Hi I am a 33 year old female, who has been experiencing frequent ectopic heart beats and associated dizziness & light headedness for the past 6 months. I am desperate for any advice or suggestions to help with my problem. I have given a detailed history of events, which some of my experiences are extreme & a compounded by a run of very bad luck, but I am grateful to anyone that will listen & read my story!
I have collapsed when my heart rate has gone too fast & the ectopics have been frequent (feeling like a flip flop thud in my chest & what feels like every alternate heart beat is skipped with dizziness & lightheadedness being the precipitating factors). I have had a holter monitor for 4 weeks, which showed frequent ectopics and regular post ectopic pauses, but unfortunately the machine malfunctioned and did not catch a collapsing episode, much to my disappointment and also my cardiologists. He says that the ectopics are not the issue, but he wants to get to the bottom of my collapsing episodes, as they are descriptive of a heart problem of sort. I am fully aware that making lifestyle changes can help alleviate symptoms, but with me, this does not seem to be a contributing issue.
The cardiologist offered to impant a Reveal Cardiac Monitor (which was inserted under local anaethestic & records my heart rate continuously, it also automaticaly triggers when I have a sustained arrythmia, and also i had a device which I could activate, or my friends/family could should I collapse before being able to activate it). Great, I thought, finally getting somewhere. Anyhow, after initiial problems with bleeding post operatively, I was allowed home, and the sutures were to be removed in 10 days. That's where my issues got a considerable amount worse. I was in so much pain & had to support myself by holding the insertion site every time I moved. I though I was being pathetic as it was described to me as "a simple proceedure", so I must be a whimp, I thought. So I stuck with this pain for 4 days and nights.
On the 5th day, I woke in the morning to find that my wound had oozed this green/bloodstained brownish gunge from the insertion site, but the pain began to ease. To cut a long story short, it was decided by my GP & the nurse that although my wound was oozing this gunge & the skin was red around the suture site, it WAS NOT INFECTED & they DID NOT feel that I needed antibiotics. I visited the GP twice during the next few days,and still they declined antibiotics.
Well on day 10, I went back to the GP to have the sutures removed, and things got worse. As soon as the sutures were removed, the wound completely opened up, still gungy and the cardiac monitor was visible, so they now decided that I should be on antibiotics but did not feel that I should be worried that the monitor, which was supposed to be under the skin, could now be seen clear as day. Needless to say as soon as I left the GP surgery, I contacted the hospital department where I had had the monitor inserted & explained that the wound had not healed & should I be worried that I could see the monitor. With this, the hospital said to come straight away & they would get the cardiologist to see me asap.
Next stop, the hospital. Well the cardiologist took one look at the wound & was horrified. Started me on strong antiobiotics & wanted me in surgery within the next few hours. The Reveal cardiac monitor had to be removed straight away! I was mortified to say the least. I hadn't expected him to remove the monitor at that instance. So, I was in surgery again, & the monitor removed, wound cavity flushed with antibiotics, but the extent of the cavity meant that they were unable to sew the wound back up,so am now left with a hole in my chest where the monitor once was. Three weeks later, I am still on antibiotics, having twice weekly dressings to pack the wound & seeing my cardiologist weekly to assess the wound healing.
The plan is, when the wound heals up, the Reveal monitor is going to be put back in. But in the meantime, I have to still put up with regular ectoptic beats & the awful sensations they inflict on me. I keep saying to the doctors that the ectopics/arrythmias are the main issue for me at the moment, but they do not seem interested that they are causing havoc with my life. Does any one else have this issue with ectopics? Is there any form of medications that can help? Should I be a bit more pro-active & forceful with decisions? Please can anyone help me?