asthma + heart palpitations ?s

[Jane99]

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.

[Gal4Dale88USP]

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

[jp3892]

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

[jerrie97]

Originally Posted by jp3892

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.

[jp3892]

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.