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Increased Heartbeat, Numbness In Arm, Chest Pain. Burning Sensation In Pulse. What Should Be Checked?
Hi, on december 26, I was sitting watching tv. My heart started pounding and a wave of anxiety came over me which soon followed with numbess in left arm. Check blood pressure and it was 154 over 84. Passed after about 3 hours and I was ok. Until about a week and a half later it happened again. I was ok for a couple of days, however I started to get one or two of the symptoms everyday every 2 hours, then they would go away for a couple hours. Some days I feel fine, but recently they have been getting worse and more frequent. Mostly, heart pounding/racing with chest pain . Today however, my heart was pounding harder than it ever has and my jugular viens were pounging and I could almost feel a burning sensation pulsating with my pulse(if that makes sense. Ive been to the doctor, blood work, ekg , and echocardiogram came back fine and Im awaiting results for a 24 hour urine test for a pheochromocytoma . They gave me xanax for the time being to calm me down/ see if it is anxiety related, but I am not stressed out about anything and the xanax didnt seem to help today(first time trying it). SOmetimes I get wierd pains in my abdomen too. The pain in my chest is almost like a stabbing/needle pain. Do you know any possible things this could be/things I should ask my doctor to check? PS I did take vitamin B12 supplements for about 3 days before the all started to happen on the 26th and I do think I have gluten allergies but I have not been tested(sometimes I still eat gluten too). Im a competitive runner in great shape( have not been running due to my current condition though) so I would not think it was due to an unhealthy lifestyle. Thank you
Tue, 16 Apr 2013
Dear Sir/ Ma'm
thanks for posting your query.
An intermittent racing like this which is increasing is likely to be an arrhythmia. details of which can only be discussed after looking at an ECG which was obtained at time of event. An ECHO will tell if a structural heart disease is responsible for it or not. it may come out to be entirely normal. You have not mentioned your age? was your BP found to be higher than 140/90 mmHg on other occasions too? did you ever get blackout or lost consciousness during these episodes? if the answer to last question is NO, than relax. this is not likely to be one of the most dangerous of rhythm disorders.
one more thing, did they check your THYROID hormone levels?
please revert back with these answers for more clarifications.
sincerely
sukhvinder
thanks for posting your query.
An intermittent racing like this which is increasing is likely to be an arrhythmia. details of which can only be discussed after looking at an ECG which was obtained at time of event. An ECHO will tell if a structural heart disease is responsible for it or not. it may come out to be entirely normal. You have not mentioned your age? was your BP found to be higher than 140/90 mmHg on other occasions too? did you ever get blackout or lost consciousness during these episodes? if the answer to last question is NO, than relax. this is not likely to be one of the most dangerous of rhythm disorders.
one more thing, did they check your THYROID hormone levels?
please revert back with these answers for more clarifications.
sincerely
sukhvinder
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