Arrhythmias Support Group

Cardiac arrhythmia is a group of conditions in which the muscle contraction of the heart is irregular or is faster or slower than normal. Some arrhythmias are life-threatening medical emergencies that can cause cardiac arrest and sudden death. Others cause aggravating symptoms, such as an awareness of a different heart beat, or palpitation, which can be annoying.

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AgentSmith 03/15/2017

I posted in the afib group and never got a response so I'm hoping someone will chime in here.

I'm a 36 yr old female in good health, supposedly. I had a very active lifestyle my entire life, extreme sports, etc. Sometime about 7 years ago, I started experiencing extreme fatigue that hindered my daily life. I saw specialist after specialist to try to find an answer. I was no longer able to do the things I've enjoyed forever. I wanted to do them, I just had no energy. I'm not out of shape, I'm not overweight. I had every kind of test known to man done and found nothing.

Recently, I began to think maybe it's my heart. The one area I haven't looked into. My grandfather has afib and I've done 23andMe genetic testing and that is the thing at the top of the list for me. I have a very high (1 in 4) chance of developing afib, based on my genes.

When I try to do anything, basic exercise, I am out of breath and extremely exhausted to the point where I feel like I am about to pass out. People notice and mention it to me, that's how obvious it is. I recently purchased a Rhythm+ heart monitor and got an elliptical. My resting heart rate is always between 57-65, indicating I'm in good shape. However, the very moment I start to do anything, it shoots way up. On the elliptical, with the lowest resistance setting, at the lowest speed I can go without the machine stopping, my heart rate instantly shoots up to 160-170, maybe more. I'm purposely going as slow as I can to try to get my heart rate into a lower zone but I'm always in the red zone. The moment I stop exercising, my heart rate drops back down to 100 or less within a min. So I have a very fast recovery rate, which again would indicate that I'm in good shape. So why does it shoot so high during minimal effort?

I just started seeing a cardiologist. I get the impression that he doesn't think anything is wrong with me. I did an EKG in the office (few seconds) and it was fine. I did an echocardiogram yesterday, it was good. Today, I am getting an event monitor that I will wear for a month.

Other symptoms that I have are that I easily get out of breath, sometimes I am not even doing any exercise, just sitting, and I feel like I can't get a deep enough breath. I have palpitations sometimes. I get dizzy sometimes, especially upon standing, and have passed out on rare occasion (sometimes this occurs without standing). I've always had very bad circulation and my hands and feet are always cold, my legs go numb quite often, I'm constantly having to change positions because of my legs going numb, and I get tingly sensations in my hands and feet.

Does anyone know what could cause these symptoms? Any insight is appreciated. Thanks.

RoboPop 03/23/2017

Sorry nobody has responded before now, but your post is really a tough one to address. Yeah many of your symptoms sound like they could be heart disease, especially the syncope (fainting) and postural hypotension, but again could be something else. In spite of no diagnosis to date, sometimes it's hard to nail down an arrhythmia and can take months on a monitor before they capture the issue.

I wish you good luck and hope they nail this down for you soon.

AgentSmith 03/24/2017

Thanks for your response RoboPop!

I have been wearing a heart monitor for about a week now. Today I went hiking, which is usually when I feel the worst. I can barely catch my breath, feel dizzy, and extremely fatigued with minimal effort. I got a call from the heart monitor company saying they captured an event. They asked what I was doing and how I was feeling and things like that. But they can't tell me what they captured because, of course, they're not doctors. So now I have another 3+ weeks before I see the cardiologist again and I want to know what they captured!!

Any ideas what it could be? It happens when I'm doing exercise. But the echocardiogram saw nothing, and the in-office 3-second EKG saw nothing. I've done daily workouts on an elliptical and captured nothing. It seems to happen when I'm out hiking, climbing hills, and carrying heavy things. What type of problem could that be?

RoboPop 03/25/2017

Some of the symptoms sound like CHF ( Congestive Heart Failure) which often has irregular rhythms associated. That can be difficult to diagnose.

It's good that the holter showed some anomolies, maybe you can finally nail this problem down.

Trust me, if the company monitoring saw anything significant that shows you are at risk, they would have notified your Cardiologist and would have told you to see the Dr or go to ER.

Keep us informed...

AgentSmith 03/25/2017

Thanks again, RoboPop. I had a 2nd event yesterday. So two in one day. Yesterday was the first day of nice weather since I got the monitor, so it was the first day that I was actually active. And two events in one day. They called both times to ask what I had been doing and how I felt. They said what you said, that if it was serious, they'd send me to the ER. But they said it met my doctor's criteria of an event and they sent the data to him.

Marylandguy 03/27/2017

The heart monitor should reveal any issues if sure. I had some dizzy spells a few years back and almost passed out once. Visits to Doctor and cardiologist revealed nothing, they said I was dehydrated. I finally insisted on a halter monitor and it shied my heart was slowing down to 30 bps at times. I ended up with a pacemaker and after the couple months of recovery, I was fine, no issues since although it really takes six months or so to get through the healing process

RoboPop 03/28/2017

Not to minimize what you are dealing with, but if I had 2 events in one day I'd party.

Relax, the good news is they probably found the cause of your anguish.

The gooder news is it's likely not too serious in the scheme of things.

Hopefully this will answer your questions and with medication you can get back to a normal life...

NanZ 04/04/2017

Agent Smith......if you ever find out what your problem is please let me know because I'm having identical symptoms to yours. It's driving me crazy at times and I'm so bored with resting or cutting back on normal activities. I went through the heart monitor thing and countless other tests but nothing shows up!

AgentSmith 04/04/2017

Nanz, I am currently wearing the monitor. It has already caught several events. These events occur nearly every time there is moderate or more physical exertion. There is NEVER an event when I am resting or doing minor activity. I still do not know what the monitor has caught and won't know for a couple more weeks when I see the cardiologist. But basically every time I'm doing some sort of exercise or even just climbing my house stairs, I end up getting a call from the monitor company asking me about my symptoms because the monitor caught an event.

Surfrat 04/13/2017

Hi! I would try to see another cardiologist or electrophysiologist - for another opinion. As was stated, sometimes things can take a while to pinpoint/treat/diagnose. It certainly took me a while to settle down with a plan and I hope it continues to work out. Good luck.

RoboPop 04/17/2017

I have many arrhythmias including Atrial Fibrillation, Atrial Flutter, Supra-Ventricular Tachycardias, Premature Ventricular Contractions and Palpitations. These are all annoying as all get out and do affect how I feel but...they are benign and not harmful. My suspicion is your problem is one of those. Hang hopefully they'll have some answers when you see the Dr.

luv2teachspeech 05/21/2017

Sounds a lot like POTS. Often POTS is secondary to a viral infection or infectious disease like lyme. Lyme disease affects the heart rate- causes tachycardia, and has a very high comorbidity with Lyme. If the POTs isnt the cause of the fagtigue, I would look to Epstein Barr Virus (possibly a reactivation) or Lyme.

AgentSmith 05/21/2017

Luv, I agree. I was diagnosed with IST but I do not mee the basic criteria (high resting heart rate, avg heart rate over 100) for that dx. I am seeing a POTS specialist at Cleveland Clinic next week and am in several FB groups for POTS. Seems to fit.

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