreement with you on the betablockers, on the dose i''m on i''m still tachycardic and my blood pressure is super low! And I feel like I''m a zombie, like i''m just kinda going through the motions of life but I''m not really ''there''. I have been told that tachycardia is not a benign condition because when you are in tachycardia your heart is not pumping enough oxygen to your body so everything is stressed. I can see where a brief episode might be harmless but it makes sense that after a long time or many brief episodes your organs are deoxygenated. And when it''s bad...it is scary!


Novel-Is there anything you can do?!?!

Yup, drugs!

Its not so bad most days and it isn''t dangerous/life threatening, just really annoying and uncomfortable. Some days, I can''t function, but most of the time, not so bad. And what you''re saying to Gemgirl is exactly what I was trying to say to Callisto! We''re not separate systems, everything comes together!

I love this thread. You guys made me feel so much less alone about this today!

 

[wroku]

I have been a lurker here for a long time (creepy, I know

) but when I saw this topic, I had to jump in.

I have IST and had an ablation almost a year ago exactly... and it has changed my life.

My entire life I was told I had anxiety (I''m 25 now) and from the time I was 13 until I had finally ''had enough'' at 23, I was bounced around on every anti-anxiety medication you could think of. None of them ever worked (since I didn''t need them

) but the doctors were convinced that was the problem, so they would just try the ''latest and greatest'' med and send me on my way. So I spent most of my life in a fog, not only because of the fatigue and symptoms of the IST, but also because I was on a medication that was doing nothing but making me a shell of myself.

One day my heart just wouldn''t quit going, so I wound up in the ER at 2am with my bf (now fiance...

), and IV in my arm, and on a hefty dosage of Ativan. They weren''t entirely sure what was going on. I was released when my heart rate and blood pressure finally came down ''enough'', and from then on it was one, maybe two, doctor appointments a week for the next 8 months... first with an internist, then a cardiologist, then an electrophysiologist. I had all the tests, did all the monitors. They tried me on a few different beta blockers, but I was just a complete zombie on them. I knew I would not be able to live my life like that. It finally came down to my options being 1) live with it, with or without the beta blockers or 2) have an electrophysiology study done (aka they didn''t have any ''concrete'' evidence that I had IST... only suspected it). I chose to do the study, as I felt I really had nothing to lose, which turned into an ablation and today I have no symptoms and do not take any medications. And the biggest change the procedure has had on me: no fatigue. That alone was plenty worth it for me.

This has got to be one of the longer first posts... I hope I haven''t scared you in any way, and I''m certainly not trying to sway you one way or the other as far as treatment... I just wanted to share that while the diagnosis (and road to it) can be daunting, it most certainly can have a positive outcome. This was just my experience, and if sharing it can help even one person then that''s awesome. I had a very supposrtive family while going through it all, but it would have been really great to talk to someone who had been through it firsthand. For me, anyway.

Oh, and I was working in health care when I was diagnosed as well...

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 1/14/2010 6:16:36 PM
Author: Callisto

Date: 1/14/2010 5:46:48 PM
Author: princesss
A few random thoughts:


Tachycardia and adrenaline - definitely a correlation for me! Also I find that caffeine can really affect it. It doesn''t cause it, but I am more prone to bouts of tachycardia when my caffeine intake is high. Just something to pay attention to.


Trouble breathing - What happened for me was that I finally had enough and went to see a pulmonologist. After finding out my lung function is pretty darn awesome (somewhere around 120% of normal), my doc started asking about when it started. It turns out that my heart and ability to breathe normally are super sensitive to my weight. I lost 10 pounds and the majority of my problems went away. So if you think back and there''s a possible correlation, don''t forget to mention that. (It usually only happened when I was stressed, and I''d feel like I couldn''t get a good breath in - what works for me is leaning forward. Seems silly, but it takes all the weight of the *ahem* feminine bits off your chest and makes it that much easier to breath.)


Btw - I realized I hadn''t told you guys what I''ve got! I have myocardial bridging (where the heart muscle grows over one of my bigger arteries and squeezes it shut when my heart beats, so I get insufficient bloodflow, which made my heart beat faster to get the blood pumping correctly - my resting heart rate went from 62 to 99 in 6 months) with a small mitral valve prolapse. They thought there was an electrical problem too, but it turns out I''m just borderline - woohoo! One less problem for me.


