Irregular Heartbeat With Pots?

[Freaked]

Twice now after mild exertion I've felt my pulse because my heart was pounding, and it was irregular. I suffer the occasional pvc/pac, and I assume this is a longer run of them or something. It's only ever lasted a few seconds, but I worry that someday it will last longer or be dangerous.

Any other pots sufferers get runs of irregular beat after they push themselves? Is it dangerous?

[Guest Alex]

I get that quite frequently - sometimes after doing something strenuous, other times just out of the blue. I was told by several cardiologists that I've seen that in a structurally normal heart such events are common and pose no risk. I had many cardiac tests and none of them revealed anything suspicious according to my drs.

If this really worries you and you haven't had a good cardiac work-up, maybe you should bring this to your dr's attention.

Best,

Alex

[dpeeps]

I have a lot of PVCs which feel like skipped beats, but I guess they are actually extra or premature beats (?) Typically there will be 2-3 every 60 seconds. I also get random chest pain. I have had a couple of EKGs, and an Echocardiogram which were basically normal. I asked for a Holter Monitor, but the cardio said "no, it is just POTs"

[Freaked]

Thanks for the replies; yeah I can be pretty sure that my heart is structurally normal at least. Had an echo and cardiac ct angiogram due to my lifelong history of chest pains and more recent pots symptoms. Had stress tests years ago, but no recent one for some reason, so when my heart does anything odd under strain I get a bit freaked out. Still, I don't think arrhythmias are normally to be blame for my symptoms, since I've had plenty of EKGs and felt my pulse when I've been feeling crap or having tightness and they were normal rhythm. I suppose I'll have to put it down to stress and strain, but it's still unsettling to think it might be effecting my heart's rhythm :-/ Think I had an episode of SVT last week just lying on the couch.

I've also been getting twitches and pulsations like crazy the past few weeks, in every part of my body. Anyone else notice a correlation between body twitchiness and heart stuff? Maybe my nervous system is just frazzled or something.

[andybonse]

Freaked

I get them twitches all over cant believe someone else does too with pots and ive had all sorts of heart tests for excercise chest pain!

Ecgs

Stress ecg

Echocardiograms

Cardiac mri and mr angiogram

24 h holter

All normal

I hate pots lol

[E246]

Hi,

Chest pain is my biggest problem. I think i have a number of different irregularities with my HR. Recntly i eas diagnosed with syndrome X or micro vascular angina as an explanation for the constant chest pain.

I also get sudden jumps that set off the the chest pain and the pots. I have yet another monitor on try to catch what thses jumps are.

The thing for me is i might be really well then get a HR jump and it makes me really ill for hours - days.

Not sure if they cause or are part of pots.

Dont know if this helps but I am also really interested in this topic.

[TCP]

I have tachycardia and am currently on beta-blockers. Still beats fairly high and then get recurrent jigging of the heart that can go on for several seconds at a time. I don't like that as it can happen at any time. Had all the checks including ECG, 24hr monitor and echocardiogram and although sinus tachycardia diagnosed no major problems. Unsettle me but I tell it to keep beating.

[looneymom]

My son has had tachycardia when sitting up, reclining, or moving around in his wheel chair. He also has tremors that can happen just out of the blue, start after exercise, or start up when he was able to walk many months ago. His tachycardia has also started when having tremors. Recently the cardiologist put him on clonidine and this has helped with the tachycardia. As for the tremors, the cardiologist is beginning to suspect hyperpots or an autoimmune disease.

[Gemma]

I wanted to ask. I often have chest pains as well. Mostly it is on the right upper chest area, sometimes radiating towards the middle of my chest. I have been to the emergency room so many times because of this pain. Sometimes the pain is shooting and sometimes it starts and lasts for many hours. I had probably 20 EKGs, 2 ECHOs, stress test, 24 & 48 hrs holter, also 10 days event monitor (still waiting for results but was told since its an even monitor if there waa something serious they would contact me right away because they are getting updates every 24 hours). So far all cardio docs said I have nothing to worry and that the pain is not heart related. I still worry everytime and screared of having a heart attack or something. Also, i saw that somebody posted on this forum that pots people can have the heart attack. Doctors told me that if my stress test showed normal my chance of some coronary deases is like 1%. I have to fly soon and I am freaking out if that pain starts in the airplane where there is no access to doctors. I aksed my cardio doc to do heart mri for me but she said there is no need, that she thinks my heart is healthy. Any advice on my situation. Do you think I need more tests for my chest pains. I am 31 yrs old, otherwise healthy. Take midodrine for low bp and xanax for anxiety. Was given beta blockers for palpitations but had to stop them after 3 days because of increased cough.

