A week down the line and I'm still passing out (tho not in H+M)...

[MedusaIsHavingABadHairDay]

Last week I posted here about my very scary experience and feeling very unwell..passed out in H+M with weird chest ache and cramp.

I saw an OOH doc and them my GP who thought virus..possibly labrynthitis because I can't stand up for more than a minute or so.

By Saturday night my family were scared enough to call a paramedic.. if I tried to move my heart rate went through the roof (DH is a cyclist so has a monitor). They took me to A+E. Not an experience I ever want to repeat.. they monoitored my heart for a whole 2 mins lying flat (so calm at that precise point) then left me there all night between a couple of drunks and someone who had taken an overdose:(
Next day I was seen briefly by a neuro as have past history of ataxia (balance problems). They felt it was the ataxia back but presenting differently and want me back in their clinic asap. That would be fine but it's NOT the same...I may be unable to balance again but the cause is the chest pressure and pain which makes me faint! In between I can balance fine!

So I'm stuck.. I should be at work but can't because more than a few paces and the world spins as my chest pounds. Have docs on thursday..again.
Evidently whatever is wrong is not killing me (yet!) as I'm still here and the symptoms started last tuesday, BUT something is WRONG and it's not bloody ataxia either. I'm not usually anxious about my health but right now I want to know what the HELL is happening.

I need the GP to be proactive (she was indeed worried but not useful if you kwim!) I THINK I need a heart monitor.. I'm not being dramatic but I think as it keeps feeling weird..well I can FEEL it and I can't normally and I'm going faint, it needs checking for more than 2 mins.

Any experience anyone? thoughts? suggestions? I'm staying away from google as I know I'll only scare myself shitless!

I just want to feel normal again!

You definitely need an ECG - 24 hour preferably. How fast is your heart rate? Sounds scary! However you will notice your heartbeat now when you didn't before as you are anxious which will speed it up anyway.

The fainting and chest pain is a worry though. Very strange that they are not taking it more seriously. Maybe try another hospital for a 2nd opinion?

I would be back at A&E and camp out until they figured out what was happening!

Are you short of breath at all?

I agree with AngryFeet, you need an ECG. Go back to A&E or your GP, tell then that it's a cardiac problem.

I'm breathless when it happens (which is pretty uch when I move!) It's asimilar feeling to being really drunk and that 'OMG I need to lie down NOW' moment. I feel hot, room starts to spin and pressure in my chest/neck.

I don't think the doctor ISN"T taking me seriously (she actually said she was worried because I DON'T go to the doctors !) but I think the ataxia has thrown her in the wrong direction.. and it's very hard to explain how DIFFERENT (and scary) this is. I don't want to be seen as some fruit loop nut job. I would be very happy to be shown it's NOT my heart.. but I really really think something is up and I really hope they take me seriously on thursday. I do not want to go back via A+E:(

You need too push for some tests.

My son fainted at school , paramedics called who noticed irregular heartbeat and since then he has had cardiac echo, exercise stress test and 2 week memo recording.

Please ask to be referred to cardiologist.

Do you have a good friend or family member who would come with you and be firm but polite with the medical staff in the hospital? I would go back to A&E if you have another funny turn even if mild and ensure that they run better cardiac checks on you. The sooner you are down there and seen the sooner you can be checked out and hopefully on the road to recovery.

You should have an echocardiogram. It is an ultra sound of the heart.

Where in your neck does it hurt?

Does sound really scary- seems mad they haven't done more extensive cardiac tests. I really would camp out in A+E until you are properly looked at, as it does need to be taken seriously.

Just updating...
Saw the GP yesterday ..she was concerned but decided to up my neuro meds while she checked out the blood results etc.

Rang me tonight at home to ask how I was (!!) and to ask if I felt I needed to go to hospital! I said I thought I probably did but not to A+E and she asked me to monitor my heart overnight (DH has a monitor as he is a cyclist) and she will ring tomorrow at 8am.