And just an FYI - it''s cold and flu season, so remember heart patients and pseudophedrine DO NOT MIX. Don''t do what I did and naively believe your doctor knows best - my very panicked post from the night I took it is floating around here somewhere.

Princess- Did they do anything to fix the heart muscle? I''ve never heard of that before. Glad they figured it out.

I can''t think of anything associated with when I started noticing these issues... I know the breathing issue began sophomore year of high school, and it was REALLY bad when it started, pretty much constant. Now its just bouts of it. Oddly the thing that feels like it helps me the most is taking a big breath and just holding it for a few seconds, that and just relaxing overall.

Oh I agree about the caffeine. If I drink too much on accident it messes with my breathing and heart rate (and usually screws up my digestion too). I really need to drink less in general.

Callisto, I also have Hyperventilation Syndrome (that my Neurologist diagnosed- finally) and what I''ve been taught to do when I''m overbreathing and can''t seem to get a good deep breath in is to clamp my hand over my nose and mouth and start by holding my breath for five seconds at a time. Eventually, after I try a few times, hold my breath for ten seconds. My body starts to regulate as soon as I get a handle on my overbreathing, but it''s hard when I''ve been overbreathing all day without even realizing it. If I even try to hold my breath when I''m in that state it sometimes feels like I''m suffocating and I gasp for air. At the very worst, if I can''t get control of my breathing, I lie down and fall asleep. Falling asleep is a foolproof involuntary way to slow your breathing.

 

[stepcutgirl]

Date: 1/14/2010 7:00:25 PM
Author: wroku
I have been a lurker here for a long time (creepy, I know

) but when I saw this topic, I had to jump in.


I have IST and had an ablation almost a year ago exactly... and it has changed my life.

My entire life I was told I had anxiety (I''m 25 now) and from the time I was 13 until I had finally ''had enough'' at 23, I was bounced around on every anti-anxiety medication you could think of. None of them ever worked (since I didn''t need them

) but the doctors were convinced that was the problem, so they would just try the ''latest and greatest'' med and send me on my way. So I spent most of my life in a fog, not only because of the fatigue and symptoms of the IST, but also because I was on a medication that was doing nothing but making me a shell of myself.


One day my heart just wouldn''t quit going, so I wound up in the ER at 2am with my bf (now fiance...

), and IV in my arm, and on a hefty dosage of Ativan. They weren''t entirely sure what was going on. I was released when my heart rate and blood pressure finally came down ''enough'', and from then on it was one, maybe two, doctor appointments a week for the next 8 months... first with an internist, then a cardiologist, then an electrophysiologist. I had all the tests, did all the monitors. They tried me on a few different beta blockers, but I was just a complete zombie on them. I knew I would not be able to live my life like that. It finally came down to my options being 1) live with it, with or without the beta blockers or 2) have an electrophysiology study done (aka they didn''t have any ''concrete'' evidence that I had IST... only suspected it). I chose to do the study, as I felt I really had nothing to lose, which turned into an ablation and today I have no symptoms and do not take any medications. And the biggest change the procedure has had on me: no fatigue. That alone was plenty worth it for me.


This has got to be one of the longer first posts... I hope I haven''t scared you in any way, and I''m certainly not trying to sway you one way or the other as far as treatment... I just wanted to share that while the diagnosis (and road to it) can be daunting, it most certainly can have a positive outcome. This was just my experience, and if sharing it can help even one person then that''s awesome. I had a very supposrtive family while going through it all, but it would have been really great to talk to someone who had been through it firsthand. For me, anyway.


Oh, and I was working in health care when I was diagnosed as well...

What DO you think being in health care has to do with this? I just think of a single thing! Thank you so much for your post. I had pretty much tossed ablation aside as a joke as I have not yet read or heard of one person where ablation alone cured the problem. That makes me so happy to hear! It gives me hope that it may be a cure for me and i won''t have to be thirty years old and living with a pacemaker. For some reason that idea really creeps me out. I hope you will continue to post and you have certainly helped me to see a bright future.

 

[charbie]

Date: 1/14/2010 5:46:48 PM
Author: princesss
A few random thoughts:

Tachycardia and adrenaline - definitely a correlation for me! Also I find that caffeine can really affect it. It doesn''t cause it, but I am more prone to bouts of tachycardia when my caffeine intake is high. Just something to pay attention to.

