Aways somethin'...................

[CathyA]

I have a very curious body. Strange things happen to me all the time. I've learned to ignore alot of them.......but it does make it difficult to know when I should pay attention.

For several days, I was very tired and a little nauseous and a bit out of breath if I did much. I also had some GI problems......but with IBS, I've learned to ignore them.
Then, while I was just taking a bag of recyclables to our front porch, I had a burst of irregular heartbeats. Then my heart rate went to 123-130. This sometimes happens when my stomach has air in it......but it didn't seem to be the case this time.

We had to "plant" one of my chickens that died a few days ago, so DH did the digging and I held the chicken........feeling like I might need to be buried along with the chicken. My heart rate wouldn't budge, even after I sat down for awhile. So.......off to the ER we went. What a bummer. My DS was on his way home for his birthday.

In the meantime, I took an extra dose of a beta blocker. At the ER, my heartrate started coming down to the 80's. My EKG, cardiac enzymes, chest xray and a few other labs were normal. That was a relief. Since then, I've been excruciatingly weak with the GI symptoms continuing.

Then it hit me that several times in the past, before I would get a virus, my heart would speed up like that. I sure hope that's all there is.
With all my funky symptoms, it's hard to ever determine what the problems are. It could be very expensive and time consuming. So..........for now.........I'm hoping it's just a virus. Strange, though, that the only symptoms would be some diarrhea and severe weakness.

Anyone else have anything like that before? No muscle aches or unusual pain.......just severe weakness. I've been drinking lots of water, but it seems to run right out.

At least I was functional enough to celebrate my son's birthday yesterday, even though I had to lay down alot. We hadn't seen him for about 2 months, so I was ticked off at myself for feeling so crappy. But he was his usual sweet self, being kind and understanding.

Just curious if this has happened to any of you? I'm not used to feeling so bad, without more symptoms.

[ToomuchStuff]

There are several bugs going around here. From the common cold, a couple of flu strain's, to some 24 hour thing where you lose it from both sides at the same time. I awoke last Tuesday morning at 4am with that, when dad and I were supposed to be taking a trip. Bad thing was, I had crashed at there place, so we could be gone by 9am. Both parents caught the bug, and it hit them worse (took three days for them to feel better).
Just goes to show, while people can all catch the same thing, any other conditions can and do skew things (why we have doctor's, instead of just pharmacies with descriptions of symptoms).
Get to feeling better.

[CathyA]

That's a bummer TMS! The best laid plans..........
I hope you're all feeling better! Maybe you can take your trip again soon.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. I hope this is all nothing, (just a virus as you mentioned), and you will soon be feeling better. Just as an aside, when I was a teenager, (many years ago!), my grandmother would have spells of very fast heart rate - extremely so if I remember correctly. We had a family doctor, an older man who took care of basically everything instead of lots of visits to ER's, tests galore, etc., and he would hold somewhere on her neck and the rapid heartbeat would slow down and go back to normal. I remember us going to his house at night once and this is what he did. I don't have a clue what he was doing or how it worked, but it did. Also, don't know if that is sound treatment or not so not recommending it! Just an observation.

[Jilly]

Not me, Cathy, but it is interesting that you are noticing some kind of pattern. Does your doctor(s) have any suggestions about how to handle or prepare for the soon-to-arrive virus? It would be nice to have some way to get a head start on it. I have a little heart thing, and although mine is really little, it can be such a bother when it acts up.

TMS, hoping everyone feels better soon.

[CathyA]

I think my brain goes into "RED ALERT!!" when these things happen and it just makes it worse.
Sad Eye Lady........your grandma's doc did carotid massage. In some fast heart rates, that works to break the cycle. When I worked in the ER, sometimes we would dunk peoples' faces into ice water to break the fast rate too. (It's like jumping into cold water and it causes your heart to slow way down). I didn't want to massage my neck, so far away from a hospital, in case it slowed it down too much.... I'm glad it worked on your grandma though. Such an easy, inexpensive treatment!

Jilly.....there's really nothing to do ahead of time, expect to maybe expect it if I start to feel lousy......and then not freak out when my heart goes fast.......just wait it out.
But they're always saying women's symptoms with a heart attack can be so different than a man's........so I was afraid to wait too long.

I'm feeling a little better today. I'm not used to just laying around, but I'm trying to take it easy for a couple days. Sure hope I didn't give it to my son yesterday, when he came here for his birthday. He has an important job this week.

[frugal-one]

I have SVT (very fast heartbeat) and have been nauseous and light headed. I could not stand up with feeling like I was going to pass out. They kept sending me to the ER thinking I was having a heart attack. I now take magnesium and have very little problems. If I forget to take it the heartbeat goes up again. They did want me to take beta blockers or have surgery but I want no part of that. The product I take is called CALM and I just put it in water. You may want to go to the health food store and get a single packet and see if it helps you????

http://naturalvitality.com/natural-calm/

[CathyA]

Thanks frugal-one.

Actually, I have calm! I took some the other day, but I think the fast heart rate was from a virus starting up. What's interesting though, is that I usually take calcium and magnesium every day, but I had been skipping it more than usual. But I'm back to taking it every day again. When you're heart is beating really fast, it can be really scary......especially if you're just sitting in a chair!

I do take a small dose of a beta blocker. In fact, it's so small that docs think it can't be doing anything, but it keeps my heartrate from going crazy with physical activity, and if I'm nervous. But the main reason I take it is that if I don't, I will feel hypoglycemic alot, and I also feel like I'm going to pass out alot. I never have.......but the feeling is very disconcerting. I would love to get off it completely, since it does affect my thinking.......but I'd rather have a little trouble thinking, than feeling like I was going to pass out.

[Gardenarian]

Magnesium was also the first thing I thought of. Try taking a bath in Epsom salts - can't hurt!

[Rosemary]

vagus nerve?

[CathyA]

Yes Rosemary! I have questioned a problem with my vagus nerve for a long time. I think it's injured because of my GERD.... It supposedly runs next to the esophagus and it can get irritated easily.
I have the feeling though, that very few docs would know much about the vagus.

Gardenarian......that's a good idea!

[Yarrow]

CathyA, I had a stomach virus a couple weeks ago and the first symptom was being out of breath, weak, and a heartbeat rate in the 120s to 130s, plus my blood pressure was up too. Then the next day the fever, muscle aches, diarrhea and vomiting began which lasted another couple days. As soon as that was over with my heart rate and blood pressure returned to normal. I did talk to my doctor during that time period and she said it was normal to occur during a virus and not to go to the ER unless it became extremely elevated. She was more worried about me getting dehydrated and called in a script for nausea medicine as I had the dry heaves at certain point and couldn't even keep down a drop of water.... It took me a full week to get over feeling extremely weak.

I think it was good that you got it checked out though, but probably it is related to having a virus as mine was. Better safe than sorry. Always good to check things out....

[CathyA]

Sorry you were so sick Yarrow! Too bad my bill will probably be at least $2,000, and it will all go to the deductible. Oh well. Easy come, easy go, right? >8) I'm VERY hesitant to go to doctors and/or the E.R., but this felt different. So.......I'm glad I went, just to ease my mind........'cause I really felt like it was the end for me. I'm glad you're feeling better. It's so easy to get dehydrated.