Abnormal Ekg--So Many Words!

[ophelialit]

Hi all,

It's been many moons since I last posted--I've been busy with works and life and other bits, and, for the most part, I've been feeling pretty OK-ish for me. Until the return of the dreaded PVC's about two weeks ago...the kind that make you breathless and suspicious that a donkey has sneaked into your house with the express intent of kicking you in the chest...stupid donkey. Anyway, I already had an appointment with my new cardiologist on the books (the previous was kicked to the curb when he suggested I try "woman things" like manicures for my palpitations. Yep.), so I went to meet with him today. The good news? He's awesome...he listens, he explains, he shares ideas, he rocks. The bad news? My EKG reads like a bad Russian novel....so many words and shady villains!

Sinus Rhythm/ Frequent PVC's/Ventricular Trigeminy

Low voltage in precordial leads

Poor R-wave progression--may be secondary to pulmonary disease

Consider old Anterior Infarct

Nonspecific T-abnormality

Me being me, I freaked out since, to the best of my knowledge, my previous EKG's have been normal...the new doc slapped me around and told me to calm down, and then we talked about what it all means. Well, the slapping around part didn't really happen, but whatever...I wouldn't have blamed him...I was pretty freaked out!

Basically, he said that there's "likely' nothing to worry about because all of those things are fairly benign and insignificant and not a clinical diagnosis, and we already know that something is wonky with my "wiring" and the sinus rhythm is worth its weight in gold and we're going to go forward calmly and do reasonable things. Not, for instance, eat a pack of Twizzlers nervously and run around the office screaming. Soooooo, I've got a stress echo in two weeks and a Holter before that and a million other things I've been through before....BUT...I'm wondering...has anyone else out there ever had/seen/survived such a creepy-sounding EKG?

Erin

[Katybug]

Hi Erin!

You always make me laugh. I am convinced that you better have a good sense of humor if you plan on surviving any chronic illness!

You didn't know manicures fix tachycardia?? A former endocrinologist of mine thought my projectile vomiting might "be because I didn't have a boyfriend." Sad but true....former was the key word there. Lol!

I have not had a freaky EKG, but, I have had Echo's that didn't sound so good and turned out to be completely insignificant findings.

However, I totally understand you freaking out about it. It's your heart and it's not nice to hear people say bad things about it. It sounds like you've found one of the good guys though, and, I would imagine he would tell you if there is an immediate threat to your health. And, it also sounds like he has a plan to ensure that you have the complete picture.

I hope it all works out. Keep you chin up!

Katie

[ophelialit]

Hi Katybug!

Ha! Lack of boyfriend = projectile vomiting. Well, if that were the case, you'd think I'd have been really, really dehydrated for the better part of high school and college. Doctors! Who needs 'em! Oh, wait. Right I do. ****. Well, anyway, I feel like this guy is pretty on top of things, but I still feel creepy about the whole thing. I'll keep you posted once I find out what's what...never a dull moment!

Take care,

Erin

[SarahA33]

Hi Erin,

Well thanks for passing along the manicures and palpitations link, I'll try to keep that in mind next time I'm on the floor! Lol.. I'm sorry that you've got a reason to post, but I just love reading them. You have such a great sense of humor and wit.

Are you on any medications that could have affected the outcome of this ekg?

I bet you were surprised and concerned to say the least, especially expecting a normal ekg. Like Katie mentioned it does sound like your new cardio is the next logical steps. Take care of yourself, let us know how you are doing if you can

Sarah

[statesof]

Hey Erin, I don't have anything to add other than the part about eating twizzlers and running around the office screaming had me laughing out loud. Good luck with the rest of your tests, and hope for the best.

[ophelialit]

Hi guys!

Thanks for the feedback--I'm not on any medications at all right now (weird, right?) because I've actually been feeling kind of human-ish for a while. And I'm still not certain how much to worry about this turn of events because the doc told me repeatedly that the report at the top of the EKG read-out is simply the computer's interpretation of what it's looking at and that it's all meaningless without an actual person's eyeballs looking at it. And, the other thing is that all of my previous EKG's may have said the same thing, but I never got a look at the actual reports--I was just always told they were "normal"...in fact, my old cardiologist in DC still ran a strip EKG with no new-fangled computer bits at all. He'd pull the strip, say "stone cold normal" and I'd be on my way. SOOOOO...this may be a case of evil computers freaking me out (I once got my finger stuck in an ATM, so this wouldn't be the fist time the computer world has dispatched one of its henchmen to do me in), or it may actually be indicative of something. Either way, the new doc didn't join me in the screaming and running up and down the halls, so I guess I'll sit tight and see what happens.

