I have been suffering with a heart issue since the beginning of April 2023. I had been having a few palpitations leading up to a stag do in which I drank alcohol heavily during 3 days. On the 3rd day the palpitations came and I started to get an overwhelming sensation in my chest that I was going to have a heart attack. I went to A&E and after running an ECG, blood tests and blood pressure test they concluded that I wasn’t at a threat of a heart attack and that I had just drank too heavily and discharged me. Over 24 hours later I wasn’t feeling any better so I went back to A&E, after the same tests I was discharged again and told I needed to rest but I should be back to normal soon enough. My blood pressure was slightly elevated at this point usually scoring around 140-150/90 but considering the amount of alcohol consumed it was nothing alarming.
It actually took me a couple of weeks for my heart to start feeling normal so I was suffering with the palpitations and overwhelming tightness pressure in the heart.
I booked to have a 24 hour ECG and an echocardiogram because despite doctors telling me there is nothing to worry about, I could feel that something serious is wrong. Because of waiting times it took a couple of months to get the test done however both results came back with no diagnosis. However the ECG did show that I had 2 incidences of AV right bundle block during the 24 hours.
Fast forward to October, despite so alcohol involved this time my symptoms started coming back and were progressively getting worse. The overwhelming sensations in my chest feel like a heart attack and that I’m going to die. This time however my blood pressure has been out of control and I now require medication to help keep it down. Again each time I went to A&E I was discharged with no findings.
I have seen gone to see a cardiologist who wanted me to do a cardiac CT angiogram and a kidney scan on top of what I had already done. The results from these tests came back also flawless with no diagnosis of any kind. The cardiologist now wants me to do a 24 hour blood pressure monitoring despite the fact that I have now started taking ramipril 5mg everyday to control my blood pressure.
I feel like I’m getting nowhere with trying to figure out what is wrong with my heart. I’ve been suffering for a long time now and large parts of my life have been put on hold because of this. I can’t eat any food with sodium because it makes my blood presssure go out of control and I can’t exercise. Anything over 100 beats per minute starts to give me heart issues.
I was wondering if anybody can relate to what I’m going through and maybe has had similar symptoms and could maybe give me some suggestions to what heart condition I could potentially have.
as you can see from the CT scan results my coronary arteries scored 0 and are completely clear. From the echocardiogram results you can see that all aspects of my heart are normal size and function.
the only abnormalities so far are the AV right bundle block that has been picked up on a couple of my ECGs and also the uncontrollable high blood pressure because of an undiagnosed reason.
any help or advice would be much appreciated.
please check the rest of my results in the replies below.
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cookie cutters, you are asking us to diagnose which of course we cannot do here.
As I complete non medic, though, I’ve got the following comments (I can’t read ecg’s echocardiograms or cardiac scans but I can see your blood pressure is a little elevated).
The cardiologist is carrying out these tests possibly because you’ve been pressuring the medical team. Everything is coming out normal you say except for a bundle branch block and slight raised pressure.
So what do you need to do?
Take a look at Blood Pressure UK website and take into consideration their lifestyle and diet suggestions.
Read up about breathing techniques, and practice them.
Read up from the NHS website about bundle branch block if you haven’t already.
Exercise in moderation, such as going for walks and increasing the distance each time. Preferably somewhere like a park or some woods, so that you can feel healing nature around you.
Before you sleep, try to think of three things that have gone well in your day, and ignore the things that haven’t.
You’ve somewhat damaged your body and it’s taking time to recover. Your pancreas and liver have taken a bit of a bashing I expect. It’s don to you to help your body get well again.
Thank you for the reply. I understand that people can’t diagnose on here, I was just trying to see if anyone else is suffering in the same way or has the same symptoms and could maybe give some suggestions. I appreciate your advice, however I am an ex professional athlete who only retired one year prior to starting with heart issues. I was extremely fit and I still have only about 10% bodyfat and eat an incredibly clean and healthy diet considering if I eat anything with salt in it then it sends my heart going crazy and I feel like I’m going to die. I can’t exercise currently because of my condition, anytime my heart rate goes over 100 beats per minute again the palpitations start and I feel like I’m going to die. There is nothing else I can change in my lifestyle unfortunately to try to lower the blood pressure naturally
I can't offer anything but feel for you and totally understand that awful feeling of impending doom! I had periods of rapid pulse and dizziness last year, gp made me go up/down corridor,took my pulse,then bp- said bp was high so needed to go to clinic- where after doing bp for 3 wks was told waste of time as bp fine! Had ecg in March which was ok,but in June had heaviness in chest and pulse over 100,went a&e- my bp was 196/98, and ecg showed AF,whilst waiting to see dr- 4 hours,I suddenly felt awful,couldn't explain it apart from felt was going to die,but when laid down on trolley recovered,sent home on beta blockers,5 months on just seen cardiologist- have hole in my heart and am on wrong medication!!! It's hard to trust anyone now!!!
