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Heart Palpitations Forum >> Symptoms and other concerns >> I found you all again
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Message started by kchendrix on Dec 17^th, 2007, 5:05pm

Title: I found you all again
Post by kchendrix on Dec 17^th, 2007, 5:05pm

I had forgotten the website name , but had remembered how RLR had helped with Palpatations 101 So I quickly searched.. and found

I need a little advice.. It's been awhile since Ive checked in and I haven't had a lot of PVC's Lately I have had more issues though. It started the other night.. I went to bed. Woke with my heart just pounding and felt like I was bloated.... I got up and walked around , Oh I should mention I am still taking 25 mg atenalol every day. My heart settled some but my heart rate stayed at about 110. I thought it might be anxiety so I went back to bed.. I felt so bloated and my heart rate wouldn't go below 110 I couldn't sleep because of the pounding .. Well I got up and tooke my Atenalol that morning as I usually do @ 7 AM and with 20 minutes my heart rate was fine but felt bloated.
I consulted my Doc He said don't eat so late at night and you should be good, Well so I thought I was doing good but then Saturday My son and I went to dinner about 7 Pm I ate baked fish, baked potatoe and a Salad and I drank Water and 2 beers. About 8:30 he and I went to the movies... Half way through the movie My hear started really pounding.. I thought Hmmm ANxiety I guess. After the movie I went home.. My heart was still racing and pounding.. It was 130 I was bloated So I went to the ER. My Blood Pressure was 186/95 i usually run 118/72 or there abouts.. Doctor there, took a history, Did blood said my postassium was at 3.3 Low.. EKG he said was normal other then the speed.. After an hour of being there my pulse came down to 107 He gave me a dose of Postassium , said go home and take an atenalol this was at about 3 AM So I did... after about an hour of waiting nothing changed ,, my pulse was still 107-to 110. My son took me back to the emergency room... They did another EKG... NOrmal except for speed , But by the time they got me back in a room it was down to 90 . I explained the story to the doctor, he listed reveiwed both ekg's and the blood work,, he did a sonagram of my gall bladder. He then said I think you have a real reflux problem... He gave me something that looked like pepto bismall but had a numbing effect on the gi tract and then gave me an antiacid pill. This immediately brought my pulse down to 76 ...normal for me.

Now the advice. I have read the Palps 101... I have always had PVC's but I was wondering could it really be Reflux causing my heart to race , pound and blood pressure to go up. They said I should get an upper GI and If anything showed there I should get the endoscopy.. In the mean time to take 150 mg of ZANTAC twice daily.
Now I am prone to be anxious , but wanted to know if this all sounded reasonable. I am glad they will let me do the upper GI first as to be honest I am quiet frighted of being sedated for the Scope. I have read that some people have a sudden drop in blood pressure and also may begin to breathe very slowly when sedated with what ever they use. Anyway I am greatful to be able to do the upper GI .

So what do you think... Is Reflux really capable of all this?

Have a Very Merry Christmas everyone

Title: Re: I found you all again
Post by kchendrix on Dec 18^th, 2007, 11:50am

Just to let you all know i woke up at 1 AM with the strangest taste in my mouth, and everytime I would move my heart would race.. just at the slightest movement... I felt Dizzy and couldn't sleep.... I decided at that point to go online and look at the side effects that zantac may have.... Guess what...Tachycardia , dizziness , insomnia. I went into my doctor at 9 am to explain to him what had happened over the weekend as in my previous post. I told him about last night also..

He said it was highly unlikely that 150 mg twice a day of zantac could cause such symptoms. I responded, Well you may be able to drink 2 cups of coffee without and effect... I can't drink one... What makes you think that meds will effect every person the same way.

Anyway ,, he said he thinks this is all anxiety related again. All I know is when your heart is racing and it won't go back to a normal rate it is very hard to relax and go to sleep. While over all the higher rate might not be hurting it is making hard to rest ....

If anyone has any experience with my what I have posted could you please respond... I am in the worry cycle right now... And it is hard to break the worry cycle without some reassurance.

Thanks
KC

Title: Re: I found you all again
Post by saab on Dec 18^th, 2007, 1:16pm

Hi, I'm glad you found the forum again, but sorry that you needed to, if you see what I mean. I'm sorry I can't offer any medical advice, but hopefully RLR will be along later or tomorrow to help you out. I'm sorry that things are so bad for you at the moment - anxiety and gastro problems can cause lots of the symptoms you have described, especially the increase in heart rate, as I have had similar things when I was at my most anxious. You are right to go ahead with the other tests though as it may help to put your mind at rest.

It sounds like your doctors are supervising you pretty well and if there was anything to worry about I would have thought it would have shown on the ekg's. I hope you feel better soon. Best wishes.

