Ongoing Palpitations

[AMR2024]

Hello All

This is my first post on here, I have been following this forum for a couple of months now reading on a regular basis other users heart issues, and the support the community gives.

I have joined on here as I have been suffering with regular palpitations since January this year.

A little background to my story.

In January this year I started to notice that my heart rate was elevated and noticeable to myself to become aware of an issue.

It had been raised to 120+ for prolonged periods of time when wasn't being really active, and just sat down working. when usually my typical heart rate was 70-80 in these type of activity.

Wind forward to March and I noticed it's still ongoing and then start to experience other symptoms like random pains on my chest, down my face, and numbness in my legs.

On the back of this I went to A&E one evening and got seen to, but they only did an ECG and discharged me afterwards citing anxiety in the end for the cause.

Moving forwards I keep getting heart beating in excess of 120+ bpm, these pains across my chest, under my arm down the side of my body on regular basis. One day in April my heart rate raises to 150+ one night so called NHS 111 for advice and they sent an ambulance.

Ended up in hospital for the day, with several blood tests and x-rays being performed.

My bloods came be with an elevated white blood cell count and x-ray should slight hazyness on my one lung which they said was a mild chest infection. No sign of heart attack or anything else.

I was discharged and given antibiotics to clear this up.

Following the visit to A&E they referred me for a 24 hour holter monitor which I had in June.

I had a follow up appointment with the GP, and he did some blood tests a couple of weeks later to check upon my white blood cells to see if the chest infection had cleared up which it had, but the this also highlighted that I was low on iron so have been prescribed iron tablets for 4 months.

In between the April visit to A&E and the holter monitor I keep having these various pains and elevated heart of being over 120+ I ended up with some other pains and got advised by the GP to go back to A&E and get myself checked out again.

All the ECGs/Bloods were reporting as normal and was advised I am ok and if I keep getting these pains and heart beat it's ok and need to manage it, as they needed to sweep how the 24hr monitor turns out.

After this I had the 24hr monitor, and surprise I had a good day with not many issues that day convienatley.

But was told it takes upto 12 weeks for this to be analysed before it gets back to the doctor who referred me. So this puts out waiting for the results until at least October at the earliest.

In between then and now (September 1st) I've been back in contact with my GP about how this is still ongoing. I keep getting these symptoms regularly, when my heart rate goes high it can be for hours and it wipes me out completely, making me tired been needing to also have days off work I'll to recover.

The GP hasn't been much help, apart from saying just need to wait for the holter monitor results before can see what to do next.

I'm worried about what is wrong with me as it's definitely not normal for myself, and it is affecting my day to day life still.

I know I do have to wait for results/tests etc but surley the GP can help I someway with the symptoms whilst investigations are on going?

Has anyone else had similar experiences like this ?

Sorry for the long post, just worried and not sure where I stand at the moment with this.

[Jalia]

This doesn't sound very satisfactory to me.Have you thought of getting a Kardia mobile device? This will show what your heart is doing when you have these high rates. Has Atrial Fibrillation been mentioned to you?

[AMR2024 in reply to Jalia]

Hi JaliaThankyou for the reply, yeah it's very frustrating to myself at the mowmnt.

I had borrowed a KardiaMboile and have used it a bit and did record when been having these high rates.

They come back as tachycardia. I even showed this to the doctor in A&E and they were not really interested as it wasn't a medical grade device what they said and handnt heard about them before. When they are high when I'm not doing much activity nothing seems to stick out either. Occasional PVCs.

Nothing has been mentioned about it maybe Artificial Fibrillation.

Only one slight reference was put down by A&E as being a suspected conduction disorder of the heart.

Thanks

[Jalia in reply to AMR2024]

I'm very surprised that the medics at your hospital dismissed the Kardia device. They are a bit behind the times!

. I've had mine for several years and when i first produced it in A&E it was viewed with great interest. More recently I have been asked to send over readings from it to the Cardiologist on my husbands behalf. My arrhythmia nurse has also requested readings from it to send to my EP ....(cardiologist)

If you don't get a satisfactory response from your GP, and can afford it, then I would seek a private consultation.

Above all, don't be fobbed off .

[TasteLessFood4Life]

You probably need a referral to a Cardiologist - I would insist on getting one. One needs to understand the cause of these palpitations and rule out any other underlying issues. Like you, I had been to A&E before - was dismissed as stress and anxiety. However, knew something was not right. Saw a cardiologist privately via work, long story short - was diagnosed with stenosis in the LAD.

Point I am making, if you think something is not right, have it investigated further.

[AMR2024 in reply to TasteLessFood4Life]

Hello, thankyou for the reply.What tests in the end did you end up having privately to get a diagnosis of stenosis in the lad?

Was it a Echocardiogram, or other tests?

I have been thinking about maybe going private, but don't have the benefit of being able to go via my work at the moment.

It just feels like they are hanging out for the holter result before they will look any further at myself.

Thankyou

[TasteLessFood4Life]

7 day holter, echo and ctca (angiogram with dye).

First two clear, but the latter diagnosed the plaque and narrowing. Note, private GP was very confident it would come back negative, however bad family genes proved him wrong on this. People in their 40s should not have stenosis or plaque normally.

Also, useful to look at your family history.

I am also not clear when people mention palpitations - what exactly do they mean. Is it a racing heart beat, irregular rhythm, extra beats...

