Question:
Hi. I'm waiting to get into my doctor today after an event last night that had me call the ambulance. I have been trying to resolve palpitations over the last three months or so. They've actually gotten much better in the recent weeks. Not sure of the cause of that. This weekend they were present again. Last night was a strange tachycardia event for me anyway. It started with a simple palpitation that made me cough a little and I was laying in bed when this happened. And then my heart started to race and I could feel it increase even though I was not anxious I was just watching TV. I will note that I had to mountain dews two hours before this happened which is not something that I usually do. I don't consume much caffeine at all no coffee no smoking no alcohol. So when this started and I've had this happen before but not to this extreme. Also I should note that my normal resting heart rate is high close to 100. I used a pulse reader to keep track of my heart rate and I watched it climb from 120 to 130 to 160. 160 is the highest that I have seen it and that was my heart rate when I ended up in the hospital with this once before and 2009 when I was diagnosed with an arrhythmia. Last night however they continue to climb up to 190 at its highest. I watched it for sometime because that usually comes back down. But I was only able to get it to come back down to around 171 75. And this went on for about an hour before I decided that I should call the ambulance and just to be on the safe side since that was so uncommon to have such a pro long tachycardia for me. I have attached the EKG that they took in the ambulance last night. My oxygen levels were perfect my blood pressure was perfect everything is great except for the tachycardia and they have you do some breathing exercises to try to bring it down. I did inform them that about two months ago when I started to go to the doctor for this that she is actually prescribed me beta blockers to take on a daily basis but I had not follow that instruction because the palpitations seem to start to resolve themselves. And also I did have a clear echo cardio gram. However in the echocardiogram they did mention minor valve regurgitation. But they said it was in the normal range so no treatment was necessary. So after I informed them that I did have the beta blockers they they called the hospital to check with the doctor to make sure that I did not need to come into the emergency room last night and he agreed and advise me to take a beta blocker and I did and within 20 minutes my heart rate went from 160 down to 100. I did want to add that when the tachycardia first began I did take a Xanax thinking that maybe I was having a panic attack that I didn't realize I was having although I'm a racing heart is not my symptom of panic attack. And the Xanax did not do anything at all to resolve the heart issue which was another reason why I decided to call the ambulance. So I am waiting for the doctor to call me back so I can take the print out of the EKG to her. I also would like to do a halter monitor next and some bloodwork. But I've enjoyed your opinions before and was hoping for some insight and your opinion. I have attached pictures of the EKG from last night. Thank you very much. I should note that this morning I am tired mostly because I only got about two hours asleep but my heart rate is around 95 and feeling pretty normal.