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Can Anxiety Cause Indigestion, Dizziness And Blurring?
Question: Hi. My mother had a heart attack in February and hasn't felt great since. She has always been very active but now can barely get through her morning without laying down. Her cardiologist said that her heart was fine. She says that this "feeling" comes over her and she gets dizzy and blurry spells when that happens. She has also been having lots of indigestion. She had an endoscopy and everything was fine as well. I'm thinking it's anxiety since she's also caring for my father who has dementia. Her doctor can't seem to help her. What are your thoughts?
Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I passed carefully through your question and would explain that the most important think in her clinical situation is to evaluate her cardiac function and exclude possible heart failure.
For this reason, I would recommend consulting with her doctor and performing a cardiac ultrasound and NT-pro BNP levels to investigate for heart failure.
Regarding the episodes of dizzy and blurry spells, it is necessary investigate for a cardiac arrhythmia, which could trigger this clinical situation.
For this reason, I would recommend performing an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring in order to examine her heart rhythm trends for a prolonged time and exclude possible cardiac arrhythmia.
Other tests to consider would be:
- complete blood count for anemia
- blood electrolytes for electrolyte imbalance
- kidney and liver function tests
- fasting glucose for diabetes
- a Doppler ultrasound of the neck vessels to study the blood flow to the brain and exclude possible narrowing, which could cause repeated TIA (transient ischemic attacks to the brain).
If all the above tests result normal, I would advice performing an EEG to investigate for epilepsy seizures, which can mimic this situation too.
You should discuss with her doctor on the above issues.
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I passed carefully through your question and would explain that the most important think in her clinical situation is to evaluate her cardiac function and exclude possible heart failure.
For this reason, I would recommend consulting with her doctor and performing a cardiac ultrasound and NT-pro BNP levels to investigate for heart failure.
Regarding the episodes of dizzy and blurry spells, it is necessary investigate for a cardiac arrhythmia, which could trigger this clinical situation.
For this reason, I would recommend performing an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring in order to examine her heart rhythm trends for a prolonged time and exclude possible cardiac arrhythmia.
Other tests to consider would be:
- complete blood count for anemia
- blood electrolytes for electrolyte imbalance
- kidney and liver function tests
- fasting glucose for diabetes
- a Doppler ultrasound of the neck vessels to study the blood flow to the brain and exclude possible narrowing, which could cause repeated TIA (transient ischemic attacks to the brain).
If all the above tests result normal, I would advice performing an EEG to investigate for epilepsy seizures, which can mimic this situation too.
You should discuss with her doctor on the above issues.
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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