Palpitations? Heart attack? Or nothing?

[mandmsmummy]

Advice please, feeling very low...
Blood pressure raised from around 120/77 to 131/88. Had palpitations (I think) I can feel my heartbeat more. Chest was heavy and achy this morning but better now. Worrying about my heart. Doctors full can get a telephone appt tomorrow morning as I rang to see if they would do an ECG but can't without docs permission and until next week anyway. I've been on diclofenic for a month so don't know if it's that? X

I've had palpitations before and mine feel fluttery. Have you explained to your doctor's surgery why you want an appointment, ie you've had discomfort in your chest? Where there any other symptons, like feeling clammy, pain radiating to your neck, back down your left arm? If so or you get this again, I'd phone and ask for an emergency call out. If you get it again, get yourself to A&E either get someone to give you a lift or if no one around ask for an ambulance. It's worth mentioning to people you are likely to have contact with you've had this, so they are aware. If could just be something like indigestion and because you were worried your blood pressure went up a little, but always best to be cautious with things like this.

Hi thanks for replying.
Told receptionist everything and why I wanted an ECG to put my mind at rest and that's when she said doc will ring tomorrow and ECG would have to be next week. I have no other symptoms like you mentioned. No pain in chest just discomfort. I'm at the docs a lot as I have ankylosing spondylitis so sometimes feel like I'm a nuisance x

I'm not at all an expert, but aren't both those blood pressure readings around normal? Do you have a machine at home to check your blood pressure (my DDad has one) or is this readings from the Dr recently? Stress can raise your blood pressure, even the stress of having a medical person take your blood pressure, or rushing around for an appointment.

Could the diclofenac raise your blood pressure too? I know I've been on medication recently where a side-effect was raised blood pressure (how I know my DDad has one....I kept checking it every day and feeling quite stressed seeing it so high, even though he told me it was only a bit high but normal-ish....and told me to stop taking my readings so often!).

I was also on some a while ago that caused my heart to skip beats. That can make you more aware of your heart too. My heart also skips beats more regularly (every hour or so for a few days at a time) when I'm pretty stressed. I mentioned this to the Dr and she said it was fairly normal (in majority of cases).

I would get the appt with the Dr in the morning though and see what's going on. If you needed to have an ECG I'm sure they'd refer you to the hospital that day anyway?

Thanks, you're right in the fact those readings (done at the docs) are just in normal. Anything over 140/90 is considered high apparently. But when I've always been 120/77 at the docs it worried me that it crept up. I think you're right tho and I'm panicking too much. My docs aren't worried and said get checked in the new year x

The appt in the morning is just a telephone appt x

Off duty pharmacist so couldn't resist popping in to give my two-pennies worth!

Just wanted to reassure you that both those blood pressure readings would fall in to the normal range. In fact if you measure blood pressure on the same person twice, one after immediately after the other, it's quite common to get two different results up to about ten points apart. That said, I can completely understand why you're worried. Starting to take a new medicine can throw up all kinds of symptoms and raised blood pressure is one of the listed side effects of diclofenac, so it's well worth keeping an eye on it. As Tiger said stress can also cause an increase in blood pressure and the "white coat effect" of having someone else take it can push it up even more, even if you don't consciously feel worried about it. I have to take my own if I've got any chance of getting a normal reading. Once the practice nurse does it, then it shoots right up and I don't feel stressed. She's lovely and I've known her for years... very odd!

I hope you are able to get to see your GP soon to check it out, if only to put your mind at rest. Often people say that they can feel irregular heart beats as a sort of fluttering sensation. Again stress and anxiety can raise your heart rate as well as making you more aware of your heart rhythm. It may be worth asking your GP about a thyroid function blood test, as an over active thyroid gland is a common cause of these sorts of symptoms and is easily sorted out. There are various calculators for working out the risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years. Here's one... [http://www.qrisk.org/index.php] For a young woman with normal blood pressure it's probably less than 1%, so probably the least likely thing to be going on tbh.

As for feeling like a nuisance, please don't think like that. I'm married to a GP and he loves it. He gets frustrated when people feel bad about going to see him, after all seeing patients is what your GP gets paid to do! And nice chatty young ones who don't smell of wee are a breath of fresh air let me tell you...

X post whilst I was writing my epic rant post.

So glad you got it sorted out OP!

Thanks cats! It's nice to speak to someone who knows about diclofenic. My pharmacist is very dismissive of it and warned me against going on it. I was on it a month and gave been off it a week now with a view to going back on it if my AS symptoms flare. X