Hello all,
I am new to the forum and at the end of my rope now. Just briefly... I am a 52 happily married white male with two great daughters. I am 5 11 / 200lbs. In June of 1998 I woke one June morning and my left foot was numb. After years of testing and almost two handfuls of diagnosis's such as MS, Lupus, Fibro, Gerd, Neuropathy, etc, etc, etc, I feel like I am very near death. I have chronic pain, short-term memory loss and very bad chronic fatigue.
In October of 2005 a "gone bad" ERCP test was performed on me, which put me into the hospital for 4 weeks with severe Pancreatitis which almost cost me my life. Since that time, my health has gone down hill and now I have had problems with my heart rate. A resting heart rate of 140 was not uncommon for me. In April of this year, my heart-rate continued to climb and I started experience very severe shortness of breath. My PCP conducted two 24 hour holter tests, both of which showed several PVC's but an alarming and rare (so I have been told) tachycardia called focal arterial tachycardia. I also have had a history of high blood pressure since the age of 19.
My doctor put me on a combination of three heart and heart-rate meds, but he could not get the heart rate to come down. He then referred me to a cardiologist. He performed a stress test and echo and saw some irregularities. Two weeks later I was having a angiogram which showed no blockages. He said I will follow-up with you in a year.
For several months, my bp and h/r seemed to be somewhat under control so my doctor suggested I start a cardio exercise program as my blood work revealed high cholesterol and tryglisorides numbers. He wanted to see if exercise would bring down the numbers first before adding another drug to take. So I started using the elipical at our local gym three days per week. After the first two weeks, I called and told him, I would sweat to the point that there was a puddle on the mat below me. I went home after the workout and could not function for the entire day.
He said this would ease with conditioning and told me to stick it out. Well six weeks later (last week) I had noticed my heart starting out at 120 or so instead of the 60's for my age. So I began to monitor my blood pressure again with my home machine and I could not believe the readings I was getting. I would take it when I first woke up, take it around lunch and take it at bedtime. My number on the low side would be 155/105 on average and would jump to 189/174 and I would get these types of readings anytime time of the day for the last two weeks or so.
My doctor schedule an abdominal catscan to check my kidneys and adrenal glands last week and maxed out my three drugs that I was taking.
Today, I picked up a copy of the report of the catscan and it was completely normal. I was hoping that it would show some sort of abnormality that might have been releasing hormones or chemicals that might raise my bp and h/r.
Here are my meds...
Diltiazem 120mg 2/2 times per day
Hydrochlorot 50mg 1/per day
Metoprolol 100mg 2/per day
Amitriptylin 100mg 1 at night for pain
I am awaiting a call from my PCP and just don't know what else he can suggest. Please help. I can tell when my heart rate rises as my ears would ring loudly and my chest will pound! I hope I was not too wordy. If I missed something, please ask questions. I need some guidance. Thanks!
Post Edited (gtg) : 12/1/2008 3:07:21 PM (GMT-7)