LymeNet Flash: What heart symptoms do you have?

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Posted by suz9601 (Member # 6968) on :

I have just been dxd w/Lyme after 9 years of CFS. I know have severe heart symptoms such as Right bundle branch Block, PVC's, PAC's, SVT, Other Tachycardias, etc. It is very scarey to have runs of the PVC's especially. I am on a beta blocker that helps some. Do you all have these symptoms too? I always thought it was my autonomic nervous system gone wacky causing this, but now I read it can be Lyme disease. Any thoughts?

Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :

Lyme disease can cause the autonomic system to go haywire. I have palps and tachycardia and take beta blockers too. I also have mitral valve prolapse. This is very common with Lyme/babesia patients.

Make sure you are TREATED for babs, regardless of test results. Babs is more notorious for causing heart problems than Lyme, in my opinion.

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oops!
Lymetutu

Posted by lymie tony z (Member # 5130) on :

Yeah buddy it causes heart problems.
At the height of my heart problems I had a cardial cath done, as well as a previous stress test..."Normal and no blockages". Diagnosed as stress. Left mitral valve regurgitation the ducks said was cuz I was getting old.
I never got a Babs positive but those tests suck also...and the sweats are probably babs...I don't know for sure but I am sure of the lyme tests.
When my heart would just stop beating for eight or so beats and then start up again I did'nt know I had lyme.
After treatments I'm left with the mitral valve thing. I am taking Ketek and had a lot of tightness around my heart. I figured it was the abx killing the chetes...side effects not withstanding.
I still get twitches transiently and intermittently everywhere including my heart muscle.
I believe it's the effects of the lyme on the CNS overall.
Good luck..with treatments it may get better for you as it has for me.
Bare in mind this affects our blood flow. The little scillia that help our blood flow are electrically (nervous system) run or caused to run inefficiently. zman

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Posted by Trillian (Member # 6857) on :

Tachycardia, heart beat so fast that it couldn't beat effectively, causing low bp (hypotension) to the point of fainting. BP so low the Doc couldn't find one at all couple times, averaging 60/40 mostly.

Palpitations so bad my bed would shake and squeak in time to my heart beat, loud enough to wake me up.

Chest pain, which turned out to be partly heart muscle and mostly costochondritus.

Tests included multiple echo & electro cardiograms, a month wearing a holter moniter, tilt table, and, most invasive, scary and expensive, electrophysiology study.

Beta blocker helped some.

Electrophysiologist talked me into trying an SSRI, even though I was not depressed, because it often helps regulate heart rate. REALLY helped, but now that the lyme is getting more under control I'm weaning off. Very thankful that I let him talk me into it at the time, though.

Posted by suz9601 (Member # 6968) on :

Thanks for the replies. Do these symptoms tend to get worse w/herxing? I am very afraid if they do. They are all I can handle now. I am only on 300mg doxy right now and no herxing.

Posted by cmichaelo (Member # 5873) on :

Compared to you guys, I only have minor heart problems such as palpitations and stings. On rare occasions, the heart has stopped for a couple of beats.

If it's Babs or not I don't know.

My impression is that Babs is more likely to cause heart problems than Lyme, or maybe it's a combination of the two.

I know a person who was rushed to hospital due to irregular heart beat. He was stabilized and it was eventually determined that he had LD. He was subsequently put on Rocephin IV and his heart problems and encephalopathy went away.

I'm not sure how he's doing today.

I'm being treated for Babs as well, even though I never had a positive test for Babs. Not even from Bowen.

However, I have all the symptoms of what Dr.B calls a "mild" Babs infection (except for one symptom).

I'll be starting the Babs treatment soon. Postponing it at the moment though. I'll be taking Malarone, Artemisinin and Plaquenil.

Michael

Posted by MaryAnne (Member # 19248) on :

I have Multiple Sclerosis, mitral valve prolapse and this week was dx'd with Lyme Disease and I can tell you that the heart palpitaions and chest pain frighten me more than any other thing about starting IV treatment for Lyme and the possibility of herxing. Can I just relax and try to know that any weird things my heart does are ok and just part of the whole experience with treating Lyme? I had IV Solumedrol (high dose steroid treatment) a couple of years ago for an MS flare (or was it a bad Lyme flare??? may never know for sure) and ended up spending a night in the hospital because the chest pain became so severe. Everything checked out ok at the time and I have tried since to believe that heart disease was one thing I didn't need to worry about. But now I'm frightened again with the thought that treating Lyme may trigger similar experiences. Please respond if you can...your thoughts will be most helpful and I hope, reassuring!

