arrythmia??

[Kessie424]

I have had these arrythmia type feelings (heaviness in the chest and neck and an irregular beat, even my husband felt it)  for 2 + yrs. My doc keeps saying I have anxiety. It's around the evening and worsens when I smoke. I know, quit smoking. Well I'm trying.

Today I went in and he gave me an ekg which was normal and also learned of a cyst that I have on my thyroid. This ultrasound was done a yr. ago and now he told me the results. I have no trust in my doctor. He dismissed it as anxiety and suggested that I see a therapist. THe ekg was normal but I did not have one at that time.

[madamebrianne]

Hello,

Please look into Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). It is a very unheard of nervous system disorder that prevents the body from being able to properly adjust to the pull of gravity. Therefore, symptoms arise, such as: rapid heart rate upon standing, low or high blood pressure, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, sweating, anxiety-like symptoms, headaches, shortness of breath, inability to exercise, digestion problems, etc. The symptoms are endless and vary person to person day to day. Very few doctors are familiar with this illness and often misdiagnose patients.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Best wishes,
Brandi

[MichelleP_3811]

It sounds like you had an echo cardiogram done.  It is the basic test they do to see how well your heart is functioning.  If they didn't do any follow up after that test then likely it means your heart is structurally fine.  From what I understand pulmonary embolisms generally come from a leg, deep vein thrombosis, and travel to the lung.  Unless you have congestive heart failure it is very likely the cause was something other than heart related though it does affect the heart.  Considering your echo was ok at the time it happened then it is likely you do not have it but do you notice that your feet and ankles are swollen a lot?  If so you may want to go and get a full workup of your heart by a cardiologist.  The heart aside, these are some of the contributing factors that can increase your risk of developing a pulmonary embolism.
-Being inactive for long periods. This can happen when you have to stay in bed after surgery or a serious illness, or when you sit for a long time on a flight or car trip or job.
-Recent surgery that involved the legs, hips, belly, or brain.
-Some diseases, such as cancer, heart failure, stroke, or a severe infection.
-Pregnancy and childbirth (especially if you had a cesarean section).
-Taking birth control pills or hormone therapy.
-Smoking.
If you are on birth control I would definitely think about switching to something else.  It could be the cause of the clot and your thyroid issues.  My doctor would not give me birth control when I was a smoker.  She said the risk was too high.  Though if you are having thyroid issues in general without being on the pill I wonder if a hormonal imbalance played a part in it though it is possible one would never know what caused an embolism but obviously since you had one you will want to keep a watch out that you don't develop another one meaning if you notice the symptoms you had before with it to head to the ER straight away.  Ok, talk to you later.

[Kessie424]

thank you, that is helpful. I forgot to mention that I did have a pulmanary embolism 2 yrs. ago and they never figured out where it came from. I know they did a test in the hospital on my heart. Forget what it was called but it was an ultrasound type device and on the screen showed blue and red, I guess that's the flow of my blood through my heart. If the embolism was caused by a heart condition I wonder if they would have been able to see it on that test. Thanks for your help.

[MichelleP_3811]

Your heart is mainly a bunch of muscle fibers and every cell has the ability to conduct an electrical signal.  This is sort of a built in safety net in case something goes wrong with the main electrical generator the SA node or if something like scar tissue happens somewhere in the heart to block the main signal another spot in the heart can fire up and take over and keep the heart pumping.  That said, for some unknown reason these little spots can pop up without cause really or there may have been some contributing factor that has since gone but now the little spot is activated and will fire off if provoked.  To be honest I really don't know that the medical community knows for certain but that is what I have gathered from my own personal research.  But the bottom line being you have little spots or maybe even just one little spot in your heart that can get triggered/provoked into firing off an extra beat here and there.  The heart can get overstimulated from smoking, stress, physical exertion, over eating or eating certain food especially if you have acid reflux and electrolyte imbalances to name probably just a few triggers.  Eliminate the things that trigger it and the ectopics should ease up or even go away.  That said, unless you are having these beats upwards of 20,000 a day they are not considered a danger to your health.  They also in general deem them normal stating everyone gets them but not everyone feels them though I beg to differ that everyone gets them everyday.  But I can agree that they are not a threat to my health unless I get so many they cause troubling symptoms like chest pain that doesn't resolve or passing out.  In any event the smoking likely changes the dynamics of your heart, someone explained that in another post but I don't really remember the science behind it but the bottom line is smoking is changing your heart in some way and is likely what is triggering your ectopic beats.  Quit smoking and the ectopic beats may very well stop as well.  But then again I know how hard that can be.  I actually used meds to beat my addiction but I was simply amazed at how many triggers there are to me wanting to smoke.  I adored it but started to have more heart issues myself, I had an svt and also have ectopic beats, so after trying just about everything under the sun I was pleasantly surprised the meds worked.  And though I still miss smoking from time to time, I would still love to pick up one every so often, I really am extremely grateful to be free of the addiction and being a prisoner to the smoke.  The biggest thing is don't be too hard on yourself if you slip up or go back after stopping for a while. Just find a reason to really want to quit and make that your focus and goal and just try and battle through the triggers as best you can.  It really is a lot about habit as much as it is about the physical addiction.  Anyways I am here if you want to talk about it more.  Take care.    

[Kessie424]

Thank you , i have been using the ecig but these last few weeks I started again because of school starting for the kids (thinking it would help but in truth it really never helps) Everything gets worse when I start smoking again. It all starts around 5 and ends when I wake up. I've read about triggers for arrythmia and smoking is one of them. Now when they say triggers does that mean they cause these arrythmia type symptoms without any defect in the heart or does it make arrythmia hightened when using these triggers?

[MichelleP_3811]

It sounds like you have ectopic beats.  In general in a healthy heart they are not a real big concern however I do not know for certain what you exactly have so you may want to ask your doctor for a referral to get a work up of your heart just to make sure.  I would also make sure that your thyroid is tested as well.  If you are not comfortable with your current doctor by all means find a new one.  Your doctor should be your partner in keeping you healthy.  If you are not getting that then find one who will.  In general though unless you are having very troubling symptoms like chest pain that doesn't resolve, shortness of breath, or passing out they generally do not do a whole lot about heart arrythmias because for the most part they are not a threat to your health but it is always good to know your heart is in good working order to make that assessment to begin with.  Take care and feel better soon.  If you need anyone to talk to about quitting smoking I smoked for 25 years and thought I would never quit so I know how hard it can be.  Talk to you later.

[MidDayRebel]

get a second opinion. I don't know about your symptoms but your experience with Dr is similar to mine.About 5 years ago I started getting what my Dr said were "panic attacks" he suggested a therapist as well then 2 years ago I started having heart palpitations I went to three separate Drs who all said most people have them and not to be concerned. But shortly after having my daughter I decided to give it one last try with another Dr he is the one who finally ordered test to be done. I had a chest x-ray, blood work, Ekg and a 24hr halter monitor everything but the halter monitor was normal long story short he sent me to a cardiologist who then diagnosed me with WPW and said my "panic Attacks" were periods of racing heart. Had an ablation done and the surgeon said it was a very bad case and ran a risk of sudden cardiac death. So if you feel something is still wrong definitely get it checked out again>