Irregular Heartbeat With Pre-syncope

[princessmk]

Hello, I had a new symptom happen yesterday that I need some help with please.

While I was cleaning up after breakfast, an irregular heartbeat started flip flopping/fluttering in my chest and made me involuntarily cough. I have experienced these lots of times before and know they are usually harmless. However, this time near the end of this heartbeat, I immediately *felt* like all the blood or oxygen was draining out of my body and I started blacking out. I sat down quickly and was having shortness of breath and feeling a little groggy. This whole episode lasted about 10-15 seconds - with the SOB and grogginess kind of tapering after a minute. I have experienced pre-syncope and irregular heartbeats as seperate ?normal? symptoms of mine, but I?ve never had them happen together/sequentially. Note that I didn?t lose consciousness, it was more like pre-syncope. I?m not sure if this warrants a trip to the doctor . . . I had a cardiology workup done several years ago (with ECG and Echo) that was normal besides POTS tachycardia etc. Has anyone experienced this type of irregular heartbeat with pre syncope/syncope? Is this a common or normal symptoms of POTS? I appreciate your help.

Thanks,

Mary

[comfortzone]

Hi ~

I've had a lot of palpatations separate from episodes of pre-syncope and more recently I've had them with pre-syncope as well. My best advice would be to see your internist or primary care doc -- or if you have a good cardiologist you could touch base with them again to report and update them on how you are doing. It may be that they do a 24 hour holter to see just what is going on - a glimpse of a day in the life kind of thing. Mine showed runs of atrial tachycardia -- not terribly long ones - maybe 10 beats or so a few times and then a baseline of sinus tachycardia with an avg. heart rate of 100. Some PVC's thrown in there for good measure lol... I got put on 50mg of Metoprolol with no discernable improvement -- just normal daily activities have my heart-rate watch read 120's....any exertion such as walking uphill -- 150's.

I'm not sure my cardiologist is the one for me as I've been working on my b/p issues and symptoms with this one for three months and am going nowhere fast. Yesterday at work got faint-like and nauseated - spent the better part of the evening in bed with a low b/p....90's over 60's........Yet most of the time my b/p is way too high....diastolic frequently above 100 or 110......

It can be frustrating for sure to get the tests you want done -- and frustrating when your case is not an everyday occurence.....I have that hypermobility syndrome or EDS-HM and it's crazy for sure. Good luck to you -- hopefully you aren't troubled by your symptoms for long or if you are you get the answers you need!

[Maxine]

If this happens while you're standing up moving about, it could be that you blood was already pooling, and was not circulating enough around your heart-----------------BINGO----your heart said, "wait a minute, where's the blood?" So it started flip flooping around until you sat down. Once you're sitting, the blood stops pooling as much and your heart stops flipping out. Just a thought...... Of course if you push too far, you could get both the pre-syncope amd the heart flip flops at once. I usually get the heart flip flops as a warning that I'm not paying attention to the pre-syncope........

I don't watch it as closely as I should, and I will push to far, and my heart will flip out. I often walk around lightheaded, and I shouldn't.

Try adding more fluids and salt. Still call the doc though----it's better to be safe...

Maxine :0)

[issie]

Thanks Maxine, I wondered why this happens. I have the EDS-III type too. This blood pooling thing is for the birds. I wish there would be something other than compression to help with that.

[nmorgen]

Hi ~

I've had a lot of palpatations separate from episodes of pre-syncope and more recently I've had them with pre-syncope as well. My best advice would be to see your internist or primary care doc -- or if you have a good cardiologist you could touch base with them again to report and update them on how you are doing. It may be that they do a 24 hour holter to see just what is going on - a glimpse of a day in the life kind of thing. Mine showed runs of atrial tachycardia -- not terribly long ones - maybe 10 beats or so a few times and then a baseline of sinus tachycardia with an avg. heart rate of 100. Some PVC's thrown in there for good measure lol... I got put on 50mg of Metoprolol with no discernable improvement -- just normal daily activities have my heart-rate watch read 120's....any exertion such as walking uphill -- 150's.

I'm not sure my cardiologist is the one for me as I've been working on my b/p issues and symptoms with this one for three months and am going nowhere fast. Yesterday at work got faint-like and nauseated - spent the better part of the evening in bed with a low b/p....90's over 60's........Yet most of the time my b/p is way too high....diastolic frequently above 100 or 110......

It can be frustrating for sure to get the tests you want done -- and frustrating when your case is not an everyday occurence.....I have that hypermobility syndrome or EDS-HM and it's crazy for sure. Good luck to you -- hopefully you aren't troubled by your symptoms for long or if you are you get the answers you need!

Wow! This sounds just like me. Down to the horribly high diastolic. I get these occasionally and it can be kind of scary to have both of the symptoms at once. It wouldn't hurt to go and see your dr and check to see if anything has changed. Hopefully it is just a sign that you are pushing a little too hard. Good luck and keep us updated.

[MomtoGiuliana]

I've had this symptom too, within the past couple of years it has started (was diagnosed w POTS in 2003). I talked to my specialist and he was unconcerned. He did tell me to cut out caffeine. I have since found that it seems to coincide with caffeine intake. Reducing/elimnating caffeine has stopped these episodes for me.

[princessmk]

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to reply. It ended up to be a weekend of odd symptoms The day after I wrote this post, I started having a new symptom . . . severe pain/headache/squeezing in the back of my head only when upright or movement like yawning, talking etc . . . I'm very familiar with migraines and headaches of sorts and this was nothing like I've had before. I ended up going to urgent care and they did a CT scan that came back normal. The pain gradually subsided over 3-4 days. They are sending me to a neurologist. About the same day the "head pain" started, my nose also started dripping - not like a stuffy nose. The DR said I show no signs of a cold or congestion or allergies and didn't know what is causing it.

And its because of these kinds of spontaneous, odd symptoms that in my first post I called "stable" an ironic word to couple with POTS :0)

Anyways, all that to explain why I didn't respond yet! I read each of your replies and appreciate your advice

nowwhat, I do think a holter monitor would be a good idea and also to establish a connection with a local cardiologist Thank you

Maxine, that makes sense! I had already been on my feet awhile . . . I tend to walk around lightheaded too. I'll try to pay closer attention Thanks

nmorgen, yes, it can be scary when they happen both at the same time! I will keep everyone posted Thanks

momtogiuliana, I was drinking caffiene that morning so that also makes a lot of sense. Thank you

I'll update everyone when/if I find out anything - Thanks

[issie]

I hope they are getting you into a neurologist very quickly. I've read about your symptoms -- somewhere. It could be spinal fluid leaking out. They have to put a patch over a hole, if that's what it is. It isn't something that needs to wait --- IF that's what it is. It can be quite serious. Not extremely hard to fix, but needs to be figured out quickly and repaired.