Posted by henson2 (Member # 463) on :

HI,

So weird that I saw this question today! I have developed some recent heart symptoms with the Lyme. I got mitral valve prolapse and ectopic beats when I got Lyme, but recently the arrythmia has been really pronounced and painful.

PCP has put me on a beta blocker (hey, I'm too young for heart medicine!!!) and told me to take it easy and put in a call to the LLMD to find out if Lyme going to heart. My blood pressure has gone soaring -- 40 points higher than usual.

Waiting to hear from LLMD.

The beta blocker is helping a little, but not a lot. But PCP said it takes time for them to really work.

I also have severe chest pain, determined after many cardiac tests to be nerve wrapping around rib cage.

I would not be surprised if the mitral valve prolapse caused some pain though, too.

Anyone have chest pain associated with the mitral valve prolapse?

Thanks for the question.
I hope everyone feels well very soon! We need to beat this!

Posted by cmichaelo (Member # 5873) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Maryanne:
I have Multiple Sclerosis, mitral valve prolapse and this week was dx'd with Lyme Disease and I can tell you that the heart palpitaions and chest pain frighten me more than any other thing about starting IV treatment for Lyme and the possibility of herxing. Can I just relax and try to know that any weird things my heart does are ok and just part of the whole experience with treating Lyme? I had IV Solumedrol (high dose steroid treatment) a couple of years ago for an MS flare (or was it a bad Lyme flare??? may never know for sure) and ended up spending a night in the hospital because the chest pain became so severe. Everything checked out ok at the time and I have tried since to believe that heart disease was one thing I didn't need to worry about. But now I'm frightened again with the thought that treating Lyme may trigger similar experiences. Please respond if you can...your thoughts will be most helpful and I hope, reassuring!

I'm not a doctor, but I've heard that steroids is a No No when you have Lyme.

Something about steroids suppressing the immune system. But since Lyme is already suppressing the immune system you don't want to further weaken it which will only improve the environment for Lyme.

Do you attribute your trip to the hospital due to the steroids, or was something else going on at the same time?

Are you still being treated for MS while you're being treated for Lyme?

Is it the same doctor that manages both illnesses?

If not, does one doctor know what the other doctor is doing for you?

Michael

Posted by cmichaelo (Member # 5873) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Maryanne:
I have Multiple Sclerosis, mitral valve prolapse and this week was dx'd with Lyme Disease and I can tell you that the heart palpitaions and chest pain frighten me more than any other thing about starting IV treatment for Lyme and the possibility of herxing. Can I just relax and try to know that any weird things my heart does are ok and just part of the whole experience with treating Lyme? I had IV Solumedrol (high dose steroid treatment) a couple of years ago for an MS flare (or was it a bad Lyme flare??? may never know for sure) and ended up spending a night in the hospital because the chest pain became so severe. Everything checked out ok at the time and I have tried since to believe that heart disease was one thing I didn't need to worry about. But now I'm frightened again with the thought that treating Lyme may trigger similar experiences. Please respond if you can...your thoughts will be most helpful and I hope, reassuring!

I'm not a doctor, but I've heard that steroids is a No No when you have Lyme.

Something about steroids suppressing the immune system. But since Lyme is already suppressing the immune system you don't want to further weaken it which will only improve the environment for Lyme.

Do you attribute your trip to the hospital due to the steroids, or was something else going on at the same time?

Are you still being treated for MS while you're being treated for Lyme?

Is it the same doctor that manages both illnesses?

If not, does one doctor know what the other doctor is doing for you?

Michael

Posted by brodius (Member # 6835) on :

I have just gone through all of this also - increase in heart symptoms etc. - I am now off of antibiotics until we figure out what is going on - I feel o.k. - my cardiac symptoms are now replaced with body pain -

I found coq10 and magnesium on a regular basis to be very helpful. I too have MVP with regurtitation and reguritation in another valve - I have chest pain - skipped, early beats, slowed beats, really strong beats - all of the above.

It seems to be just another symptom along with all the rest - and it can be really bad - than at other times other symptoms will be more bothersome. I guess it is all part of the package!

Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :

Yes, steroids suppress the immune system and can cause heart palps.

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oops!
Lymetutu

Posted by once bitten on :

I USED to have a heart murmur, PVCs, tachy and bradycardia, LPB, HBP but now most is resolved with ABX treatment. I sometimes have occasional HBP but nothing to write home about.
Knock on wood.
also it may turn out that your MS gets better with abx tx and leave out the steroids when you can...see what happens.

[This message has been edited by once bitten (edited 26 March 2005).]

