Ocean
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3496
posted
Hi all,
My heart symptoms have improved dramatically over the past 2 months, esp the past month. However, there is still this one that I get very occassionally (maybe a few times per month).
If I'm up and walking around, doing stuff and then I just sit down, my heart gets a weird/skipped beat. I actually checked my pulse a few days ago when it was doing it. It happened at the end of expiration, just before I was going to take a breath, my pulse would slow down, slow down, skip a beat, then I would breathe in and it would increase.
I know I have sinus arrythmia (told me that in the ER last fall and another doc had told me a few years before). It's generally not a big deal, lots of kids have it, but usually grow out of it. So I know that my heart generally speeds up when I take a breath.
However, I do not always get the skipping, just rarely.
I have not had tachycardia in a long time which is great or any long runs of skipped beats which is great. So I'm not complaining about this one, just wondering if anyone else has it??
randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i used to get this when i layed down. it was so bad i would panic and get up. it would sound like skipped beats, thunks, and rapid beats all mixed together.
after taking biaxin for awhile it cleared up, although it did happen once in the last couple of weeks.
that was the scariest symptom. i went to er numerous times, and they said nothing was wrong.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
ocean, no experience but giving you my support
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Ocean
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3496
posted
Thanks Randi and Bettyg!
Randi, I think I know what you mean about the skipping, thudding, ect. Fortunately this heart thing isn't like that, but I have had those and they are very very scary!
All I have to do to make it stop is to stand up. I wanted to see what would happen if I stayed there, if it would go away with time. And it did, and like I said only happened just before inspiration.
Oh well...I will take it any day over the really scary stuff...it's been a couple of months since I've had the bad stuff, so I'm sooooooo glad!
I'm glad you haven't had it lately either Randibear!!!
posted
Similar situation for me. I was hospitalized for a week with Level 3 heart block. Pulse rate was very low, 18bpm at the worst, and was skipping beats. When I started to turn the corner and improve, what we noticed was that I would go into sinus rhythm when standing, and it would revert to heart block when I would sit or lay down. Eventually it resolved and I was discharged.
Since then, I have had instances of either heart block and/or the skipped beats. It can be so bad that I can not stand to lay down, and it is still uncomfortable when sitting, but as soon as I stand I am ok. Fortunately, these incidents last for a few minutes to a few hours and then just stop.
Talked with my doctors about this and they are not sure why that happens. Had every heart test they could throw at me, both when in the midst of the heart block, and after recovery, and the connection between what happens when laying and when standing is still unexplained.
Posts: 5 | From Duluth, MN | Registered: Jun 2009
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Ocean
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3496
posted
Whoa Sky!! So you were having 'bouts' of heart block! Wow, I bet you ad the cardiologist's stumped for sure!!
I had no idea you could go in and out of heart block...very interesting.... possibly something that I should look into if this continues or gets worse.
posted
Some of the worst heart skips, thumps etc have happened right when I sit down lets say to relax or go to sleep. I can be perfectly fine and I will go to lie down or even sit and boom, it happens.
Some of the what feels like missed beats come back in as a huge thump and those are quite frightening.
I sometimes wonder if it is due to compression when we have inflammation in or around that tissues that surround the heart etc....I wonder if when we are lying down if somehow our diaphragm compresses against whatever is inflamed and that is what causes the skips, thumps etc....This is only a guess of course.
I have also developed a heart murmur which I did not have prior to Lyme. My tachycardia in the past has come and gone when I am both up and down.
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
Ocean...Heart block has been my biggest issue since the initial infection. Started about 4 weeks after I was bitten and I walked around with it for almost another 2 weeks before finally going to the hospital. Went from level 2 to level 3 laying in the ER, so I guess my timing was good...hehe.
I can tell when it kicks in for me, because the skips and hard thumps are much more pronounced. My pulse stays up in the safe zone, so it is level 1 or 2 at worst. With level 3, I could feel my heart beating near the bottom of my ribs and it was very slow. You could actually watch my stomach and see it. As my doctor explained it, that is from the "survival" pacer more or less drawing blood through the heart instead of it being pushed through.
I have not worked with a cardiologist directly, but they have consulted with my doctor both at the hospital and since being released. Everyone agress that this is from the lyme, and it does not usually happen when I am on antibiotics.
As far as the sitting/laying vs standing thing,that is still a mystery. I also get the bouts of skipping and thuds, usually when I first lay down. BTW, the thud is just higher pressure in the chamber as the skipped beat does not allow the chamber to fully empty. It feels funky and unnerving, but is not dangerous.
Sorry to write a novel, but wanted you to know that, while not necessarily a benign thing, it tends to feel much worse than it actually is.
Posts: 5 | From Duluth, MN | Registered: Jun 2009
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