Started on bisoprolol

[Westie2012]

Thursday last week I was having a very slow walk to collect my daughter from school , it’s only a 10 minute walk but it took me 40 minutes . I went very dizzy and I could feel my heart pounding a few times on the way, it stopped when I stood for a minute or so , I had the same this morning so I saw my GP . She wasn’t happy with my heart rate as it was taking too long to slow down and I’d been sitting there over 20 minutes . She mentioned on the letter red flag sepsis and pericarditis , my breaths were 25 a minute .She sent me straight to A&E , I got to hospital at 1pm and left at 8.30, they were really good at the hospital today . Things moved very quickly as soon as I got there , I was taken through to the triage nurse , they ask why you have gone to hospital and do basic obs , I gave her my letter from my GP, normally due to covid restrictions then after that’s done you are sent to sit in the main waiting area until they call you in for more tests , I never left the triage area , they did an ecg and then they acted very quickly to rule out a heart attack , I was lucky today and saw an excellent team of drs, cardiologists, nurses and cardiac nurses . They have looked at the bigger picture instead of just a quick ecg, they did an echo scan and found a small pericardial effusion which is ok at the moment but they will do another echo scan again when I come off the medication for pericarditis , I will be having exercise stress tests, a ct angiogram and a device check . I’m glad I have been taken more seriously this time as last time they tried to put it down to anxiety . I have been started on beta blockers for my fast heart rate , they were surprised I wasn’t taking them already . I’m on a 2.5 dose once a day , through the day after I’ve been a bit more active then I get a few very dizzy spells , walking to the school yesterday I was a bit late so I had to walk a bit quicker , I was too out of breath to speak k for a few minutes . I’ve also had to start sleeping much more upright at night due to feeling breathless and having a tight chest . My GP said it will take a bit longer to get used to taking the new medication and I might need the dose increased . Since taking the beta blockers I’ve been getting a tapping sensation near to my pacemaker , I’ve had it before but it’s happening lots more , my cardiologist said I wouldn’t feel the pacemaker working but I’m curious what the tapping is .