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What Causes Shortness Of Breath With Rapid Heart Beats And Headaches?

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Posted on Sat, 19 Jul 2014
Question: The symptoms that have been bothering me the most are that I always feel tired, am easily short of breath with a rapid heartbeat, and frequent headaches. When I first felt tired I would usually take a nap every day. Then I started sleeping in more and now no matter what time I wake up or go to sleep I feel tired all the time. The time I sleep till to feel somewhat awake keeps getting later and the time I go to bed keeps getting earlier. My eyes just feel so heavy all day long. This started within the past 1-1.5 months. I still have energy to do things, so the tiredness hasn't affected me doing things, but it's just annoying. I don't have problems sleeping either. It takes me a little bit to fall asleep just because I have problems keeping my legs still when I lay down, but within 10-20 minutes I can fall asleep and be fine. I sometimes wake up once in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, but I can fall right back asleep afterward. The shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat started toward the end of last year. I noticed that the amount of time I could go running without running out of breath kept getting less and less. Eventually the amount of laps I ran on the track got shorter too. Then doing things like walking up a few flight of stairs made me short of breath. And now doing small things like taking my dog outside to use the bathroom and check the mail or just unloading the dishes in the dishwasher make me short of breath. I used an app to train for running and I can't even get passed the first day now. When I am short of breath my heartbeat is also very fast and feels like it is pounding hard against my chest. I have tightness in my chest with it too. I notice that laying down also makes the shortness of breath and heart rate worse. And sometimes my heart just races for no reason when I'm just sitting. So these things do make it hard to do things and also have an impact with me taking a little longer to fall asleep at night. I didn't know if the shortness of breath has to do with this or not, but I find my mouth to get dry pretty fast. So I am thirsty more and drinking a lot more than usual. I also feel hungry more. I don't eat more because of it though. But whenever I eat something whether a big meal or not and whether I am full or not, I feel hungry minutes after eating. And even though I am not eating more, I am still gaining weight. I gained 5 pounds in about 2 weeks. Within the past 2ish weeks I've noticed a get a lot of headaches too. It's more of a throbbing feeling in the front or top of my head. It's not horrible pain, so I can manage. They usually last 10-15 minutes but I get around 5 a day. And the last thing is I noticed my sensitivity to heat has increased. I have to have the air condition on and 2 fans in my room at all times. I can't stay outside long either without having issues with the heat. And I sweat easier and more than before too. I work up a sweat by doing small tasks around the house. My hair could not look greasy if I didn't shower for a day or 2, but now when I shower at night it looks gross by the next night.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (10 hours later)
Brief Answer:
Consider evaluation...

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

I went through the details with diligence. The reported symptoms are wide spread across multiple organs which makes it difficult to narrow down on the cause without investigations. We can name spectrum of causes ranging from anemia, thyroid disorder, nutritional deficiency, hyperventilation, anxiety / panic disorder to a heart condition. You will need a battery of tests before we arrive at a conclusion.

I see you are already on effexor which is an antidepressant by class. Though it is reported to treat some cases of anxiety, I would suggest you try the options suggested by Dr. XXXXXXX in your earlier post. Some of my patients with anxiety have been managed very well with paroxetine. You need to pay a visit to your treating doctor and discuss about it.

While you are at his/her office. You can get the doctors notice to all other symptoms that you have. If tests for anemia and thyroid disorder has not been checked, I am sure your doctor will agree to perform the tests. If needed, he can refer you to a cardiologist who will perform baseline examination of the heart and treat you accordingly.
Based on your description and your age, heart involvement is less likely. Hence I would press for complete investigations before visiting the cardiologist.

Hope this makes sense. Let me know if you need clarifications.

Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Dr. Prasad J (12 hours later)
I wrote this already and hit submit, but I don't see it, so I apologize if you're seeing this for a second time. What you did say made sense. thank you. I was able to get an appointment with my doctor this Thursday. Last night I started having bad chest pain. It felt like someone was applying constant pressure on my chest and my chest felt somewhat tight. At first I thought maybe it was a panic attack because I have had a few panic attacks with chest pain, but those only lasted around 30 minutes. this pain lasted for almost 4 hours and didn't go away completely. Overnight the pain was more mild and it's been slowly getting worse today. Is there something I can do for that until i go to my appointment?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dr. Prasad J (33 hours later)
Brief Answer:
Continue antiulcer drugs until you see the doctor.

Detailed Answer:
If the pain was not similar to panic attacks, there are two other possibilities. GERD and a cardiac condition. Like I said earlier, to me these look more likely to be GERD and not a heart issue.

Continue nexium as I suggested. If you have no sufficient stock of nexium, you can use over the counter brand - prilosec OTC along with gaviscon.

I am sure you will have a better idea of this problem on Thursday during your doctors visit. Until then please feel reassured.

Hope this helped you. And apologies for the late reply, I was away from home with no internet access.

Feel free to ask for clarifications before closing this discussion.

Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
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Dr. Dr. Prasad J

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2005

Answered : 3708 Questions

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What Causes Shortness Of Breath With Rapid Heart Beats And Headaches?

Brief Answer: Consider evaluation... Detailed Answer: Hi, I went through the details with diligence. The reported symptoms are wide spread across multiple organs which makes it difficult to narrow down on the cause without investigations. We can name spectrum of causes ranging from anemia, thyroid disorder, nutritional deficiency, hyperventilation, anxiety / panic disorder to a heart condition. You will need a battery of tests before we arrive at a conclusion. I see you are already on effexor which is an antidepressant by class. Though it is reported to treat some cases of anxiety, I would suggest you try the options suggested by Dr. XXXXXXX in your earlier post. Some of my patients with anxiety have been managed very well with paroxetine. You need to pay a visit to your treating doctor and discuss about it. While you are at his/her office. You can get the doctors notice to all other symptoms that you have. If tests for anemia and thyroid disorder has not been checked, I am sure your doctor will agree to perform the tests. If needed, he can refer you to a cardiologist who will perform baseline examination of the heart and treat you accordingly. Based on your description and your age, heart involvement is less likely. Hence I would press for complete investigations before visiting the cardiologist. Hope this makes sense. Let me know if you need clarifications. Regards