My 15 yr old daughter is dx'ed with lyme. At her last visit her resting heart rate was 120. Her LLMD did an ekg at the office and everything is fine.
My question is how to deal with a situation that occurred tonight.
She will have trouble catching her breath (at least it feels that way to her), and then she panics, and that makes things worse and she hyperventilates. At the end of this "attack" which lasted about 30 - 45 minutes, her heart rate was 129.
I don't know what it was during the attack, because she was in too much of a panic to let us be much help to her.
What can be bringing on these attacks (there have been 2 or 3 now in the last 6 weeks or so)? How can we lessen the panic for her? How can we control these attacks?
We go back to the LLMD on the 18th of Feb, and I think I will call in the morning also about the attack tonight.
Posted by beths (Member # 18864) on :
I had that-she needs to recline, breathe slowly in thru her nose, exhale out thru her mouth.
The panic makes the shortness of breath worse. If she's 15, an IPOD might help while she breathes slowly and to calm her down.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Well, which is coming first, the panic (attack??) or the tachycardia??
Looks to ME like it's the tachy!! Her heart rate was 120 at the dr's office. Over 100 is considered tachycardia.
What meds is she on .. esp for Lyme? She could be having panic attacks if she has bartonella OR lyme and the abx meds could be causing a herx, which results in the same response.
I think they need to try some beta blockers and see if it helps. Just my opinion.
Posted by whimsy (Member # 24351) on :
She has the tachychardia and I believe that is causing the panic attack. I think what is happending is that her heart rate will start to speed up and she becomes short of breath, and then the panic ensues.
(and I did talk to the dr's office today)
She is currently on Omnicef, Doxy (she has 3x the strep level right now also), prevacid, nystatin, b12 inj, vicodin (a couple times a day), co Q-10, antivert, then for separate conditions Geodon.
We've been careful to check for scrip interactions (the Geodon actually limits us with some abx).
She did just herx last week due to an abx change, took her off omnicef and put her on amoxicillian. It was a real bad herx so we switched her back to the omnicef (which makes her happier as she feels it is really working).
She goes back to the LLMD on the 18th, and he may go with a beta blocker than. We had talked about that on the 1st when we discovered the tachychardia.
In the meantime, they did give some suggestions for dealing with the attacks (calm music, cool cloth on forehead and back of neck, paced breathing). And because I was concerned about what point in heartrate I needed to increase my concern and take further action to support the tachychardia, told me that if it's at 180 and remains there for more than a few minutes, then we need to take action.
I appreciate the responses from Lymetoo and Beths, every bit of info is helping us right now especially as we go through many things for the first time.
[ 02-09-2010, 12:51 PM: Message edited by: whimsy ]
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
quote:Originally posted by whimsy: She will have trouble catching her breath (at least it feels that way to her), and then she panics, and that makes things worse and she hyperventilates.
If you hyperventilate, rebreathe into a paper bag.
When you hyperventilate, you blow off too much carbon dioxide, and the blood becomes too alkaline.
Rebreathing means you are inhaling the air that you just exhaled, which has more carbon dioxide. This raises the level in the blood, and stops the hyperventilation.
As for the fast heart rate and the panic attacks, supplementing magnesium may help, as these are symptoms of low mag.
Carol
Posted by whimsy (Member # 24351) on :
Thanks Carol. I knew about the "bag breathing", however wasn't aware of the magnesium. Will definitely look at that.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Keep us posted, OK?
Posted by Al (Member # 9420) on :
Thank you Al for the links. I appreciate the extra reading so that perhaps I can get a better handle on this.
Lymetoo - will indeed keep the board updated.
Today my daughter called me when I was out running errands (she didn't feel up to going to school 1st thing, and was going in later), and as she was standing there taking her meds, her heart started pounding and racing. She took her pulse and it was 162. ~sigh~ Guess it's a good thing we're going to the LLMD next week.
Also, glad that during this "attack" she stayed calm enough that she didn't hyperventilate, especially since I wasn't home.
We actually joked that the meds scared her heart and it started pounding and racing.
At this rate I'm going to know enough about medical "things" that I could pass the medical boards ~grinning~
Thanks everyone.
Posted by kday (Member # 22234) on :
Sounds like she has anxiety/panic. I do too, to a severe degree. She's lucky they are only 30-45 minutes long as mine have lasted hours until sedation.
Please keep an eye on these attacks, and try not to leave her alone if she doesn't feel safe. She may just have mild panic disorder, but bartonella can cause severe panic attacks. The attacks won't kill her, but they can be very scary. To me, nothing is scarier than having an attack when nobody is around. Sometimes a subliminal thought can trigger or worsen an attack, and sometimes they are caused by nothing.
A 162 pulse is pretty high, and she may have no clue what it is that is making her heart beat so fast. That's how I was after I got sick.
If this persists and gets worse, she may need to get some medication from a psychiatrist for this. A psychiatrist understands the mind-body connection, but doesn't typically understand the body-mind connection. It goes both ways when it comes to diseases with neuropsychiatric manifestations. If things get worse, a counselor, or someone else trained to help with panic (biofeedback, breathing exercises, meditation, etc) might help her minimize the attacks as much as possible.
Posted by Jessica (Member # 23405) on :
and hawthorn http://nccam.nih.gov/health/hawthorn/ for tachycardia. I think that one feeds another and vise versa.
Posted by gwb (Member # 7273) on :
When I was dealing with fast heart beats the first time it happened I went to the ER. The ER doctor told be Xanax will help and to take that when the fast heart beats happen. It did help me when I had those episodes. Just throwing this out there as an option to consider.
Gary
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
People with Lyme often have low magnesium, as the Lyme bacteria use it.
All of the enzyme processes in our cells depend on magnesium. When it's low, this causes all kinds of symptoms...all of which can be identified as symptoms of Lyme Disease.
Other vitamin and mineral deficiencies cause symptoms too, but you have to start someplace.
I'd also like to add that when I have the panic attacks there is usually two things low on my labwork:
- Potassium - Sodium (low or borderline normal)
I've heard of others having low potassium and sodium as well. I eat a lot of potassium rich foods and drink coconut water, but last time it was still low. I also take magnesium daily, and it really helps with muscle cramping. If your daughter ever needs to go to the E.R. because of the attacks (I hope not), I'd be curious to what her potassium and sodium is. You have to ask for copies of her labwork, because E.R. docs often won't tell you these things (especially if they are borderline) and send you home.
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