Trouble breathing - What happened for me was that I finally had enough and went to see a pulmonologist. After finding out my lung function is pretty darn awesome (somewhere around 120% of normal), my doc started asking about when it started. It turns out that my heart and ability to breathe normally are super sensitive to my weight. I lost 10 pounds and the majority of my problems went away. So if you think back and there''s a possible correlation, don''t forget to mention that. (It usually only happened when I was stressed, and I''d feel like I couldn''t get a good breath in - what works for me is leaning forward. Seems silly, but it takes all the weight of the *ahem* feminine bits off your chest and makes it that much easier to breath.)

Btw - I realized I hadn''t told you guys what I''ve got! I have myocardial bridging (where the heart muscle grows over one of my bigger arteries and squeezes it shut when my heart beats, so I get insufficient bloodflow, which made my heart beat faster to get the blood pumping correctly - my resting heart rate went from 62 to 99 in 6 months) with a small mitral valve prolapse. They thought there was an electrical problem too, but it turns out I''m just borderline - woohoo! One less problem for me.

And just an FYI - it''s cold and flu season, so remember heart patients and pseudophedrine DO NOT MIX. Don''t do what I did and naively believe your doctor knows best - my very panicked post from the night I took it is floating around here somewhere.

i feel like you are describing my own symptoms to a T! my doctor thinks i just have anxiety and put me on Celexa. however, i still experience symptoms of a racing heart, especially when consuming caffeine or alcohol. and it sometimes will make me feel a bit "off"- i can''t describe it, so my doctor just says, "oh, its anxiety. very normal for your age." however i have felt better when my weight has been lower.

i am at times convinced there is something just not right with my heart, but i feel like it is a bit too few and far between for my doctor to really take any notice or care as much.

any idea how i can get my doctor to maybe look into something more than anxiety?

 

[wroku]

Date: 1/14/2010 8:47:05 PM
Author: stepcutgirl

Date: 1/14/2010 7:00:25 PM
Author: wroku
I have been a lurker here for a long time (creepy, I know

) but when I saw this topic, I had to jump in.


I have IST and had an ablation almost a year ago exactly... and it has changed my life.

My entire life I was told I had anxiety (I''m 25 now) and from the time I was 13 until I had finally ''had enough'' at 23, I was bounced around on every anti-anxiety medication you could think of. None of them ever worked (since I didn''t need them

) but the doctors were convinced that was the problem, so they would just try the ''latest and greatest'' med and send me on my way. So I spent most of my life in a fog, not only because of the fatigue and symptoms of the IST, but also because I was on a medication that was doing nothing but making me a shell of myself.


One day my heart just wouldn''t quit going, so I wound up in the ER at 2am with my bf (now fiance...

), and IV in my arm, and on a hefty dosage of Ativan. They weren''t entirely sure what was going on. I was released when my heart rate and blood pressure finally came down ''enough'', and from then on it was one, maybe two, doctor appointments a week for the next 8 months... first with an internist, then a cardiologist, then an electrophysiologist. I had all the tests, did all the monitors. They tried me on a few different beta blockers, but I was just a complete zombie on them. I knew I would not be able to live my life like that. It finally came down to my options being 1) live with it, with or without the beta blockers or 2) have an electrophysiology study done (aka they didn''t have any ''concrete'' evidence that I had IST... only suspected it). I chose to do the study, as I felt I really had nothing to lose, which turned into an ablation and today I have no symptoms and do not take any medications. And the biggest change the procedure has had on me: no fatigue. That alone was plenty worth it for me.


This has got to be one of the longer first posts... I hope I haven''t scared you in any way, and I''m certainly not trying to sway you one way or the other as far as treatment... I just wanted to share that while the diagnosis (and road to it) can be daunting, it most certainly can have a positive outcome. This was just my experience, and if sharing it can help even one person then that''s awesome. I had a very supposrtive family while going through it all, but it would have been really great to talk to someone who had been through it firsthand. For me, anyway.


Oh, and I was working in health care when I was diagnosed as well...

What DO you think being in health care has to do with this? I just think of a single thing! Thank you so much for your post. I had pretty much tossed ablation aside as a joke as I have not yet read or heard of one person where ablation alone cured the problem. That makes me so happy to hear! It gives me hope that it may be a cure for me and i won''t have to be thirty years old and living with a pacemaker. For some reason that idea really creeps me out. I hope you will continue to post and you have certainly helped me to see a bright future.

