I had a very scary incident the other night after the horrific ice storm in W. Mass. in which I lost power (heat, light, etc.) for almost three days. With a lot of existing cardiac problems, I started blacking out and felt very close to death and ultimately called 911 -- something I never do since my MCS is so bad hospitals are life-threatening to me -- and now I'm in the hospital. They admitted me and are running many tests and don't seem to be total idiots about Lyme and co's.
In the morning I meet with an infectious disease specialist. There is also a primary doc coordinating my care here, and he spoke to my LLMD and mentioned IV antibiotics which I would like to get -- for bartonella, not for Lyme.
I have positive tests for Lyme and bartonella, and bartonella antibiotics have thus far been the only ones effective against my worst cardiac symptoms.
Which IV antibiotics should I ask for for bart? Oral cipro gave me huge tendon pain so I had to quit, but I would still try it again as an IV with magnesium injections or something else to mitigate possible tendon damage.
Also, my tachycardia won't calm down. I believe Mepron pushed my heart into overdrive and I have stopped taking it. I had humongous anxiety and insomnia on it from day 1. When I got to the ER, my resting heart rate would not go below 115. Now it is about 110 (lying down flat all day).
What can I do about this? I'm getting constant IV fluids and oxygen 24/7.
Posted by Fordace (Member # 14874) on :
I don't know what to say other than, GLAD you made it through your experience. Hopefully, someone with more experience will chime in....
Hang tough, you'll get through this and maybe come out better than before....
Posted by Vermont_Lymie (Member # 9780) on :
Sorry to hear that, hope you feel better soon.
Sounds like babesia may be a problem too, is that why you were taking the mepron? I think babesia was responsible for many of my heart palpitations, which used to be quite intense.
Would IV doxy deal with lyme, bart and babesia? I do not know, but worth discussing with your llmd. Best wishes.
Posted by feelfit (Member # 12770) on :
You're in my thoughts. I hope you are able to get your heart rate under control.
Best, Feelfit
Posted by Al (Member # 9420) on :
Have you had a ( Tilt Table test ) ???
Posted by zil (Member # 12048) on :
I was put on atenolol 25mg per day for increased hearrate(120) and irregular beats. Do they have you hooked up to a holter monitor? This will make a continuous ekg strip of what you heart is doing. Good Luck and let us know
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
The beta blocker Pindolol lowers my heart rate. It can have other benefits as well if you have autonomic dysfunction.
Some studies indicate beta blockers can even help the body recover from malaria (and thus maybe babesia?) infection by preventing the parasites from entering red blood cells.
Posted by Boston03 (Member # 18114) on :
I was also admitted to the hospital, tachycardia being one of the reasons for admission. My resting heart rate was never below 120 while I was there.
Are you running a fever? I was told my elevated heart rate was due to that. The weird thing was though that my heart rate would be 120-125 regardless of whether my fever was 100 or 103.
I was megnesium deficient and I received magnesium via IV for a few days. I don't think it had any impact on my heart rate though.
I'm happy to hear that the hospital you are in seems knowledgeable about Lyme. The ID doctors where I was said that I could not possibly have Lyme since I was treated with 21 days of doxy.
I hope that you feel better soon!!!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Yes, have they given you a beta blocker yet?? That's what you need.
I was SOOO afraid of losing power with the ice storm, but we escaped. Whew! Was worried about my heart too!
Glad you're at least WARM!
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
just saw this; i've been off due to losing my monitor!
how did you come out? my heart goes out to you...
been thinking of all without power and with lyme, etc.
praying for you all... Posted by disturbedme (Member # 12346) on :
Like some others said, it would be a good idea thinking of starting a beta blocker. I had to because my tachycardia was crazy, out of control and to help with the palps as well.
For a year I was on 25mg of Toprol, but this last year had to up it to 50mg because I was having breakthrough tachycardia some days on the 25mg, which was very annoying.
I also think my Bartonella treatment helped my heart rate the most. It went down for a while (and could stop the Toprol), while I was on Bart treatment, and then the tachycardia ended up starting over again when I started a new med and herxed. Haven't been able to tell if Babesia treatment has helped it that much or not.
Posted by LymeCFIDSMCS (Member # 13573) on :
Thanks so much for all of the replies. I'm still in the hospital but getting released today. I did have a tilt table, and the cardiologist was not that surprised to learn that I have both POTS and OI, since he had some familiarity with CFIDS as well as Lyme. They put me on midodrine and have given me 24/7 saline drips, some pretty rapid which seemed to help me almost every time.
I had a mild fever at first and night sweats while I was here -- but I think those were from stopping Mepron. And I think stopping Mepron calmed down the tachycardia. My heart had actually felt like it was racing every since I started Mepron, but I wasn't measuring it.
