Please Help! Tachycardia Or Something Worse?! (irbbb?) Posted: 01-12-05 05:01am
Hi, if anyone please could read and see
what you think (from experience/
knowledge), i'm terribly worried about my
boyfriend (he's scared too
but the more we talk about it the more he
worried and the more he feels
the heart)
the facts:
38 male, non-smoking, low cholesterol, low
body fat (jogger), no hearth problems in
the family, no health problems besides
from allergies and allergic asthma (been
taking pulmicort daily but barely any
emergency sprays), and a lot of
stress/worries.
One night a few months ago the heart
started beating like crazy (noticeable)
and he felt some "skipped beats", caused
panic (real fear of death), feeling
faint...
Rushed to the cardiologist who ran several
ekgs (on rest, under stress/exercise, and
used a little machine to monitor his beats
for several days) and a fancy
echocardiogram.
Tests came out ok / healthy, no serious
problems only:
-irbbb (incomplete right bundle branch
block) which he might have had since
childhood but never noticed or have gotten
from running (??!), doctor said he should
forget about it (it's just an occasional
"extra beat", suposedly harmless).
Ever since:
once in a while he feels it (worries him
badly no matter what the doctor says), no
fain feelings nor the "extra beat" but
rather the freaking heart, and what he
describes as a ***pressure*** on his
chest.
Worries me that he can't ignore the
pressure/weird feeling in his heart, as
soon as he notices it he thinks about it,
gets more and more scared, puts his hand
over his chest, etc.
From what we hear/read:
***irbbb should not cause tachycardia or
any symptoms at all!!! ***
his cardiologist says what he feels is
rather caused by pure stress (he's been
through much worse many times before and
could always cope, how come this now?!)
freakier:
twice this week he has felt a ***burning
feeling on his left arm*** (right
in the middle, opposite from the elbow),
it could be it was from him bending it so
much to feel the heart? Or from lifting
weights? Or could it be the heart giving
him another sign??!!!
Question is:
with this pressure on his heart, the
what-it-seems-to-be-tachycardia (stress
induced?!!) and the strange feeling on his
arm,
---> could he have some heart disease
that wouldn't show on the ekgs and the
echo??!!!
(if so, is it time to rush to a doctor/new
doctor and pressure for new expensive
tests again?--the first ones were done a
couple of months ago really!)
--->or should he not worry and just get
used to the weird scary feelings, which
might or not be connected to the irbbb
(could be that the tachycardia made him
notice the irbbb and the main problem is
nothing to do with the irbbb but something
else?!)
--->if is nothing serious then any tips
to how to cope with the
pressure-feeling/freaky heart? (he
can't take beta-blockers because of the
asthma!)
thanks so much for any input/ideas on
this!!!!!!
Scared worried-sick chris :(
|
debdebtx
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 12 Jan 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Texas
Posted: 01-17-05 14:11pm
I have had a similar thing happen, from
anxiety. You should check out that
forum. When you have experienced
something like that, every thing seems
related to it. You become hyper
sensitive to aches and pains that you
would have ordinarily ignored or
dismissed. Does that make sense? It
sounds like the doctor ruled out anything
that is serious.
I gave some advice to a person in a
similar situation on that board last week
and told her to get the portable heart
monitor.
If its not anxiety, could it be related to
his medicine? Sometimes we metabolize
things differently. For example, if he
drank too little water, too much caffeine
and took his medicine? If I am correct
allergy/asthma medicine has vasodiliators
(spelling) in them, that could speed up
the heart beat.
If he still is not comfortable with the
doctors findings, he should seek out a
second opinion.
Take care.
|
Chris321
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 12 Jan 2005 Posts: 4 Location: ,
Anxiety... Posted: 01-17-05 17:59pm
Thanks so much for posting debdebtx
i do think this might be mostly related to
stress and anxiety... And we did have the
asthma meds for a long time under
suspicion (i still think it might have
something to do with it) but the doctor
said he never heard of any problems from
this cortison-based-inhalant (he's been
taking it twice a day for several
months)...
What worries me the most is not only how
he gets when he's feeling it but how he's
describing the pressure on his chest and
this arm thing (which thank god only
happened twice so it might have been
something totally unrelated after all,
like from exercising or something).
I'll check out that forum and the post you
mentioned, meanwhile I hope some more
people (like, someone who/has knows about
irbb and tachycardia) will post and we'll
keep an eye on any symptoms... If he gets
more bad time i'll bug him to see another
doctor, he doesn't want to but maybe it'll
be good one war or the other (like,
finding something or proving there's
nothing serious).
Thanks again and hope you don't have this
again!
Hugs
chris
|
Byron Fesler
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 29 Apr 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Idaho
Tach Or Someting Worse? Posted: 04-30-05 16:38pm
First of all have him settle down. When
this occurs tell him to relax and breath.
Do not panic. Your body is a well
worked machine made by god. When you
start to panic, adenalin kicks in and
rushes to the area of concern and you get
more hyper which does not help. Stress
will kill you long before this will.
I have a condition called wpw and this is
how mine starts. I have had it for 24
years and it has not killed me yet. In
fact it has been nothing but a pain in the
side, (no pun intented). I have learned
to accept it and deal with it as I an my
doctor is working out ways to solve my
problem.
I am in no way suggesting he may be
developing wpw, all I am saying is settle
down and work with your body not against
it. I am sure he will find that the
episodes become less frequent and less
painful.
Good luck
god bless
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Pika
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 47 Location: Australia
Posted: 05-16-05 02:02am
Hi
i've wpw with right bundle branch block
and pat (new to call it svt). Found in
1973 when I was 15. When 6 yrs old I
started with palpitation once a year.
Mum asked me to go to sleep. After woke
up it all fine. It continued like this
(once a year) until 15. It started but
hard to stop. Dr said I was nothing
wrong when I was 13. He won't write me a
letter for excuses not to run 3 miles
(school cross country). I think you need
the dr to catch it when your palpitation
is on.
Good luck.
Pika