[Lemons2lemonade]

time for another holter

[Freaked]

Unsurprisingly I suppose, it seems that weird heartbeat stuff is something a lot of us deal with. I'm hopefully getting an event monitor this week at least, to catch it if something funny happens, or at least be sure of what's going on when I'm walking around and my vision starts to blur or whatever. I plan to go to the nearest hospital (just in case anything bad happens) and walk outisde it till i feel terrible or pass out (shouldn't take long), just to really get my money's worth and maybe some peace of mind.

Gemma, I've had chin/chest/neck pains all my life when I run, of precisely the sort described with angina, except that would be weird in a four year-old. Was stress tested at 12 and 15, and they didn't really reproduce the pains but were normal, as well as echos. But in the back of my mind I just sort of thought I might have a heart issue, didn't push myself beyond my limits and hoped it wouldn't kill me young. When i started getting pots symps four months ago I thought 'uh-oh', well at least after 'AMBULANCE!' and started to worry that I may have had congenital artery abnormalities all along after a cardiac nurse mentioned it to me as a possibility. So eventually after many months of me going crazy with worry my cardiologist agreed to order a cardiac ct angiogram, which was apparently normal too. So...yeah. Like many here I have symptoms suggestive of a lot of different things, but the only heart thing I know of that would really fit all of them would be heart failure, which I like to think they would have caught. Out of interest, Gemma, are you right or left handed?

[Gemma]

I am right handed. My pain is usually on the right upper side of chest. Sometimes it starts when I do something and sometimes when just sitting on the couch. It is usually in the same place. I don't know if i need more tests done. My cardio thinks that i dont and i dont how to convince her that i probably need more testing. They all say, you a woman of 31 yrs old, nothing will happen to you. But that doesn't take away my pain. Before I found I have dysautonomia which is still in the process of confirming, i just thought it was anxiety and was fine with it, but now I am freaking out.

[Gemma]

Lemonsin2lemonade, how did you get your doctor do all those tests for you. When I ask about mri or any other test, they say you don't need it. I am so angry, because I still don't know whats going on with me, but they don't want to do more testing. I read online that if my coritsol level showed higher then normal they have to do MRI to check pituitary gland, but they have no intensions of doing that. This is ridiculous. Any advise on how to get the doctors to do those tests for me. Thanks.

[corina]

Gemma, my cardio adviced me to wear compression hose and abdominal binder when flying. I still have some issues but things are much better. Hope this helps!

[looneymom]

Don't give up Gemma. Go see another doctor or ask your doctor why those test are not necessary. Maybe some other test that have been ran, indicates that your gland is ok. I know that I have raised those questions in the past and the doctor directed my attention to another test that confirmed no further testing was needed in that area. Sometimes its hard in the beginning to create a good patient/doctor relationship because you just want to know what's wrong with your body NOW! All of us on the forum have went through this either as a patient or caregiver. It's very frustrating. I just want to encourage you and tell you to hang in there.

This tachycardia and tremors is no fun to deal with Freaked. I thought in the beginning the heat made it worse for my son but it does not seem to matter what season we are in.

[Gemma]

I saw cardiologist today and he said that my chest pains are nothing to worry. I told him that this other cardio doc told me that the pains are due to blood vessels becoming ischemic and that in sever cases it could lead to heart attack. He said that it is a total nonsense and I would definitely not have a heart attack from those pains. I don't know who is right and who is wrong, but I definitely like the answer of the other doctor and choose to believe in not having a heart attack from those pains .

[Freaked]

Hi gemma; good to know the doc thinks you're fine. I know it's very frustrating when they say different things though. It sounds like the other doc suspected Prinzmetals angina, which is something I've worried about myself, though my cardiologist didn't think I had it and it certainly wouldn't normally explain most of these symptoms. Also, artery spasms supposedly show up on an ekg or monitor if you're having the pain at the time, if that's any reassurance. I remember one day I happened to be having this horrible feeling like there was a weight attached to my heart as they were doing an ekg, and it was normal, so that reassured me a little. I asked if you were right or left handed cos most people get left-sided pain and are right-handed, but obviously that doesn't fit with you.

You could have costochondritis; has anyone mentioned it to you? It basically just means your chest muscles and cartilage are sore, and the pain is often like you describe. Is there any spot you can push that hurts when you're sore? I have it like crazy atm from overbreathing all the time. My chest feels like someone comes along and beats me every night, and sometimes it sends pain up my chin or whatever that really freaks me out.

Looneymoon, I get the tremors too. Pretty sure it's just part of the same sympathetic nervous system overactivity (or parasymp underactivity) that enables the tachycardia. Adrenaline basically has to play a role in sustaining a fast heart rate I think (though not 100%), even without hyperpots.

