What's going on with my heart?

[Dom]

I know this is long but please have read.

I'm in my late 30's 5'10 and about 195lbs.

Last Thursday/13th I wasn't feeling well. I was able to feel my pulse beating while just sitting. I took my pulse and it was 110, later that day it settled into 95.

The next day Friday, I went to see my doctor. He said that my pulse and bp was a little high but as I was scheduled for a full physical in 3 weeks he would look into it fully then.

That night it really started, I was feeling pressure on my chest and a lot anxiety, was starting to build up heart rate was at about 95, Everytime I would turn over I could feel my heart racing and felt like it was stretching my neck. I didn't sleep well that night.

Next morning, Saturday, I was still feeling crappy, I went to the hospital. They did blood work and hooked me up to an ECG or EKG (I dont' know the difference). They said everything looked fine, made an appointment for a stress test for the following Wed 26th and sent me on my way.

The next day, Sunday, I wasn't feeling much better, my chest pressure was subsiding a little but now I could feel my heart skipping every few minutes. I borrowed stethascope from my brother so that I could have a listen to what I might be able to hear and indeed my heart every few minutes would just skip/stop and then I'd feel a ruch of warmth in my stomach and arms.

Sunday night I was feeling a little better with still the same symptoms, they just didn't feel as bad. I didn't sleep much but decided to go to work. I couldn't do it, I felt foggy, tired, my heart skipping wouldn't allow me to focus, all this time my pulse was in the 90's. I went back to EMERG. Once again they hooked me up and did blood work aswell. This time the doctor thought it might have something to do with my lungs and decided to give me a
cat scan of my lungs, negative, everything negative. Nobody said
anything about my heart rate and bp so I'm assuming there was nothing alarming to tell. Once again I'm sent on my way.

Tuesday 18th I somehow made it through the day, Wednesday the pressure in my chest was pretty much all gone and I was starting to feel alert again. That afternoon after work I'm home talking on the phone to the ex-wife and when I get off the phone I start to feel a bad pain that seemed to start in my armpit and work its way down, it was also in my left upper back but no chest pain or real discomfort. I'm not sure if it was related but the next day I decide to go to a walkin clinic after work just to basicly tell a doctor about it. He hooks me up and tells me my heart is fine pulse is fine and bp is fine. He thinks it might be anxiety attack but can't explain why its never happened before since I'm 38.

Yesterday, Friday 21st, I'm just sitting watching tv and actually not feeling that bad at all. When I feel my heart skip, I decide to have a listen and not only is it skipping every few minutes, more often than before (every 3 mins) but now its rate has dropped to the high 60's and low 70's, no real pain anywhere. This time I let my wife listen just to prove to her atleast that my heart was stopping for a beat and then starting. I don't mind telling you, THAT IS NOT FUN, scary infact. I decide to try to get through the night and see how I felt in the morning.

In the morning, no pain, pulse is at 84. Through out this I've not felt what I would call pain beyond a slight tingling of pain in my left niple area. Something I wouldn't think about if it wasn't for the rest the of my syptoms but there was some.

On Sunday the 23rd, I make this mike to have a good listen to my heart through my computer. Not only is it skipping but what I couldn't tell before was there a triple beat not the normal double.
You can listen at the link below.

http://www.qwink.com/link.php?l=41KMQ/heart2.mp3

So not only is my heart going
BUMPBUMP BUMPBUMP NOTHINGNOTHING BUMPBUMP
but its also going
BUMPBUMP BUMPBUMP BUMPBUMPBUMP BUMPBUMP
1 2 3 (very quick)

Tuesday, night and Wednesday morning the 25th and 26th from 11pm to 4am, I get the heart pounding and through the night, all of the sudden my heart skips/stops and its all gone, heart is back to normal and I'm able to fall asleep, it does'nt always go back to normal after a skip/stop though. I just don't know what to do. Does this sound like "Atrial Fibrillation" Thanks for any help anyone can give as I think the doctors are going to start brushing my off as nut soon but I know what I'm feeling.

 

[Ross]

Hi Dom and welcome to VR

Something is certainly going on, but what it is, I have no idea.
Have you seen a Cardiologist about this? I think you better get an appointment with one and let him/her do some more in depth testing. The MP3 sounds pretty normal to me, but I'm not a Doctor. The pain you experienced could be angina which would indicate that there is more going on then meets the eye.

 

[Dom]

Hi,

Thankyou. No I have'nt, I have a heart stress test today. I don't know what goes on there but I'm hoping there's going to be a doctor there, maybe a cardiologist. What I might do since I took the day off is go to my family doctor this moring before my stress test and make an appt.