Title: Re: I found you all again
Post by angiebaby on Dec 18^th, 2007, 1:17pm

Hello and welcome!!
I can certainly relate to the fast heart rate. My heart races like that and i don't know why either. I do suffer with anxiety though also. I have been suffering for three years with anxiety and also heart worries with tacchycardia. I have had ectopic heartbeats for 12 years and they are said to be benign, nothing to worry about. Easier said than done i know.
I cannot touch alcohol, well i could if i could cope with the ecopics and the fast heart rate if i do, lol.
I was put on Omeprazole for a few months, only 20mg a day, then down to 10mg a day and it did help with the ectopics but it didn't help with the fast heart rate, still went up after eating even if i just had a sandwich. Didn't get as much wind pain and reflux symptoms though. I suffer a lot with dizziness, every day and severe and when i checked the side effects for omeprazole/losec, this was one of them and also a faster heart rate. So a couple of weeks ago i stopped taking the omeprazole to see if that helped with the dizziness. A couple of days later the dizziness came back so i think it aggrivated the symptoms i already had but were not the sole cause.
My heart still goes fast, even faster of course with a panic attack, lol. I still have ectopic heartbeats everyday and am trying to ignore them best i can.
I do not take any medication at all now, i am very sensitive to anything that i take and medication normally makes me ill, even worse, so i prefer not to bother really.
I understand how you feel about your heart symptoms though, as i say i go through this every day too. Had hundreds of ECG's, all normal and didn't even pick up my ectopics, typical! I have seen two cardiologists and i have had a three day holter monitor, still normal. They did say that i have sinus tacchycardia and sinus arrhythmia, both of which are perfectly normal!!
Sorry i cannot be of more help to you, but thought it may make you feel better to know that you are not alone in this.
P.s. Alcohol will send up your pulse and possibly give you more ectopics anyway, that is why i am now to scared to have any at all!
Take care and there will be loads of people around to give you help and advice and of course RLR will be with you soon i am sure.x

Title: Re: I found you all again
Post by RLR on Dec 18^th, 2007, 1:22pm

Hi KC and good to see you visiting the forum again. Let's see if we can bring some light, and comfort, to your concerns.

Without doubt, GI disturbances such as bloating, IBS, constipation, GERD and a host of other conditions can definitely produce brief changes in heart rate and complaints in this area are far greater than one might expect.

First, the readings you describe place you nowhere near any point of danger or stress upon your heart. I'll have to agree with your physician that the brief instance of Zantac and dose taken would not be the likely cause, particularly since the symptoms were previously occurring, albeit in a different range. Side-effects are measured under controlled conditions that include dosing at sometimes very high ranges to obtain the broadest spectrum of possible effects to medication because people sometimes don't take medicines as directed. As such, we need to discover their farthest potential effects.

I think it more likely that the exacerbation was causing you to become even more fearful or anxious that things could continue to grow worse.

GERD, in particular, is capable of inducing changes in heart rate and your description is very classic of those with the condition. Chyme from the stomach can irritate the lining of the esophagus to a great extent and in an acute form, cause some people to even feel as though they are experiencing a heart attack.

Your general symptoms would indicate some brief autonomic instability and can range from difficulty breathing, to dizziness, tachycardia, sweating, etc, all symptoms which are harmless in nature but can certainly produce panic.

I don't find the potassium level of 3.3 to be remarkable at all and would suggest here that it was not the cause for your problem. The fact that your heart rate diminished upon administration likely had more to do with getting the treatment itself, or in other words a placebo effect along with the GI cocktail that we'll talk more about in just a minute. Potassium and other values all range slightly different from each other depending upon the laboratory performing the test. I will tell you however, that Atenolol can mask the presence of low blood sugar or hypoglycemia, which can cause the symptoms you describe. I doubt that it was the case, but simply a factor to note.

The oral medicine you were given at the ER is something we call a GI cocktail and the numbing effect is produced by viscous lidocaine, an anesthetic normally used when suturing wounds, etc. It is combined with an antacid and Donnatal, which is a beladonna alkyloid that has a relaxing effect upon the smooth muscle of the GI tract. It's effects are almost instantanous.

You're going to be just fine, KC. I would surmise that the actual underlying problem was GI-related and probably a combination of bloating and some brief variant of GERD that set things in motion.

I would suggest staying away from anything carbonated for a while and eat very small meals throughout the day rather than a large meal at the more traditional hours. Do not drink a lot of liquids during meals and stay away from caffeinated products. The use of proton pump inhibitors like Prilosec can have farther reaching effects than an Histamine 2 blocker like Zantac. You must, however, remember to take the PPI's about 40 minutes to 1 hour PRIOR to eating. They do not work to resolve indigestion which arises subsequent to a meal.

Taking care of the GI disturbance will bring your other symptoms under control. Nothing of what you've described raises any other concerns in my opinion. You'll be fine.

Best regards and Good Health

Title: Re: I found you all again
Post by kchendrix on Dec 18^th, 2007, 4:16pm

Thank you all so much for your replies and caring... this is such a wonderful caring group and makes me feel more at ease.. Having suffered with anxiety , it's hard for me to say which came first the chicken or the egg , so it is nice to have someone to enlighten me. May your Holidays be blessed with peace and calmness .... thanks again...

KC