I have atrial fibrillation - and it was originally triggered by the autoimmune part of the PMR. starting about the same time as all the other symptoms. Absolutely nothing to do with any medication - long before I went onto pred and didn't take anything else then.
I totally agree. I have had PVCs since my 20s but a two week holter monitor I had because I felt awful and had awful palpitations showed I had super ventricular tachycardia just after I tapered off prednisone. A follow-up echocardiogram showed I had moderate cardiac effusion, extra fluid in the sac around my heart. The cardiologist told me that was possibly from the PMR. But I firmly believe the tachycardia and high blood pressure is from a couple of years of prednisone.I put up with feeling terrible, exhausted and sick because I thought it was "just the taper". I should have listened to my gut feeling and gone to the doctor.
I totally agree. I have had PVCs since my 20s but a two week holter monitor I had because I felt awful and had awful palpitations showed I had super ventricular tachycardia just after I tapered off prednisone. A follow-up echocardiogram showed I had moderate cardiac effusion, extra fluid in the sac around my heart. The cardiologist told me that was possibly from the PMR. But I firmly believe the tachycardia and high blood pressure is from a couple of years of prednisone.I put up with feeling terrible, exhausted and sick because I thought it was "just the taper". I should have listened to my gut feeling and gone to the doctor.
Hi Taichikung,Thank you for your thoughts, I have been on calcium vitamins since has started prednisolone, also my potassium level is normal,however for some reason I have a feeling that prednisolone is weaking my heart. I have been recently advised to try to reduce prednisone dose but after 0.5 mg reducing one day I barely was able to walk...I did ask my reumatologist at my last visit if these medications can cause artrial fibrillation and he said he didn't know.possible it could.
Was that just one day at 0.5mg less than usual? That could be steroid-withdrawal, it often manifests immediately you change the dose and is often confused with a flare of symptoms due to too little steroid. Using one of our slowed tapers often reduces the confusion.
I've had odd heart sensations since long before either PMR (untreated for over a year) or pred. Nothing ever showed up in tests although several years ago I learned purely by luck that I was deficient in salt. Putting a bit of salt on my food sorted this out almost instantaneously. Now, I hesitate to mention this, but more recently the sensations returned, and eventually became noticeable enough that I mentioned them to my son and he nagged me to tell my doctor and it turns out that, basically, my heart is wearing out. Unfortunately this concerning increase in sensations returned within a couple of weeks of a covid vaccine, my fourth, and first Moderna. I don't know whether to link these two events or not, as I do have a history, but whatever the cause I'm sure pred has had nothing to do with it. I take no other prescription meds, and otherwise live and eat quite healthily. The moments of feeling my heart doing flip-flops, or getting dizzy, seem to be decreasing, although maybe that's just wishful thinking. My last vaccine (Moderna bivalent) was over four months ago and I haven't changed my lifestyle.
I had a second Moderna, which was bivalent, and although I didn't experience the extreme fatigue I did from the Moderna booster some months earlier, I felt generally a bit more unwell for longer. This was before I thought there might be a connection between heart and vaccine, and I want to be clear to others that I have no evidence of a connection. Obviously in your case it's much more obvious.
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