Ya know, stepcut, I don''t really know... What is your thought? Stress? The whole thing is just so dang complex... I do know that at the time I was working hours that unfortunately my body just can''t handle and I was under a TON of stress... Honestly, if it hadn''t been for that one night that landed me in the ER (and I almost didn''t go... but it had been about 26 hours of nonstop tach) I would never have gotten to where I am now.

I completely agree with how you feel about the pacemaker. After the ablation, my doctor told me he ''only went as far as he felt comfortable'' in regards to ''killing the bad cells'', since the possibility that he could have gone ''too far'' and had to put in a pacemaker would have gone up significantly. (I hope that makes sense) There is, of course, a chance that my symptoms could return and if that were to happen, my options would be a second ablation and/or a pacemaker. Of course, I hope like there is no tomorrow that never happens, and my doctors really don''t foresee that happening either. I just don''t entertain that as an option

I do have to say, also, that I used to drink a ton of coffee and soda, so I avoid those like the plague now. Can''t hurt!

I''m so glad my post helped you even a little bit. If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask away! I am sure you find whatever will work for you, and be able to treat it and feel much better.

 

[ksinger]

OK...allow me one mini-vent here. I think I mentioned how I resisted the thought that I might have fibromyalgia because it is seen by some in the medical profession to be a mental illness, and to be fair, it has pretty much every symptom from hives to halitosis, it seems at times. But I just get infuriated when the medical establishment - when they are unable to come up with a cause, will fall back on "Oh they're just crazy". Ever notice that it's always the ailments that affect women more that they do this with?? Does anyone here think they'd do that if it was something that affected MEN more? Hell no. They'd treat it with deadly seriousness and total respect. Pisses me off royally. I was reading one online site on POTS, written by a female heart specialist, and she said point blank, that "Unfortunately, many of the sufferers were treated, quite frankly, as if they were NUTS." Pretty much says it all.

I know when the cardiologist's staff called me to tell me they'd captured an episode of my tach, she said, "The Dr. told me to assure you that it wasn't a panic attack." I was like...um...why would I think it was? Apparently he was privately reserving judgement on whether I was a head case, and was only convinced by a 3 second burst of tach - since 3 second panic attacks are probably pretty rare.

I guess I was naive and that all Drs suspect that any woman complaining about ANYTHING is just a whining mental case.

This all started by reading various posters' tales of how they were "diagnosed" (aka accused) as being mental and put on one anti-anxiety drug after another, when the Drs were apparently too damned lazy and prejudiced to treat their female patients with the same seriousness that they'd treat a man. Grrrr.....!!!

 

[Novel]

Ksinger, I feel that. And when you come in with weird complaints, especially if you''ve seen, oh, I don''t know, 15 doctors in the last 4 years, people really judge. I had someone tell me that a problem I''d had surgery for, seen the head of pain management at a well known teaching hospital for, and was on major drugs for was actually just caused by the shoes I was wearing. I feel like some doctors (and I say some because I''ve had some really wonderful ones, too) think that if they don''t know what is wrong with you, it must be in your head. But I''ve also had others tell me that I''m the worst thing, a puzzle, and that some doctors will want to figure it out, while others just get scared.

 

[stepcutgirl]

Update time. Well I went for an echo and a stress test. The echo was normal and the stress test was over in 2:59 because my heart rate hit 200, but otherwise was negative. I had blood work done and went to go see the good doctor today.

I DO NOT have inappropriate sinus tachycardia! What I have is an extremely overactive thyroid and that can mimic the exact signs and symptoms of IST. My blood work came back showing levels at 4x''s the normal level. So now it''s off to the endocrinologist. I am so happy and relieved that it is not my heart!

 

[whitby_2773]

stepcut -

i am SO PLEASED!!

i am VERY glad it''s not your heart! the thyroid condition can be controlled with meds, yes? pls keep updating to let us know how that proceeds. and 200 on the stress test is scary!

thanks for the update, i''ve been waiting to hear from you

xo

 

[princesss]

Date: 1/26/2010 8:41:40 PM
Author: stepcutgirl
Update time. Well I went for an echo and a stress test. The echo was normal and the stress test was over in 2:59 because my heart rate hit 200, but otherwise was negative. I had blood work done and went to go see the good doctor today.


I DO NOT have inappropriate sinus tachycardia! What I have is an extremely overactive thyroid and that can mimic the exact signs and symptoms of IST. My blood work came back showing levels at 4x''s the normal level. So now it''s off to the endocrinologist. I am so happy and relieved that it is not my heart!