One thing I have'nt mentioned is a few months ago I was I got a good electrical jolt from my cloths dryer 220volts. It went in my hand and when my knee hit the ground it grounded and burned my knee pretty bad but it let me go. This was one of the worst painfull experiences of my life. Its also about the time I started noticing my heart beats on occasion. The pain was so bad I called paramedics, they said if anything bad was going to happend it would have and that if my heart was bad it could have killed me. My question now is it possable that it might have made my otherwise good heart bad with a jolt like that?

 

[Nancy]

Hi Dom-

Welcome to this wonderful site. You've really had a few scary episodes. The very best thing you could do for yourself right now is to get on the phone and schedule an appointment with a cardiologist. They have monitors they can have you wear for a few days and then they can read the tape and see just exactly what rhythm your heart is in. They can also do a very thorough heart exam.

It's almost impossible to tell what rhythm you are in on the internet, and trying to figure it out would just lead to more anxiety for you. There are many, many, many different heart rhythms. Some which feel scary, aren't life threatening. Some will need additional help. I think the fact that no one you have seen up to now has been alarmed is a good sign for you, but you will have to follow all this up with a trip to the cardiologist.

If, at any time, you are not feeling well, you should keep doing what you have been. Get help as soon as you can.

So please set up an appointment soon. Calling today would be a good idea. And let us all know how things are going for you.

Wishing you all the best.

 

[Rick W]

Hi Dom.
I read your post and can understand your concerns. What you have described resemble similar problems I had when getting too much caffeine. Additionally, anxiety attacks can mimic heart attacks but you must be careful about interpreting them as such. They do seemingly appear from out of nowhere but are often related to something psychological going on in your life or a response to fear. I agree you are best off seeing a good cardiologist. Hope this helps and please keep us informed as to your findings.

Rick

 

[Nancy]

Make very sure you tell all your doctors about the electrical jolt. That's important info. Only they will know if it is related or not.

Best wishes

 

[kevin21]

You'll notice that as you dwell on the problem it will get worse. Why? i guess cause your brain is a powerful controller and can interrupt the normal signals it normally sends to your heart.

When I lay down at night and think about my heart I can speed up the rate and also make the beats screw up like you're feeling.

 

[Creed3]

Hi Dom!
I can't really add too much more to what everyone else has said. They are all right. You definately need to go see a cardiologist and get checked out. Now that you are aware of things going on you are much more aware of anything that is different. I suffer from anxiety attacks and it is true that they can mimmick heart problems, but you definately do not want to take any chances, get it checked out and if you need to get another opinion until you are satisfied, do that. You can take a look at my personal story, but I did want to just let you know that when I started haveing my problems, all of my tests came back fine (ekg, oxygen level, c-xray). It wasn't until they did an echo that they saw anything. Even when they did the first echo, they didn't get the whole picture right away. I had to see 3 different docs until they figured out what was going on. The first couple docs just blew it off and said come see me in six months and we'll do another echo. Again, this is your health we are talking about and you keep getting it checked out until you are satisfied with what they tell you. Good Luck with everything and Take Care!
Gail

 

[Dom]

Thanks for all the quick replies everyone,

I just got home from the hospital and boy this is when I wish we had American style health care, American style lots of things actually. I'm from Toronto. I get the hospital outpatient after having counted the days to this day for my stress test and wouldn't you know, they screwed up and only schedualed me for the cardiologist. There is no stress tests done today. Now I have to wait untill March 19th. for the stress/echo test and the 11th to get the holter monitor. This wouldn't happen in the US right? Anyway, I don't know about anxiety as when my heart skips it wakes me and it happens at very calm moments. Now I don't know anything about anxiety so I don't know if it still can be anxiety given what I've said.

Oh ya, I almost forgot, the cardiologist doesn't think there's anything wrong, heart sounds fine to him. I don't know what they expect to here in the 30 seconds or so that they hook me up to the ECG 10 seconds with the thesascope.

Gail I'm going to do a search for your name unless there's a trick to finding your personal story.

ps. if first impressions mean anything, you guys sure seem like friendly bunch.

Thanks again everyone

Dom

 

[Nancy]

Dom, to look for personal stories, it's easy. Click on the big yellow logo valvereplacement.com it will take you to the main page, and then click on personal stories at the top.

