Do I have a Heart Problem? - Update

Hey Bella,

I also am really sorry you are feeling this way. We all know how you feel and it is not fun at ALL. I don't know if you are religious but...sometime praying helps. I know it sounds a little corny, but after all these tests' and no real conclusion as to why you are feeling this way...it might not be that much of a bad idea.

HI, no diagnosis for me yet. Abnormalities here and there, but the doctors dont' find it significant. The doctor actually said that the more tests you run on a person you are bound to find abnormalities. I hate this so much, I feel so horrible. Like Im gonna die any day now and it will be too late. Im so scared, and I pray everyday. I just want to know whats wrong so I can start coping and understanding.

Hang in there guys...sometimes it will take a while to get a diagnosis or find what is the problem.  Praying is good...we all need to have faith in something no matter what it is.

My autonomic disorder started all my heart problems except for the septal defect which I had since birth I guess and never knew.  Since I have the pacemaker now to regulate my low heart rates I get the check ups from my cardiologist every 6 months.  I have constant chest pain and pressure, feels like someone is sitting on my chest all the time.  He says that it is my autonomic disorder not my heart...even though the readings from my pacemaker have shown some SVT's and Tach's.  It is difficult not to stress and worry about it all the time and with every thump that I know isnt normal worry if your just going to fall over dead the next minute...   I almost think the anxiety of it is worse than the actual condition of having it.  I was lucky and had some really good doctors that sent me off to Vanderbilt University in TN where they have a clinic for autonomic disorders and I did get a diagnosis within 6 months of all this starting.  It is just trying to wrap my mind around my brain causing my heart to do this and not my heart actually having a problem...does that make sense?

Hi Elisha,
Interesting diagnosis. Elisha, can you exersize, and does it stop you from doing anything that you would like to do? Praying/meditating does help. A trick I try is to let it scare me for 5 seconds, then that's it!
Take care,
MAXX

I am rarely surprised by things like this.  I have too much strange things go offbeat myself.  That the doctor found it now is the best news.   It's scary, but he is doing something about it.  I am so glad you went to the cardio.   

Bella, that is good news that he found it and is doing something about it.  Sure, and echo would pick up the arrythmia, provided it was going on during the echo.  Stay positive, you are on the right road. MAXX

ps How are you feeling?

Hi Bella, stay calm.  From what I know, many people have arrythmias and live with them.  The fact that your echo was good is great news.  At least its nothing structural.  Please keep in touch.  Maxx

I was just searching through google trying to find out more about biatrial enlargement and I came across this and couldn't believe what I was reading. What you wrote are the same symptoms that I went to the Med Station tonight for. For 2 day now I feel like I am going to "pass out". I have this terrible heaviness on my chest and throat, like I am about to choke. I feel like I just can't catch my breath and my fingers and toes keep tingling. I have a dull ache in my left shoulder and my back. I am soo soo tired I can hardly stay awake either. This started on Saturday night while I was at a restaurant with my kids. I thought I was having an allegic reaction to some food I ate because all of a sudden my throat felt very tight. The lightheadedness started there also. The med station did an EKG and I received the same results: Biatrial Enlargement, abnormal EKG, but normal sinus. I keep getting very hot then very cold also. My blood pressure was 148/98, which is high for me since I am on a low dose of blood pressure medicine ever since my son was born. When I first told them my symptoms they were thinking CHF, Congestive Heart Failure. After the EKG, they said they didn't see that, nor did they see any signs of a heart attack, but I sure do feel like I am about to have one. For the last 2 mornings when I wake up I think, wow, I actually woke up this morning. This is a horrible feeling. I also am on Prilosec for my stomach issues, that I have never got a definate answer to either. That started this past New Years. I woke up at 3 am and thought I was going to die from the extreme pain in my stomach. My 10 year old daughter found me almost passed out on the floor in the bathroom and called 911. They threw around the GURD thing for a while and put me on the Prilosec, that seems to be working for that. Now I have this lightheadedness and chest heaviness thing. My EKG results read like this:

Vent. rate 94 bpm

PR interval 168 ms

QRS duration 90 ms

QT/QTc 372/465 ms

P-R-T axes 72 63 46

Normal sinus rhythm

Biatrial enlargement

Abnormal ECG

And they sent me home with the sheet on Chest Pain: Uncertain Cause

Told me to return if the symptoms got any worse. They aren't getting any worse, they just won't stop.