Heart Problems? I need help please . . .

[fox24]

I posted in the heart rhythm section and someone told me to post here instead. I am 33 and passed out about 8 weeks ago. No dizziness or anything, just hit the floor. When i woke i was vomiting for awhile -then went to bed. Ever since then i keep having these "spells". I went to dr and had labwork done. Everything came back fine (thyroid, BP, sugar, Iron etc.) Only thing that looked funny was that i showed that I was exposed to Mono yrs ago and he thinks im having a "stress induced flare-up". (I never heard of this). So for 8 weeks I cant even get in a car and go anywhere due to "sick" feeling. And different times of the day (doesn't matter when) I get cold icy fingers, fast heart beat, body gets tingly like im gonna pass out again or bouts of nausea. Nothing i do seems to be working. I dont think it sounds like a Mono flare-up since i looked it up online. Can it be a heart problem??? I dont think it has anything to do with anything, but I moved from New York to Florida last year and I was only here 2 weeks and passed out as well (vomiting afterwards also). Just seems strange to me. (cant have Mono for a yr can you? and I was fine up till 8 weeks ago).
Any info will be appreciated.
Thanks

[fox24]

Thanks for all the advice. Well it's been 4 months now and im still sick. I have recently moved and I am getting insurance set up and i will take everyone's suggestions to heart. I still have daily bouts of wooziness and have to laydown. I DO NOT believe it is a flare up (Mono) due to ppl said it only should last a week or 2 NOT 4 months. I now have severe muscle pains, joint pains -some days can hardly move. I also developed Petechaie? (SP) and Purpura on my arms and legs (small). I have checked BP b4 a spell and after and ckd it for over a week and the Dr said it's all normal. The possitive IgG scares me still im hoping to get another one done this week to see what the numbers are. In Feb 2010 it was 3.8. I havnt passed out since that 3rd time Jan 2010, but I feel awfully close to it alot. I even kept track of my sugar as well and Dr cleared that as well. Iron was good too (he says) - the results were 60.

[Heiferly]

Has anyone seen you during any of these spells?  The vomiting makes me wonder a bit if there could possibly be seizure activity going on.  On the other hand, with you having no prodrome/aura (warning symptoms before the onset of the loss of consciousness) whatsoever, suspicion for a cardiac-based syncope (fainting) goes up in my book.  All in all, I would really suggest that you start aggressively pursuing a thorough process-of-elimination workup to find out what is causing these episodes.  If your current doctor isn't willing to refer you to a cardiologist (or an electrophysiologist-cardiologist, aka. EP-cardio) and a neurologist to begin those workups, you may want to seriously consider a second opinion from another doctor who will be more aggressive in pursuing answers on this.  You will likely undergo EEG testing to look for seizures (ambulatory EEG or inpatient video EEG monitoring would give even more definitive results if there is reason for the neurologist to strongly suspect seizures are the cause of your symptoms), an EKG to get a brief glimpse of your heart rhythm, an echocardiogram or possibly a stress echo to get a view of your heart chambers/valves and your ejection fraction (important indicator of heart function), holter monitoring (ambulatory EKG monitoring), and possibly some more lab work depending on what has already been completed and what is found on the other tests.  As others have mentioned, if cardiac and neurological causes are ruled out, other referrals may be made such as to an ENT (ear nose and throat specialist) to look for other likely suspects.

As someone who HAS had a relapse of mono (yes, it does lie dormant in your system after you've had it and can relapse under stress), that explanation sounds weak to me at best.  If I were you, I would ONLY accept that as a diagnosis *after* making certain I had thoroughly checked out other plausible explanations, particularly because many of those conditions are highly treatable and there is no point in suffering needlessly when you could be getting treatment because of a delayed diagnosis.  

If you want to read a very layperson-accessible book on the differential diagnosis of syncope, get your hands on The Fainting Phenomenon:

http://www.amazon.com/Fainting-Phenomenon-Understanding-People-Faint/dp/1405148411/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a

You may be able to get it at the public library by requesting it through interlibrary loan.  (It is generally only in the holdings of medical libraries.)