 

[joy]

Health care in America isn't perfect either, Dom, I just spent over a month trying to get a referral from my insurance company to go to a specialist to have some stuff analyzed. It takes a while to get anything done, and we get run around in circles. Just try to take it easy until your test, alright? Hey, it might just be stress and anxiety, from what I hear, your ex seems to stress you out a lot! Not to sound like a downer or anything. I really hope that they find out it is anxiety and they cantake care of it easily.

 

[Dom]

Thanks Nancy,

Gail,

You said your last doctor "He also said that the Easter episode didn?t sound right to him." Do you mean he did think it was related or didn't. If you read all of my post you'll see I had bad pain that started under my arm near my armpit. Followed my some slight knumbness the next day for no reason that I knew of.

Dom

 

[Nancy]

You're welcome Dom. Now don't go and do any more electrical repairs until you have all your testing done.

 

[Bunny_Rabbit]

Oh Dom, Dom, Dom

Oh Dom, Dom, Dom

I beg you, please don't knock our healthcare system. I love our system, and when I hear people speak poorly of it, it really makes me upset. Nothing in life is perfect, but if you ever had to pay for one of these heart procedures or surgeries, I'm sure you'd change your mind.

In my opinion, healthcare is a right; not a privilege. No one should have to pay to be healthy.

By the way Dom, where were you sent for the cardiologist? I hope everything turns out well for you.

 

[joy]

No, Bunny, it was me that was downing the healthcare system, but it is nice not having to pay anything for our health insurance. Kevin is in the navy, so I got lucky in some ways, but it is very stressful trying to explain a problem to like a million people! That's all I meant by it. I love our doctors, though! We have some of the best healthcare facilities in the world, and that actually makes me feel great! The UW is ranked # 11 in the country over all. I just hate talking to a guy about my feminine problems. Trying to explain to a man on the phone some of the stuff that is going on in woman world is stressful, and the guy is always like, "yeah, suck it up!"

 

[terry40]

Dom

Dom

Welcome to VR, I agree with those who told you an echo and monitors (holter & event) are the tests you need your doctor to order.

I've had PVCs & rapid and irregular heart rate, for too many years and have had way too many holter moniters-a 24 hour ekg, and Event monitor, kept for a month and used only when have an episode-rapid heart rate, skipped beats, etc,..
They are non-invasive tests, a bit annoying, but will help in giving a diagnosis and possible treatment.

Keep up your persistance, and you will find the answer.

Terry40

 

[Dom]

Bunny, I've been to the ER twice one walk in clinic and today back to the outpatient at Toronto East General, where they screwed up my stress/echo test appt. I did speak to the cardiologist but I could tell he didn't think anything about what I was going through these last couple of weeks. I don't really know much about the US system beyond the little I've heard from friends but from what I've heard, if you have good insurance they don't screw around with 4 ECG tests and make you wait a month for stress/echo tests when someone goes in the way I did the first 2 times. I may be wrong, like I said, this is what I've heard. I agree, GOOD health care should be a right. Problem is, and this is where I guess you and I disagree, I don't think we even get fair health care in Toronto. Actually I should be more fair, I don't know about all of Toronto. So I'll refraise, I don't think we get even fair health care at East General, I don't really know much about the other hospitals around town, ie Sunnybrook I here is good St. Mike's also. East General is just around the corner so this is why I go there but I may be making a mistake in thinking like that.

Nancy, I shouldn't, just in case I get another brain cramp and forget to unplug, and believe it or not its making noise again. the doctor said the same as the peramedics, if it didn't kill ya you're probably alright. We'll see though, Gail story kind of spooked me.

 

[Bunny_Rabbit]

Dom, I'm not trying to be a pest or anything, and I don't mean to offend anyone here. I just have read a lot about people having to do what their insurance tells them to, and go where they'll allow. And that kind of restriction makes me angry, because I don't think that living a healthy life should only be for the ones who can afford it.

I know that for me, if I'm referred, I can go. No problems, no questions asked.
I was treated at St. Michaels hospital in Toronto, and was cared for wonderfully.
Again, I know nothing is perfect, but reading some of the posts regarding how much some of these surgeries cost, blew me away. They're more than my house was.

From what I've heard, St. Mikes is an excellent heart hospital. Maybe you should ask to be seen there.

Joy - I don't think you were downing anything. I know nothing is perfect. Myself included.

 

[Rain]

I take lanoxin for the irregular heart beats.

I take lanoxin for the irregular heart beats.

Dang, Dom....

I wish my heart sounded like yours. Mine is in atrial fib all the time. When my valve starts clicking really loud and other people around me can hear how irregular it is .... it totally freaks them out. I mean you talk about skipped beats and beat, beat beat, beats... makes yours sound perfect. And my cardio says its okay... for now.