[Gemma]

Hi Freaked, thanks for reply. So you say that monitor would show some signs of angina? I had a 24 & 48 hr one done, which were normal, only showed supraventricular and ventricular ectopy. But I was told its nothing to worry and it was very mild. Just recently I had an even monitor for 10 days, going to see doc tomorrow for those results. I hope they are good. For the whole time I had it on it only turned on by itself twice, all the rest of recordings I was recording my self. So I assume if it turned on only twice by itself hopefully nothing scary going on with my heart. This is so frustrating going to different doctors and all of them tell you different things. It's feels like they all learn different stuff in school or something . Like in my example, one doctor scared me that those pains in severe cases (didn't mean my case but of cause being scared of everything nowadays I immediately apply it to myself) can lead to heart attack. But then two other cardio docs said it is nonsense. I still can't find this one doctor who I can trust and see that he/she will be concerned with my case. In the meantime I am constantly concerned with my heart. Always feel like something is not right in that area, even though all the tests are shown good results. The cardio doc said that the next test she can do is something like catherization or something to check for arteries, but she says she wouldn't do it, because all my other results are really good and I am 31 and otherwise healthy, so it would be crazy to do such an invasive test. She didn't consider a heart ct scan or MRI either. I don't know if I should be pushing for more exams, or just stop and except that this come and go pains are just due to POTS or anxiety. I just get so scared when I go and read online stuff like having sudden death, heart failure, heart attack, etc from dysautonomia. This scares me so much. I am not still sure if I do have POTs, for now I was just told I have dysautonomia, and probably POTS.

[Gemma]

Ohh, forgot to say. Yes many docs at the ER said that they think that it is costochondritis. I was admitted to ER like 7 times in past 4-6 month, and every time all the EKG and all the bloodwork sowed that my heart was fine, no suspicion of heart attack. I even did a Doppler ultrasound to check for DVTs and a ct scat to check for PE, just doing d-dimmer test for PE wasn't enough to convince me that I do not have a pulmonary embolism. So, after a 3rd or 4th visit they did a chest ct scan to convince me that I do not have a PE. Well the pains are still there and now they just say it is costochondritis. However, it doesn't really hurt when I press anywhere in my chest area, so I don't really think that could be it. I sill feel like it is a blood vessel spasms, but how do I test for it? They did a regular stress for me at cardio doc, which showed normal results. I don't know how else they can check. Maybe I should just stop and just except the pain and live with it. I did notice that for the time that I stopped xanax, the pains were gone and as soon as I went back on xanax the pains started again. So not sure if it was a coincidence or not, I was off it for only like a month and stopped feeling pains for like couple of weeks or some after the withdrawal period was over.

[Freaked]

Hi Gemma; yeah from what I've read about it in studies, Prinzmetals spasms should show up in an ekg, with signs similar to heart attack and opposite to regular blockage angina (don't know why). However I don't know how 'reliably' they show up if you know what I mean. If your pain was ischemic, the magnitude of pain doesn't always reflect the magnitude of ischemia, so you could have very mild ischemia and quite bad pain, whereas some people have heart attacks with hardly any pain. A stress test wouldn't show prinzmetals because typically it happens at rest. The test is a cath with a triggering agent to see if you go into spasm, but most cardiologists are reluctant to do this unless they've seen evidence of ischemia.

You're not the first dysautonomia person to notice their pains are worse on benzos or beta-blockers (ie when their hearts are going slower). The reason our hearts go fast is to make sure we get enough blood, and so when they're not going fast we do seem more prone to upper body and particularly chest aches. Some docs think these are heart related and others don't, so...yeah. Either way, it doesn't seem to significantly increase heart attack risk, or so I keep reading and trying my best to believe. The pains could well still be costo; sometimes you need to press on the bone or spaces quite hard to reach the tenderness, or it may be chest wall spasm too deep to reach. Or they could be non-cardiac circulation aches, like growing pains you get as a kid, though these tend to be dull. Sharp, localised pains are more often musculoskeletal than circulation or cardiac, if that's any reassurance. Does your breathing or position effect them at all? How long do they last?

[Jlengua]

My name is Jose  I am a very healthy individual, I take blood pressure medication for years and very control. I workout everyday mostly  but sometimes I have to stop because of an irregular heart beat and it scares me. I have been to the doctor had all the text done and everything is find. what I get is change of heart beat not fast not slow just that. I don't get them for month and out of the blue I get them sometime it last for a day and sometimes a couple of hours. I really don't feel myself. would like to know if anybody gets the same systems,,,,

[Pistol]

Hello @Jlengua - welcome to this forum! Could you tell us how high your heart rate is? And what Blood pressure medicine you take? Having an irregular heartbeat often is not serious, caffeine or other stimulants, as well as stress, can cause them. Here we call them palpitations, you could maybe look that up.