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Heart Symptoms - Lyme Related?

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Posted 10/19/2020 11:50 PM (GMT 0)
I wore a heart monitor for three weeks beginning about August 16 until Sept. 8. There were a few days I did not wear it.

Now, five weeks later, I get a call from my cardiologist's office mentioning abnormalities. Not sure why they waited more than 5 weeks to report it, but the results were as follows :

Episodes of wide complex tachycardia noted that were asymptomatic:
-- One episode that occurred on 8-10-2020 was a 4 beat run of
nonsustained ventricular tachycardia
-- Another episode occurred on 8-14-2020 that was a 4 beat run of
nonsustained ventricular tachycardia
-- On 8-21-2020, there was an 8 beat run of wide complex tachycardia that
can be either nonsustained ventricular tachycardia or atrial
flutter/tachycardia with aberrancy. This was also asymptomatic
-- On 8-25-2020, there was a 6 beat run of nonsustained ventricular
tachycardia

2. There were premature atrial complexes noted that were symptomatic
(these were rare)

3. There were asymptomatic episodes of sinus bradycardia with heart rate
40-50 beat per minute

While I have had a heart valve replaced (4 years ago) that has some problems with it, heart surgeons did a CT scan of it and said it wasn't bad and will see me in a year.

My question, for those who might know, is could all this be caused by Lyme? The low heart rate doesn't worry me a whole lot as my normal heart rate has always been in the very low 60s to high 50s. The lowest rates happened in my sleep. I've add racing episodes and irregular heartbeats at times for years.

I'm not panicked about it - just tired of new sheite happening.

Does this sound like Lyme?

I cannot see same cardiologist as my insurance has changed. They want me to see a heart doctor who specializes in electrical aspects of heart. I just wonder if it is Lyme and if it is as dangerous as they made it sound.
Posted 10/20/2020 12:12 AM (GMT 0)
What does a four-beat run of tachycardia mean? Does that mean you had tachycardia but only for four beats? So like, for a few seconds? And this happened roughly four times in a three-week period?

I'm not a cardiologist, but I have read that premature atrial complexes are common and usually harmless. Ditto with bradycardia as long as it's asymptomatic.

I suspect that if anyone wore a cardiac monitor for three weeks, then they'd find all sorts of irregularities.

Last summer I developed premature ventricular contractions that took place about once per minute for a couple of months. They were annoying. I consulted my cardiologist, whom I've seen for a few years because she's also a dysautonomia specialist (and I have POTS). She said that her office's practice was almost entirely new arrhythmias since the pandemic began because people are under more stress and are experiencing more body awareness. She wasn't being dismissive, but trying to get across how normal it is to have one's heart rate and rhythm vary due to stress and changes in your nervous system.

I don't think it's a bad idea to get these things checked out, and of course I understand with a cardiac illness history that you would want to take any changes seriously. I'm just betting that it's normal (for you) variation.

Is it typical to wear a monitor for three full weeks? What were they checking on or hoping to find?

Dysautonomia (such as POTS) and endocarditis are common with Lyme. Myocarditis is somewhat common with viruses. Other than that, I'm not sure what correlation there is between heart symptoms and tick-borne infections. These infections certainly seem to predispose us to all sorts of dysfunction.
Posted 10/20/2020 10:27 AM (GMT 0)
Lyme is known to cause:

arrhythmias - many patients talk about sudden fluttering and rapid beats - but just seems to be unsettling rather than dangerous for most ( i have Lyme with suspected Bart and have this - usually only notice it in bed at night - have done for a few years now ) some say CoQ10 helps

myocarditis and sometimes endocarditis I think - seems to be referenced as one of the known serious complications in Lyme in many papers - it's usually diagnosed due to v severe symptoms presentation and hospitalization and imaging scans

co-infections like Bart - possibly others like Rickessias, mycoplasma, brucella? etc are also known to cause some of the above - and Bart I think is known to cause heart valve defects - eg calcification of aorta valve
Posted 10/20/2020 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry to hear of your heart anomalies.
Always keep your hawthorn tincture within reach.
There's also Leonurus cardiaca if you can't find the hawthorn
Posted 10/20/2020 7:49 PM (GMT 0)
I'm by no means a doctor or Cardiologist. But i've had heart symptoms and continue to do so.

Wore a heart monitor for a month, after getting hospitalized for heart tachycardia that suggested heart failure. I'm mid thirties and was early thirties at the time. After heart monitor, echo-cardiogram, and nuclear stress test it was determined there was "nothing seriously wrong" with my heart and they couldn't explain why i had periods of arrhythmia or tachycardia.

I think go to the doctor, but Lyme can definitely cause some of these symptoms.
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