I started the day feeling okish. By lunchtime I was seriously dizzy and unwell. Tonight my heart varied from 65 bpm to 190 :( ALl while just sat still. Not good. BUT at least it looks like..finally.. after a week of this.. they are taking it seriously. I really hope when I get sent in tomorrow they bother to monitor and scan me properly...I hope it's just related to my neuro problems but I doubt it, as I have been perfectly ok for 6 years.

I don't want to die!!

Oh no Medusa to hear you're still feeling unwell. Hope everything goes well tomorrow and you get the right tests and treatment, good luck

I have not heard of a pulse rate changing like that and 190 at rest is much too high. Could be neuro Medusa, and at last you are being taken seriously. Hope all goes well tomorrow.

Could it be Supraventricular Tachycardia?

From the NHS Choices site:

"If you have supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) you'll usually feel your heart racing in your chest or throat and a very fast pulse (140-180 beats per minute).

You may also feel:

chest pain 
dizziness 
light-headedness
fatigue (tiredness)
breathlessness 

On rare occasions, you may faint because of a drop in blood pressure."

I once looked after a man, due for discharge, who kept saying he didn't feel too well. His English wasn't fantastic, due to his nationality and age, and Drs felt he was frightened to go home and wanted an excuse to stay.

Over the course of the morning, I got increasingly concerned about him, and in the end begged the SHO to take another look at him. He was lucky, because at the moment they did the EEG, he had an epidode, and they realised that he had SVT. He was quickly treated, monitored, then happily discharged after a few days.

Well I'm currently at home with the GP's own heart monitor. She couldn't get hold of the cardiac docs this morning (meeting apparently!) so sent round the one they use in the surgery, to go back at tea time if I have recorded enough.

It's not easy..it's like a nintendo ds.. and you only record 'events' (so not continuous) and have to switch it on and get thumbs into position while feeling weird! My first few attempts failed but since I have had several 'irregular heart beat' messages at the end of the 30 sec recording so I think it must have captured something.

Because I feel weird ALL the time I didn't know when to record, so decided to use DH's cycle pulse monitor to tell me when to record..ie when it went v high or low.
EAch time that it has gone REALLY high (ie over 180) the monitor gives an error message 'can't analyse data please try again!' looked at the instructions and it can't compute that high! Hope it has recorded something of that..in any case I will tell the doc when we hand it back.

The SVT does sound VERY much what I am experiencing..:/
I really hope the silly little ds monitor has given them enough info to show a little of what is happening..this is day 8!

Blimey, that sounds really scary. Did you see your GP this evening? Wondering if you're in hospital right now?

Well I'm not.. and I'd laugh if it wasn't so ridiculous.

Took the monitor back (well DH did) this evening and shortly after the doc phoned... to apologise that he couldn't read the trace tonight because the practice manager who knew how to run the software had already left!!! He will run it first thing tomorrow and phone me. To be fair he sounded VERY sheepish .

SO.. tomorrow will tell.

On the plus side however tonight I feel ever so slightly better.. less dizzy than yesterday and less breathless too. PLEASE let it be a virus that is starting to go away....

I followed your earlier thread but missed this one, I've been wondering how you were. Hope you get sorted soon x

How are things today, Medusa?

Has the "feeling a bit better" continued? Hope so :)

How are you? I have been following your posts. Did they get anything from the heart monitor?

Would second POTS?

Last update I promise...
Went to bed feeling a bit better..
woke at 2am with the room spinning heart racing..scary.

Docs called this morning.. heart trace v up and down but not life threateningly so.. so they got onto neuro..who does think it;s a worsening presentation of ataxia.. I'm to start in meds tonight and see them at their rapid access clinic on tuesday.

I REALLY hope they are right....

Medusa
Nobody wants this to be your last update, unless that is what you want.
Hope your appt. tomorrow at the clinic goes well .

Agree with digerd. I'd really like to know how you are. I've been following your thread out of concern.

Really hope that they are right with their diagnosis - but it's YOUR body & you know it best. If you think they're wrong, you must say so.