help me to diagnose my heart condition PLEASE - Heart Disorders Message Board

latham · 10-02-2008, 01:53 PM

I am an 20 year old female. i have had problems with my heart for about five years now, and doctors cant seem to diagnose me right to fix the problem... I have just about gave up all hope of ever living my life normally. I have rapid heart rate over 110 in every day normal activity sometimes a lot higher... if i excercise on my bike as fast as i can for less than a minute my heart rate goes into to 200's. I also have alot of problems raising my arms, i tend to pass out or almost pass out for just turning on a ceiling fan or washing or fixing my hair. I used to be able to just set down for a while and everything be okay but i think it is getting worse because when i lay down to go to sleep it almost feels like a weight is on my chest with a little pain and it is hard for me to breath... I also have had problems sleeping the whole time... it normally takes me atleast 2 hours laying down to go to sleep. I also get sick really easy. I am weak all of the time. I have quit going to doctors for about a year and a half now. They daignosed me with different heart diseases and then would change them and just keep increasing my dosage of medications. They had me on 50 mg of topral twice a day, meridian, and fludrocourt. None of this helped me at all, and i actually felt better when i quit taking everything. Please help me if you have these symptoms and you have been correctly diagnosed I am wanting to have a baby soon and i want to be able to live my life normally and have energy to spend with my baby and i dont want complications during the pregnancy

RTstudent29 · 10-02-2008, 03:29 PM

Well, a heart rate of 110 resting is high but not that high. And exercising at 200 bpm is pretty high and I can see why you are dizzy with that. It sounds like you need to see a cardiologist and maybe either need to try other heart medications like beta blockers (including the toprol you tried, atenolol) or maybe since you didn't tolerate the toprol you could try a calcium channel blocker like diltiazem which may work better for you.
Also the cardiologist might want to do a stress test EKG to record what kind of rhythm you are in at 200 bpm and what your blood pressure does at that rate. Do you ever experience a rapid heart rate above 150 bpm just sitting down doing nothing that happens all of a sudden? If you do, this could be what is called PSVT or (paroxismal supraventricular tachycardia) which basically is an electrical conduction problem in your heart that can be fixed with a procedure called an ablation which I have had done myself. And it worked.
The cardiologist may want to do an EKG Mapping study in which they look at all the electrical pathways in your heart through a procedure much like an angiogram and they can give you medications to speed up your heart if needed. By doing that they can find extra pathways in your heart that could be causing the unexplained tachycardia.
If all this turns out fine I guess another explaination of the high heart rate is something wrong with you thyroid or adrenal gland causing secretion of hormones that increase heart rate. So blood tests showing thyroid function and adrenal function may also rule out those disorders.

I hope that isn't too medical. And makes a little since. I don't think you need to freak out. Before my ablation procedure sometimes my resting heart rate was in the 120's or 130's. So I have been there before. I guess just asking yours doctor about some of these tests might help.

Take care.

aether4 · 10-02-2008, 08:31 PM

See if you can get a tilt table test.

hopesprings2 · 10-03-2008, 12:09 PM

many things can cause this
might try another doctor
i feel for you

tired47 · 10-03-2008, 02:05 PM

Hello!! I hear your pain! I have many similiar symptoms as you. High resting heart rate, chest pain, can not exercise or heart takes off, become nauseous, dizzy,ect. , developed suddenly.
Have you found an Electrophysicist cardiologist yet??? This is a specialized doctor. I went thru the regular cardiologist and he did all tests available including heart cath- all negative. Was told it was IN MY HEAD, but thank god I was finally refer to the EP cardio. And he found SVT( supraventricular tachycardia).Why dr is not sure??
I am still trying different meds after a year, not feeling great but working to get there.
Also check thyroid ( mine is borderline low) and magnesium/calcium levels. I feel better when I take 400-800 mg of magnesium citrate daily. Good luck to you!