I'm faring okay here. One thing that is clear is that a year of antibiotics has definitely helped my MCS, as a year ago I would not have lasted an hour in this place -- literally. In fact I tried coming in for testing once and got so sick from the hospital chemicals that the payback was truly extreme, and in general every time I have gone near a hospital since I got MCS my condition has severely relapsed.
I am getting released today (probably) so I will post more later on. Thank you so much for all of the well-wishes!!!!
Posted by Marnie (Member # 773) on :
IV Mg should bring it down.
I'm not kidding...my son had tachycardia and went to the ER via ambulance...
The "traditional" drugs didn't work, but fortunately the ER doctor's wife is a nutritionist-RN and he was very "in tune" to the benefits of Mg and he finally gave him IV Mg.
It worked.
Normal saline helps BECAUSE Bb has a gene for Na-ATPase and drives Na OUT of the cells...when that happens, in goes glucose and amino acids.
This channel is active: TRPM8. It is a Ca-Na channel. That is the channel we need to TEMPORARILY block.
Bb looks to need several nutrients (of ours), but the above 2 especially.
It maybe using Ca and cAMP for its flagella. Our sperm do.
Posted by gemofnj (Member # 15551) on :
Lyme,
I am so sorry to hear that you had such a scare and wound up in the hospital.
Glad you are going home and hope you find some relief over the holidays.
Wishing you well! Posted by gwenb (Member # 7217) on :
I've had tachycardia also - VERY scary. I was on beta blockers for several months. What helped me enormously was vitamin D3. My heart rate normalized in 10 days - getting better every day.
Obviously I am not a doctor but D3 is known to help cardiac issues - it was truly amazing for me. A fast heart rate was one of my worst symptoms previously.
Gwen
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by LymeCFIDSMCS: And I think stopping Mepron calmed down the tachycardia. My heart had actually felt like it was racing every since I started Mepron, but I wasn't measuring it.
My first episode with tachycardia was during a babesia herx. It's never gone away and that was 8 yrs ago.
I'm so glad you're going home. Take it easy with the mepron!!!
gwen...I've been on D3 for a year. Wish it worked for me as far as tachycardia goes.
Posted by disturbedme (Member # 12346) on :
Yeah, same here, I wish D3 helped my tachycardia as well. Seems nothing will except beta blockers but I don't want to be on them forever... but I'm afraid I may have to be. Tachycardia was one of my first symptoms. I had tachycardia even before I had other symptoms but never thought anything of it. I thought it was weird, but thought.. "oh well...".
Wish I wouldn't have ignored it. But even then, I am sure I never would have been able to figure out lyme with just tachycardia as a symptom. I did have many heart tests done which did come back normal. The halter monitor caught sinus tachycardia of up to 150 at times but said that was normal. I don't know how they can say having a heart rate of 150 while at rest is NORMAL!?! Posted by Silverwolf (Member # 9196) on :
<<<<< LymeCFIDS'>>>>>.
Here's hoping you are home and resting comfortably...let us know when you can...but don't overdo!
Jus' Silverwolf
Posted by LymeCFIDSMCS (Member # 13573) on :
Hi everyone,
Thank you for all of the support!!!!! I'm home now, resting, but not doing well -- still in bed 24/7 and really ill, not able to check computer much.
I am taking D3 but maybe need a higher dose. I did not know it could influence tachycardia.
And I also didn't think about magnesium -- good suggestion. I have Mag injections but do them irregularly so I will start doing them more regularly.
I think the reason they didn't' give me a beta blocker is that I was blacking out. I have taken attenelol in the past.
I nevvvvvver want to go back to the hospital, even though most of the staff was really friendly and nice. I was there for 4 days and nights total -- ugh.
Warm holiday wishes to everyone.
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
Wow that was scary. I am severe D deficient but I have found that when I supplement I feel worse. I have low BP. Initially on discovery,I felt better but then lost ground so I stopped. If the bugs use our Vitamin D the question is what will stop them so you don't have the problem. If it is so hard to kill them, will Mag.or Zinc or Silver stop them from being able to utilize our D for their benefit?
Posted by heiwalove (Member # 6467) on :
lots of healing wishes and love your way. i'm thinking of you.
xoxo.
Posted by lymeinhell (Member # 4622) on :
Just seeing this post now - so sorry you went through this!
Take Marnie's advice (was my original reaction as well) - IV MAGNESIUM. IM can help you maintain, but won't get into the cells enough to help.
I've experienced the same (gotten up in the am with a pulse of 124). And literally felt my heart normalize with an IV of Magnesium sulfate. I can't believe a hospital wouldn't think to do this.
I'm able to get them at my LLMD's - if you're still a mess, why not ask your LLMD if they'll give you one? (or more likely a few at scheduled intervals). And then maintain your levels using IM.
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