Hi,
This is my second attempt at posting so if it actually posts twice
please forgive me!
I am new to the board and am unsure if this is the right place for
me or not. Sorry to go on and on about myself but I am trying to
make sense of my symptoms and am wondering if this rings a bell
with anyone else. About ten yrs ago I began to have episodes of
coughing and heart palpitations in response to laughing and crying.
Since heart disease runs in my family I went through the typical
cardiac tests, holder moniter, treadmill, echo, xray. I have a heart
murmur but was told it was mild and would not affect function.
Also developed allergies to dust and some weeds which was
seasonal and I just used over the counter stuff for.
A year or so ago I developed a tightness in my lower throat when
I inhaled. I also began to cough up lots of stuff, especially in the
morning (sorry to be graphic). Sometimes it is so bad that I have
to lie on the bed and hang my head over the end to try to cough
up stuff because I feel like I am drowning. I went to my doctor
who ordered a chest xray (normal) and I was told it was probably
just allergies and would go away when the seasons changed. I
was also given allegra, which I did not take because the over
the counter stuff was working. A week ago I was minding my
own business when I had an episode of wheezing. Actually
it was a one time thing but it unnerved me as it had never happened
before. I did a search on the internet with these symptoms and
the coughing when laughing or crying came up under asthma, so
here I am. I am wondering if anyone has had these same symptoms,
especially with the heart palpitations or is that a whole different
problem. Also, has anyone had experience with allegra. Should
I request another chest xray? Any advice would be most
appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Jane!
I too have palpitations,,,so much it drives me nuts some times. Feels like a little guy is in my chest with a hammer pounding away! I have a leaky mitral valve that I tend to blame it on. I also cough when I laugh,,,,feel tightness in my throat when an attack is coming on.
Hope it helps!
~~Lorrie :)

Asthma is generally linked to palpitations and arythmias through medication such as albuterol and theophylline.

Asthma is generally linked to palpitations and arythmias through medication such as albuterol and theophylline.
And Serevent. You cannot forget Serevent.

There is such thing as cardiogenic asthma, where the asthma is cardiac in origin. I'm not so sure this is what you have though since you only have a heart murmur, but I'd keep it in mind.

If you've still got the Allegra - take it! It's probably a higher dosage of antihistamine than the OTC stuff. I take it, it's fine, unless it's Allegra-D, which will probably give you more heart palpitations.

Another chest x-ray probably won't show anything, so it would be of little use to request another one. What I would do, however, is see if you can get a referral to a pulmonologist.

Take care.

Well what IS serevent? Is it a B-agonist? Remember all B-agonists will increase the heart rate as there are many B-receptors on the heart as well as the lungs.

I did a search on the internet with these symptoms and
the coughing when laughing or crying came up under asthma, so
here I am. I am wondering if anyone has had these same symptoms,
especially with the heart palpitations or is that a whole different
problem.

When someone has an allergic reaction, which can effect sinuses or lungs or skin or digestive system, etc., the body's glands, such as the adrenalin gland, shoot up to 50 different chemicals into the system, such as adrenalin. These chemicals can have an effect on the heart, such as causing palpitations or other types of misfirings.

Hi, I wanted to ask a question regarding palpitations too.

I posted in another thread about my newfound allergies/asthma. I'm taking allegra in the morning, nasacort spray, and singulair at night. I have albuterol too but didn't use it at all today. Lately, like mostly today for some reason, I notice my heartbeat seems to be very much THERE at times. Like right now, I'm just sitting here watching TV, and I feel it beating sort of fastish. Could this be a result of the meds, even though I didn't take anything recently? I feel like some tightness could becoming on though, so I may do my albuterol in a bit.

Also, someone mentioned heart issues. Now, as far as I KNOW I don't have any, but no doctor has done any types of test to determine that. All they have done is listen to my chest and back in various places with the stethoscope while I took deep breaths. Should I trust that they don't see a need to run any heart tests? Or should I ask to have things checked out anyway? I know it's always good to have things checked, but with all this stuff going on the last few months, I'm feeling a bit like a hypochondriac. I really would like to have trust that the docs would TELL me if something sounded like I should get it checked out.

Lately, like mostly today for some reason, I notice my heartbeat seems to be very much THERE at times. Like right now, I'm just sitting here watching TV, and I feel it beating sort of fastish. Could this be a result of the meds, even though I didn't take anything recently?

By "THERE", I take it that you feel a stronger than normal heartbeat? That, or your faster heartbeat, could be a reaction to a medicine, allergens, irritants, or excess minerals from food, drink or vitamin pills. There are many things that can cause the heart to misfire.

I feel like some tightness could becoming on though, so I may do my albuterol in a bit.

If you do your albuterol, and it does not relieve the tightness in your chest, then the tightness might be caused by your heart misfiring.

Also, someone mentioned heart issues. Now, as far as I KNOW I don't have any, but no doctor has done any types of test to determine that.

Well..... you KNOW that you DO have heart issues. Especially if you say that your heart beats hard, or jumps a little, or beats fast while you are just sitting still. But it doesn't mean that you have significant or life threatening heart problems.

Unless someone has a heart defect, plugged arteries, or heart injury, the heart doesn't want to misfire. It misfires because of some "event" that causes it to misfire, such as I mentioned earlier.

If it isn't misfiring in the doctors office, then the doctor "usually" won't be able to detect a heart problem.

All they have done is listen to my chest and back in various places with the stethoscope while I took deep breaths. Should I trust that they don't see a need to run any heart tests?

By listening to your chest, the doctor can check to see if you have a heart rhythm problem, or if you have a noticeable problem with a heart valve. Since you seem to have some type of rhythm problem, you might consider having an EKG, which does a fairly extensive analysis of how well your heart is beating. If the EKG shows a well working heart, then at least it rules out any significant defects.

It won't answer your questions about the misfiring of your heart, if your heart doesn't misfire during the 30 second EKG test.

Or should I ask to have things checked out anyway? I know it's always good to have things checked, but with all this stuff going on the last few months, I'm feeling a bit like a hypochondriac. I really would like to have trust that the docs would TELL me if something sounded like I should get it checked out.

If it was me, and money and insurance wasn't an issue, I'd definitely have a stress EKG test. For a "stress" EKG test, the doctor will put you on a tread mill and get you to work up a little sweat and then he takes the EKG while you are under physical stress.
.

When your asthma is playing up your heart has to work harder to get enough oxygen around your body, therefore when your asthma is bad your heart rate will go up, also all the salbutamol ad stuff will increase your heart rate.

Long term use of high amounts of albuterol regularly can cause high blood pressure. I myself have very minor heart problems 2- like you, a heart murmur, also PVC's(caused by untreated anemia) & apparently I have a bit of a faulty pulmonary valve. None of these are really enough to debiliate me or even be noticeable to myself, but I do get really jumpy on albuterol. Using a spacer has helped & also when I need it, Xopenex vs an albuterol neb. When are they coming out with the Xopenex inhaler! Sometime in the next few months I thought I heard. The day it comes out, i'm throwing out my albuterol in haler=).

Believe it or not, sometimes, just thinking about your heart can make it pump faster, harder or irregularly! This always happens o me when I start thinking about my heart. Sometimes I can't get to sleep because I have caused my heart to beast faster or harder! Its probably just my perception though :)