[JGBH in reply to TasteLessFood4Life]

Hello, May I ask how you managed getting an atca? Were you referred by your GP or did you go private ? My GP keeps on fobbing me, saying an angiogram is very hard on elderly patients! Really? I am 78. I have passed out and although my ECG (carried out by paramedic) was ‘normal ‘ he said my sinus tachycardia whilst in the normal range was at the highest level of 100…. My GP has ordered a 72 hours holster but I don’t think this will show anything, yet I feel there’s something wrong. Some kind of blockage in blood flow to my brain. It is so difficult having to fight for an appropriate useful test while not feeling well. I feel dizzy, tired, so tired. Always feel as though I might faint, so it is scary, especially when one lives alone. Thanks in advance for any input. Best wishes.

[TasteLessFood4Life in reply to JGBH]

Hi,

It was via private GP referral for full heart-check up. He was looking at my family history, which wasnt the best hence the referral.

Yeah - agree - you need more than an ecg, at very least referral to a cardiologist. They are experts and can find clues by listening to your heart and more. Get that referral, keep saying that you dont feel ok and need to see a cardiologist asap.

Best of luck!

[JGBH in reply to TasteLessFood4Life]

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I understand your situation was more concerning because of family heart health problems. You obviously did the right thing in seeing a private GP since the NHS GPs seem rather reluctant to spend any money on their patients. I understand some will be more caring. I was thinking I should perhaps see a cardiologist privately again to get things moving. Will ash GP to refer me to an NHS cardiologist but can imagine it would be a very long wait.

Take good care.

[Spanielrunner]

I would go and see your GP and ask him/ her if beta blockers will help your episodes of tachycardia as they are are affecting your quality of life and and causing anxiety.

[Broseley]

Hi, I was given a Holter monitor for a week. It also took 12 weeks for the results which they sent by letter to my GP. They spotted a 2 second blip which they said was "suspected atrial fibrillation". I've never had any symptoms, I was only referred to cardiology because the GP did a routine ECG which showed a slight blip. I also had an echo which was normal.

I was put on apixaban and bisoprolol. I really wouldn't worry about it because if there was anything serious they would have spotted it sooner.

[Hephzibar]

I have a long history of episodes of tachycardia and ectopic beats.

Have always had a higher pulse rate which can run at 120 -130 if I am stressed, tired or unwell with ectopic beats thrown in and sometimes it just runs fast! In the days prior to a surgical procedure I was so anxious my heart was all over the place!! I have had ECGs, echocardiograms and holter monitors which show the tachycardia and ectopics, but they were not concerning.

Three different health issues caused me to attend A&E, tachycardia was noted on each one and eventually I accepted that there was an issue and I now take Bisoprolol 1.25mg which has generally calmed my heart down.

I did see a cardiologist privately and he suggested using a Kardia as there were concerns regarding AF, but it has not shown up. I would send Kardia readings to him to assess.

Take care and I hope everything gets sorted out for you!

[Chloeb13]

Are your iron levels normal now? I found my iron levels being the cause of my fast heart rate. Once they were stable, my heart rate stayed at a normal rate too.

[Choccie55]

Heart rhythm problems are notoriously difficult to diagnose. I have Supra Ventricular Tachycardia and had symptoms for years before ending up in A&E where it was finally caught on an ECG. Keep pushing for more tests - perhaps a loop recorder which records your heart rate over a longer period of time so more likely to catch something. Have you seen an electrophysiologist who specialises in heart rhythm problems? Unfortunately waiting lists are not great on the NHS.

[Yumz199725]

I'm having these problems at the moment it started last Friday and hasn't stopped since then. ( I have experienced this before but was about 2 years ago) but I have been on verapamil since then and recently it's started again with a vegance it's been awful the constant feeling of my heart jumping up and down in my chest and the light headed and feeling faint and weak chest discomfort and the migraines aswell so not been great. I had ecg last week and need it repeated on Wednesday because they found an abnormal finding an inverted p wave but they think might be there error so there double checking to make sure that it was just a mistake, I really hope it was but if it wasn't would make sense because of the way been feeling 💔. I really hope they found out what's causing your symptoms 🙁 I know how it feels to not know what's happening to you and the uncertainty makes it so much worse. When they do my ecg again they will send to my specialist nurse who will pass on to doctor at my special heart hospital. Here if you wanna talk.

[Sambobs17 in reply to Yumz199725]

Hello Yumz just replying to your message I do feel for you going through all this I can totally relate to it - I’m a bit different mine are ectopics and then my pulse drops I hate to say but I went to A&E last week last thing I wanted to do but I was having twinges in my chest so that made me think I need to get this checked the ectopics have been going on for 9 weeks now - fast forward ecg, bloods including a trop test resulted in being ok - I can only think that they are using the highly sensitive Tropian test as I was only at the hospital for a total of two and half hours which is amazing - checked my results on my GP app this morning and everything seems ok - I’ve finally got a holter check on Wednesday it’s felt ages getting this appointment but in the whole scheme of things it’s probably not - I’m awaiting an appointment for a echo but not received that yet - don’t think you can believe how awful you feel when your heart rhythm is not right hope you get some answers soon sorry for going on about my own problems just wanted you to know your not on your own as I feel so much for people when I read these messages please let us know how you go on take care xx

[Sambobs17]

hello AMR just to say I do hope you get some answers very soon, when our lives are upside down it’s not nice - I think we are all in a similar position that we have to wait quite a while for results, with this comes anxiety which can’t be doing us any good on top of our issues - I know the not knowing has made me feel very vulnerable please take care please let us know how you go on 😊