xersen

Hello, I thought I’d post in this general forum since I really have no idea what is wrong with me.

I am a 6 foot, 210 lb, 24 year old male that is mostly “out of shape” but not horribly overweight or inactive. (I know that I would benefit greatly from exercise, but right now, I’m frankly too afraid to start…)

For the past several years, I have had issues with PSVT (fast heart rate). I ignored them for a long time, but finally ended up in an ER for a heart rate of 280 beats per minute.
I had an RF ablation approximately 1 month ago and the doctors feel that this has solved my problem.

Unfortunately, I feel worse now than I ever have before. Heres what I’m dealing with…

1. For about 3 weeks, I have been in a constant state of dizziness, or almost like a haze or fog. Everything seems sort of glossed over and foreign. I just don’t feel as sharp as I did before the ablation. I would say that I am dizzy and lightheaded for about 80% of every day. I also feel like I get no pleasure from the things that I use to. I feel numb to a lot to things around me and people have noticed changes in my personality. I have had a slight history of unexplained dizziness and anxiety, but the dizziness has never lasted this long.

2. I experience daily chest pain and heaviness in my chest that I did not have before the ablation. The chest pain is usually a dull ache that is directly over where my heart is. At times it has been sharp, and one time sharp and severe. The heaviness makes me feel that I need to breathe more often, however, I am able to get a good full breath of air when I do breath.

3. I also have palpitations more often than I did before the procedure. I am guaranteed to have a rather strong series of palpitations (usually premature beats) when I go from a standing position to a laying position.

4. Directly after the ablation and for about 2 weeks, my blood pressure was very good, usually averaging 115/65. For the last week, my BP has been rising to around 140/85.

5. Blind spots in vision. I develop significant blind spots in the periphery of my vision. It is always either in the right OR left eye, but never both at the same time. Episodes last about 15 minutes and consist of sort of shimmering, irregularly shaped objects. I called an advice nurse about this and she told me that I needed to call 911. I understood that she was just following protocol, but I didn’t think it was necessary. I went to my urgent care office and they feel that they are ocular migraines. Interestingly enough, I have never had a history or head ache or migraine. Great timing eh?

So, those are my symptoms.
I am in the process of having them investigated, which is very frustrating because I have an HMO and it takes FOREVER to get things done with that kind of service. Almost every time I try to make an appointment for things that I think are rather impotant, it takes at least 3 weeks to be seen by my GP!

I have a heart event monitor to try to figure out the cause palpitation / chest pain / light headedness issues. I have caught a few “events” but I have not actually been able to talk to my electrophysiologist about the findings yet.

I have to admit, all this stuff has me stressed, to say the least. I have .5mg xanax for anxiety as needed, but I am trying to save them because I am almost out and I know my doctor will not refill the prescription. (and even if he would, it takes so long to get an appointment I will run out before i got to see him anyways!) They do seem to help with chest pain though. Part of me wonders if I am stuck in some vicious cycle where the stress is causing the symptoms, but the symptoms are causing the stress. I bet that’s a hard one to diagnose. I realize that stress and anxiety can manifest themselves in almost all of my symptoms, but i feel, for the most part, calm and relaxed most of the time, so while I realize its possible that this is stress / anxiety related, I feel that its just as likely that is not.

Part of me also feels that all these symptoms have something in common and could be pointing to a larger, more serious problem that no one can seem to diagnose. It seems like every time I do manage to get seen by a doctor, they don’t take me seriously and just shrug everything off. What if there really is something wrong and their just not diligent enough to catch it? Something serious like a brain tumor, some form of cancer or some other cardiac problem. I have a significant history of all of those things in my family, so I can't help but wonder.

Part of me thinks that they need to start investigating me from a neurological point of view. But I’m no expert obviously, so that could be totally unfounded.

I’m not sure if I have any direct questions other than.. does anyone have any advice or thought about my situation? Do you see any kind of pattern or "bigger picture" in the symptoms?

Thanks for reading!