Posted by MaryAnne (Member # 19248) on :

Michael, you asked some great questions! First of all, yes, my LLMD and my MS specialist do know and respect each other and will be keeping in touch. Also, my MS specialist has put a call in to a prominent neurologist in NY who treats a lot of MS and Lyme. He has agreed that I can stop the weekly Avonex injections (for MS) for several weeks until he consults with this other doctor to see how she handles her patients who have both MS and Lyme. He is also willing to reevaluate my medical history and MRI films to see if he still believes I have MS. He's great! The time I had the severe chest pain and ended up in the hospital overnight for a cardio workup was when I was on high dose IV steroids for five days for what we thought was an MS flare. No one suspected that I had Lyme at the time. I became weaker and weaker until I could barely walk and the chest pain was so severe that by about the seventh day I called the doctor and went to the ER. Other than confirming that I had mitral valve prolapse, no other problems were found. The cardiologist offered beta blockers but I declined, because one of the side effects was a headache and I already had a roaring headache. Looking back, I just wonder if it wasn't the undiagnosed Lyme that caused all of this. Other than this one time, my MVP has never really bothered me, with the exception of never quite being able to do all the aerobic exercise that most people can do. That little bit of regurgetation in the valve accounts for this, I believe. Sorry so long. I hope I answered your questions!

Posted by DaveinCt (Member # 5818) on :

Hi Guys:

Haven't posted in a while. I'm actually pulsing Tetracycline, 2 weeks on....2 weeks off. Most of my body ache FibroMyalgia symptoms have dissapated after months of treatment.

But, about 2 months ago, I started having PVC's. Did all the tests including a rather fun stress echo. They diagnosed as benign PVC's. But, over the last month they've increased a little in frequency and drive me bonkers at times, although no pain or problems.

LLMD thinks that some inflamatory process from Lyme could be the culprit. So after this next cycle he may switch me to something else to try to address it. We'll see. Blasted keets!

Dave

Posted by cigi (Member # 6600) on :

I am on 100mg of toprol. I used to feel fluttering in my throat - like a fish flipping in a frying pan. That's the only analagy I could use. This went on for months. On IV rocephin for nearly 4 mos. That' died down alot, but I have big time shortness of breath for days - then it disappears for weeks. I had sinus tachachardia and v-tac 10 beats in a run with a monitor for 2 months. All this started on doxy when I first started being treated in 2003.

Good luck.

cigi

Posted by duramater (Member # 6480) on :

Heart symptom-wise, the cardiologist documented PVCs, SVT, T/ST waves changes on EKG (looks as if heart isn't getting enough O2), coronary artery vasospasm (mega chest pain from this!), orthostatic hypotension, partridge in a pear tree....

Doc prescribed magnesium and nitro patches (for vasospasm/chest pain). No beta-blockers due to asthma, no calcium-blockers b/c of low bp. Am relatively young with 112 cholesterol & 42 triglycerides (e.g., no cardiac predispositions).

Had very similar symptoms about 12 years ago (also mitral valve prolapse at the time) and all cleared up with IV antibiotics. This has been going on for me now for 15 months (no pos test until recently). Hoping will clear again when the antibiotics get started.

The chest pain & arrythmias SUCK - painful and scary.

Posted by Corgilla (Member # 4066) on :

Hi,

I know Lyme and TBD's can cause problems with every system in the body but in the beginning I never had any heart problems.

I've been in treatment for 3 years now and was taking Ketek for about 8 weeks. My LLMD had me add in minocycline. Every time I would try to take it, I would start feeling like I could barely move.

During my last valiant effort to force my way through it, I realized my heart was skipping beats a lot. It went boom, boom, nothing, boom, nothing, boom, boom, nothing and I felt like there was something stuck in my throat.

I was told to stop all meds. After 3 days of skipping beats and 3 more of a racing heartbeat, the problem went away.

Then I was told to start just Ketek and it came back within a day. My heart skipped for 3 days then palps for 4 days.

Then I was told to just take mino. Same thing but an even longer recoup time.

Started Questran to purge toxins and felt great.

Then was told to start zithromax 250mg a day by my PCP and the heart stuff came back one hour after second dose. I stopped the zithromax and one week later my heart is still skipping beats along with racing on and off.

I used to be able to lie down and the skipping would calm down. That doesn't work now either. Along with the skipping heartbeats, I have dizzyness, shortness of breath, nausea and muscle fatige. It's not a good feeling at all.

My LLMD said that I should see my PCP and my PCP told me that no one has ever died from skipping heartbeats. My retired MD father is telling me to see a cardiologist. "You don't *bleep* around with the heart." is exactly what he said.

So, that's maybe not what you wanted to hear but that's what I've got to say about it right now. With Lyme, I can guarantee one thing...it will be different a month or two from now. Hopefully better but maybe worse.

Best to you,

Corgilla