I’m so sorry to hear about what you are going through as well. I guess it just shows the importance and getting a second, third and forth opinion on things. Despite all of the doctors and cardiologists saying that my tests results are good I’m not going to stop getting a second opinion too. I’m yet to do a cardiac MRI so I think that is the next test that I need to do. I’ve been suffering since April and things aren’t getting better so there must be something wrong
You definitely know when there is something wrong. For months I was going to a@e with chest pain sob, always fobbed off must be anxiety. After a CT scan I had a 95%blockage of right artery, moderate blockage of left artery and I also got mircovascular dysfunction. Disease of the small vessels in the heart. Maybe ask to be tested for mircovascular dysfunction. You definitely know when something is not right with your body. Look on INOCA website. Hope this helps
Yes listen to your body as you know yourself something is not right . Hopefully you can get a cardiac mri . You might have a long wait though or go private . Good luck x
Hi, I’m certainly not a doctor or an expert and I don’t know you at all but have you considered whether these are panic attacks? How is your stress and anxiety levels? It is certainly worth having all the checks and ensuring all cardiac things are ruled out. Hope you get some answers soon.
hi. Thanks for the response. Stress and anxiety is definitely something that I’m not ruling out however it wouldn’t make much sense because I don’t suffer with any of these. And there is no correlation between days when I’m feeling more stressed and anxious and how bad my heart feels. I suffer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week no matter what my mental state is like. It comes in waves, some days better than other. But I’m suffering all the time
With blood pressure you take an average overall which is add all top numbers and divide by no of times taken, same with bottom numbers to get average which may be ok
hi there, it would be worth considering buying a Kardia Mobile device. I have the 6L ecg. It’s a small portable ECG recorder linking to your phone. You can take an ECG at any time you are experienced symptoms. My cardiologist advised me to buy this as the hospital monitoring was not detecting / picking up on any of my symptoms. Having this and sending the recording to my cardiologist has helped to diagnosed my condition.
Thank you so much for this recommendation. It’s something that I never thought of and I think that it would be perfect. I got frustrated when having to wait so long for the 24 hour ecg and then feeling well on the day of recording. Something like this would be much more useful as my symptoms come in waves and it’s impossible to predict.
Totally agree, I was having the same issue with waits and then the monitors not picking up any symptoms as they are so unpredictable. I would definitely recommend the 6L version. They are not too expensive either roughly £100. The ecg recordings can be downloaded in PDF format for your cardiologist or GP. There are set algorithms to detect certain abnormalities.
I have a Kardia but when I try to show A&E , if I e been symptomatic during recording they say it’s not clear enough to diagnose . I have a history of ectopics, murmur and SVT , all ok until this year and then I’ve just gone very symptomatic, funny waves , palps , tachy , shaking and just feeling awful . I’m just about to have a loop recorder implanted . My EP can’t offer any explanation for sudden change in my symptoms other than the heart ageing . I’m on a very low dose betablocker as have very low bp but may be offered ablation if loop picks up SVt . Good luck with your journey , I know how dreadful it is and the impact on your life
I'd strongly request you have a Cardiac MRI. It's the "Gold Standard" of tests.After a lot of wasted time, I moved house out of the area, and thus changed my hospital and cardiac team
This test/scan, gave my Consultant my diagnosis immediately and I was told on the very same day.
Turned out I had a genetically inherited heart condition, that wouldn't have been picked up on all the previous investigations.
This is also next on my list of scans to do. Unfortunately the echocardiogram and cardiac CT didn’t find anything wrong with my heart so the MRI would be the only other option. It’s just been incredibly frustrating to go through so many scans and tests and still not finding anything.
I know, I think most of us here have experienced the same.It's very anxiety provoking, but we get there in the end. Just try and stay calm. Stress is your biggest enemy.
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