I would also second Tonya's suggestion that you may want to get your hands on a home blood pressure cuff (you can buy them at most pharmacies--Walgreens, Walmart, CVS, etc.) and try to keep records of your blood pressure and heart rate around the times when you're not feeling well (and some baseline "control" values from when you are feeling normal as well) to share with your doctors.  Feel free to run any irregularities you find in these past us once you start keeping track; we may have some insight if there are patterns as this falls into the area of expertise of this forum.

Hang in there!  We've all been there and know how rough it is when this all is starting to happen and you don't have answers or treatment to help you yet--it does get better!  Feel free to whine here as often as needed until "better" comes along!
-Heiferly

[basskd]

I had a friend that had similar symptoms to the ones you have.  He actually had something wrong with fluid build up in his ears that would cause him to fall and have bouts of nausia, especially upon waking and when traveling.  So as far as those symptoms it sounds the same. I dont really know about the cold fingers or fast heart beats but it might be beneficial to get your ears checked out, many diseases like Meniere's disease which has the symptom of vertigo which can cause fainting and vomiting, cant be found with a simple checkup. Maybe it would be worth you looking into.

[fox24]

Nope, I thow up evertime i wake up. So strange. Thats why everyone thought maybe sugar or BP, but all those tests came back perfect. Dr now telling me it's a flare-up of EBV (Mono) from stress. But i find all these symptoms a little strange and ppl that had Mono tell me they didnt pass out randomly or throw up. So im not sure whats going on at all and i hate it. This is my 4th month of this crap.

[Mom2four85]

I think I'm the one who suggested you post here also :)  

Could be ANS/Heart combo like I have - do you ever pass out and not vomit? I missed that part, but that's not unusual for me :P

Cardiologist may be able to do some simple tests and let you know if they think it's heart or recommend neurologist if not...but then again it may have nothing to do with either ANS or heart.

[tonyad]

  Hi there and Welcome :)
Your symptoms do sound a bit suspicious of some sort of an Autonomic Dysfunction
But......with that being said you would need to go to Cardiologist and/or
Electrophysiologist to be for sure.
  
    In my own "Personal" opinion I would say that it were highly unlikely that your particular symptoms you are describing would not be related to a past (or even present) Mono infection.  A special test called an antibody titer can help your doctor distinguish a current (acute) EBV infection from one that occured in the past.
Did he happen to do this particular test?
  
     The other blood work you had done and posted that the results were all w/in normal range sound NON - Indicitive of having Mono from the past causing these symptoms.  Have you been running any kind of fever?

     When you feel these symptoms coming on....(cold icy fingers, fast heart beat, body gets tingly like im gonna pass out again or bouts of nausea) do you ever take your b/p before during or after these episodes? If not, then I would perhaps start a little journal of what you were doing when it happened, what your b/p was, how long it lasted, what you did to help resolve it (did you lay down, sit down, so on), any information that you can take with you to your appointment to either Cardio or Electrophysiologist. this way you can already take some of the guess work out and they can get some kind of clue as a starting point as far as what tests to do and so forth.
     Anyhow, I hope some of this make sense and I hope that it helps a bit in regards to the information. Please keep us updated on how things are going. Stick around, even if you just lurk, you can always find out new information, ask questions, vent, and whatever you nedd to do. We are here for you :)

Take Care,
~Tonya

[evo123]

Hi, I am just bumping this up for you.

I have no knowledge of mono so unfortunately I cannot advise you on this.  But I would ask to see a cardiologist and have him carry out some tests to rule out any cardiac causes, I would also ask to see an endocrinologist and have him test for adrenal issues, have your cortisol levels been tested, or a full hormone panel done?.  

There could be many causes to these spells that you are having, ensure you get a full work up not just routine bloods.

Maybe someone here can give you more help than I have.

Hopefully you will have some answers soon xx