Heart palpitations

[analaishiana]

I have Hughes syndrome and lupus. I take low dose aspirin daily and have occasional heart palpitations. However the day after a few days of extreme tiredness I put down to a flare up, I stayed having severe palpitations. I was breathless light headed nauseous and a bit vacant. I called nhs who was going to send an ambulance. However it was quicker by car so we went by car. At the hospital I had to wait for hours before having an ecg. By which time they had pretty much stopped. But they had gone on for three hours. And left me exhausted. Question really as to what do I need to do from here?

[MaryF]

I would push hard for further exploration this can't carry on going on... and it is very very common for an undetected thyroid problem to cause, this, I had this...... and as Professor Hughe's himself often says it s not unusual to have Hughes, Sjogrens and Thryoid problems as a trio., plus of course in some cases, like myself, Lupus also. Mary F x

[analaishiana in reply to MaryF]

I am having a ecg fitted for a week but not till November. Having bloods done next week but not sure what as gp ordered them

[Purpletop]

See a cardiologist who could fit you with an ECG monitor for few days to register the palpitations. Once that's done, the cardiologist will assess how much it affects the quality of life before giving you any medication. The current thinking is not to give medication unless your quality of life is severely impaired because the medication could increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Otherwise this is seen as a benign problem that one has to cope with. Many people have this, by the way.

I can't comment about Hughes, Sjogrens and thyroid issues, sorry.

[Riverbird]

If you had nausea and were light headed you need to see your GP in the first instance to prevent it happening again and to be referred to the cardiologist.

Some surgeries have their own 24 hr ecg monitoring equipment themselves without you having to go to the hospital for it.I only speak from my own experience and palpitations as you will guess can be caused by many things especially if you have other illnesses. Personally I started these bouts in a similar fashion to you, with palpitation events which were initially many weeks apart and which I stupidly ignored. They eventually became more frequent and were afterwards termed as SVT's (Supraventricular tachycardia) which passed off by themselves.I discovered that tiredness or even stress along with too many caffeine drinks like coffee and also chocolate sometimes bought on an attack and I was later advised to cut down or out on such things. (Lord knows what we do about the tiredness!) I now have both decaf tea and coffee. Always by the time I eventually got the the hospital they had stopped on their own and were then undetectable on the ecg. Mine eventually became more frequent and went on to become atrial fibrillation which is very well controlled just by medication and causes me no problems at all now. Would hasten to add that yours could be caused by any number of things as others suggest and definitely may not be the same as mine at all, but it needs to be investigated to see if there is a problem.

[roobarb]

Hi ana, I came across your post when searching for info about palpitations as I have started getting these recently. Did you get any answers or treatment yet?

[analaishiana]

I haven't pursued this any further as yet. Although still getting the occasional palpation I haven't since had another episode. Not long after I found out I am pregnant so that's kind of taken my focus. I am attending a clinic appointment in London on Monday though. So I will update if there is any news