Sigh.

[cctalk]

So I had an echo done at a pretty large medical teaching center and it was sort of like that too! Weird little things that they mentioned were off. Then I went to Mayo and when I showed my coordinating doc the report she was like, well those aren't really LITTLE things, we need to redo the echo and see what's up. And then of course after a 2 hour echo at Mayo (vs a 20 minute one previously) everything was all fine and dandy!! I don't know how much this holds up for everyone, but Mayo told me they really are trying to change the way everyone does echos around the country because they are kind of all over the place with technique and results. So I guess what I am saying is maybe get a second opinion? Or at least another read of the echo by a different cardiologist? Just to be sure!

[ks42]

My EKGs have been abnormal since I developed POTS. I do know for sure that all my pre-POTS EKGs were normal, because I was always given a copy of them. I started out with flattened T-wave / non-specific T wave abnormality with ST segment depression, and have progressed to inverted T waves more recently.

After my first abnormal EKG, I went through holter monitors, stress tests, and echocardiograms, and everything came out fine, so they told me it's probably my heart's response to a wonky autonomic system that produces too much adrenaline.

I do have to have more tests done now though, since it was pretty recently that my EKG progressed to inverted T-waves. I think they're probably thinking of re-doing the stress, echo, and everything else, but I'm hoping they'll still be just as good as they were a year or so ago.

I have to admit, I freaked out with the first abnormal EKG. And I mean really freaked out. The computer read it as severe inferior ischemia (immediately impending heart attack) and I was hooked up to a heart monitor at the time. The docs watched my heart rate jump like 30bpm after I saw my EKG printout. It still freaks me out a little - sometimes I wonder if there's an underlying cardiac condition (other than blocked arteries, which is what everyone seems to be most concerned with) that no one has caught yet, but if anything my symptoms have been improving, and so far, no other abnormalities have been found, so I try not to think about it too much.

[Katybug]

ks42,

Have you been checked thoroughly for Lyme? I can't remember what the exact abnormality is, but I know when Lyme affects the heart, it is somehow reflected in the T waves.

[outofadream]

Something like that just happened to me too! It all started with a trip to see the nurse practitioner (new symptoms, always good times). She wasn't happy when she found my heart had suddenly decided this was a 180 bpm kind of day and it wasn't too interested in slowing down. So she sent me off to the ER for some quick testing and IV fluids.
So of course at the ER they ran an EKG, and the kindly woman reading it told me it was fine. But when I got the tests results back, I definitely did a double take when I saw the words "abnormal" and "non specific ST wave abnormalities".
For what it's worth though, I've always been told my EKG's are normal, but when I looked back through, I found that almost every one of them had some notes about T waves or other cryptic commentary on them. I'm assuming that since had all the usual echo, holter, stress test, etc, they've concluded it's not a problem, just a "creative" variant on normal, and not going to drop dead of it. The latest one definitely said that they'd compared it to prior ones and concluded there wasn't any "significant change".
I hear you on the running around with twizzlers though, it's definitely an "uhhh...." kind of moment. Will be keeping my fingers crossed that the tests come back soon with the news that the computer villains are to blame! (Also, I hope your finger was OK! ATM machines must be hungry beasts...)

[ks42]

Katybug, I've actually had Lyme twice before, and don't know if it was really even properly treated the second time. Currently, my lyme tests are coming back equivocal / borderline (co-infections negative) but they are very close to the positive range, so it's really hard to know if that's what is causing the heart abnormalities. I suspect it might be at least one piece of the puzzle though.

[Chaos]

Ophelia- Thanks as always for the laughs. Have missed seeing you around here but glad it's because you've been doing relatively well.

My EKGs get the abnormal label slapped on them by the computer as well. Mine frequently say I have had both an inferior and an anterior MI (heart attack) but all the cardiologists who have looked at them say "not so." Also get other various abnormalities reported pretty routinely but my POTS cardio always says "no change" "nothing to worry about". So I guess the computer programmers like to laugh as they imagine us freaking out and running around eating twizzlers.

In the FWIW category, there are some ME/CFS docs who say inverted T waves are one of the diagnostic criteria they look for to diagnose ME/CFS. One of them (Dr Lerner I believe) says if you don't have inverted T waves then he doesn't believe you have ME/CFS. Getting the ME/CFS diagnosis by one of the leading researchers in the country was what allowed me to get on antivirals and Ig infusions which have helped me a lot.

Best wishes!