YAY! That''s fabulous news, stepcutgirl!

 

[RockHugger]

I have Sinus Tachycardia, and am on atenolol (beta blocker) for it. It has controled it wonderfully. I used to walk across the room and my heart rate would be 200, now it is normal.

I also had heart surgery for SVT. They did a cryoablation Are they sure it isnt something simmilar? The ablation fixed mine, and it could fix yours. Pace makers are dangerous as well, and can cause VT (deadly) so if there are other options, use them first.

 

[RockHugger]

Date: 1/14/2010 12:25:35 PM
Author: gemgirl

Date: 1/13/2010 10:40:09 PM
Author: stepcutgirl
Ksinger...I sure hope you get a diagnosis soon and are able to keep it at bay. I think the reason i was so out of breath was because mine was not a short lived ''attack'' but 10 straight days of it not getting below 140 before i was put on meds and then two weeks of it not getting below 130 before i was put on the pumped up dose. I had two docs tell me that when your heart is beating that fast you are winded because it is beating so fast that it can''t get enough oxygen in each beat so you are gasping for breath.

Princess, i''m really glad you found out how to keep yours at bay. Your boyfriend sounds really sweet. I''m not really used to the ''new'' body yet so I just get really quiet and don''t say anything and my bf thinks i''m pouting

until he realizes I just can''t breathe very well! The cardiologist i am seeing now is very highly regarded where i am from but I will be getting one more opinion before anybody sticks anything in my chest or up my femoral artery!

It''s funny that that was what I was trying to explain to my doctor too, that after four straight days of having SVTs and PACs 24 hours a day, I was exhausted! He also told me that the fact that they stopped after four days on Lopressor might have been just a coincidence since the medication didn''t make them stop immediately (like it does for some people). More often than not, my belief is that beta-blockers are relatively useless. They also make me feel like I have no energy at all and like I''m dragging bricks when I walk.

The results of your Echo will tell the docs whether you have sufficient blood flow going into your heart and if you have enough oxygenated blood leaving your heart. It will also evaluate your heart muscle health. In my case, I have enough blood going in and coming out and my heart muscle is good (my Cardio said). Those results will help the doctors to formulate a treatment plan for you.

What constantly goes through my head when I have another attack is- how can something so abnormal and so damned scarey, also be a totally benign condition?

Betablockers were usesless for you. My atenolol litterally saved my life. After over a year of constant SVT attacks and then the sustained sinus tachycardia after my ablation, I became suicidal. The atenolol is the only thing that made it possable for me to live a normal life and doesnt make me drowsey at all.

There are 5 or 6 different beta blockers and each will make you feel a different way. If one doesnt work, or makes you feel cruddy, try another. I know metaprolol made me feel like a zombie, but this one has no side effects for me.

 

[RockHugger]

YEAY! glad to hear its not your heart. Thyroid meds are much better then cardiac ablation or pacemakers for sure!

 

[Novel]

Yay Stepcut! That is wonderful! Such good news

I hope you get something that helps, and what a relief!

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 1/26/2010 8:41:40 PM
Author: stepcutgirl
Update time. Well I went for an echo and a stress test. The echo was normal and the stress test was over in 2:59 because my heart rate hit 200, but otherwise was negative. I had blood work done and went to go see the good doctor today.

I DO NOT have inappropriate sinus tachycardia! What I have is an extremely overactive thyroid and that can mimic the exact signs and symptoms of IST. My blood work came back showing levels at 4x''s the normal level. So now it''s off to the endocrinologist. I am so happy and relieved that it is not my heart!

That''s very good news.

 

[Tuckins1]

Date: 1/27/2010 11:13:58 AM
Author: gemgirl

Date: 1/26/2010 8:41:40 PM

Author: stepcutgirl

Update time. Well I went for an echo and a stress test. The echo was normal and the stress test was over in 2:59 because my heart rate hit 200, but otherwise was negative. I had blood work done and went to go see the good doctor today.


I DO NOT have inappropriate sinus tachycardia! What I have is an extremely overactive thyroid and that can mimic the exact signs and symptoms of IST. My blood work came back showing levels at 4x''s the normal level. So now it''s off to the endocrinologist. I am so happy and relieved that it is not my heart!

That''s very good news.

Ditto! Glad to hear it isn''t something more serious.

 

[stepcutgirl]

Thank you everyone for your support! I''m on a new beta blocker to keep my heart rate down until I can get my thyroid taken care of or removed.