husbands symptoms driving me MAD .please help DR MN

[blatantplacemark]

I had a thread a week or so ago but there has been new developments - is there anyone out there who can shed some light on to what this could be?

My DH is 43 and usually fit and well. He plays golf twice a week at a high level, goes to the gym three times a week and runs etc. Always on the go and very active. Non smoker. Non drinker. Perfect weight for his height. He's not had a day off sick in over 15 years.

A few weeks ago he had a 'funny turn' at work. He'd had a coffee ( unusual as he doesn't drink much caffeine) and felt very light headed and like he was about to pass out. His heart started racing out the blue. He called the doctor who said it was 'one of those things' and to see how it went.

Since then he's not been right. His symptoms were initially a racing heart and an ECG seemed to pinpoint this to ectopic beats so he was worried he had a heart problem. However a week of using a portable ECG machine and another reading in the surgery suggests that nothing wrong with his heart .. Yes the odd extra beat but it's fine. And since the doctor has told him this, his heart racing really settled down

Here's his symptoms that come and go

Heart racing
Pressure in back of head
Lack of appetite
Feeling wiped out
Throat constricting .. This happened once or twice then went away
He can't play golf or go to the gym... Too wiped out
Light headed ness - he has this often
Cold hands and feet sometimes

He's had blood tests for thyroid, diabetes, liver, kidneys, iron etc. all were perfectly normal . He's had his eyes checked. He has no infection markers. The doctor spent almost half an hour with him last week and thoroughly checked him. Couldn't pinpoint anything at all. Says if he was referring him to the hospital he wouldn't know where to start. It's not glandular fever. And he has no pain and no raised temperature.

It's really getting me down with the worry.... Any ideas at all? Thank you

[RictusGrimace]

Occasionally it seems to manifest after v minor bugs. Was just a thought as palpitations, dizziness, anxiety, pressure in the head and fatigue are all classic symptoms. also nothing ever comes up on tests.
If it is pvf it usually passes reasonably quickly with no long-term issues

[lozwil]

At a and e they said as I had been there after my GP was aware of the issue and hadn't done anything he would be fined so they told me just to ask him and state that if I felt dizzy I had been told to go straight back to the hospital he referred me straight away x

[blatantplacemark]

Rictus - he's not had a virus though? Or at least not one we can recall. No colds or infections for example and his bloods showed no infection

[RictusGrimace]

Could it be post viral fatigue?

[blatantplacemark]

He says the pressure at the base of his head/neck / ears isn't painful - it's just a vague pressure. And his balance is affected too although that's probably due to the light headed ness - his walking is just fine, he just feels a little bit off balance. Not sick though.

His main thing is just feeling wiped out and he says it's not tiredness and he doesn't need to sleep, it's just a general lack of energy.

I've just told him about you and he greatly sympathises

[blatantplacemark]

Sorry to read that Loz - you sound very similar to my DH! He's not in pain, his appetite is normal, his blood results are all fine but he definitely has these ectopic beats and just feels rubbish. How did you get a referral?

[lozwil]

I'm sorry to hear he still isn't feeling great. I have never had anxiety at all, haven't been to Dr's in about 10 years(apart from when I was pregnant) I only went when I started with ear ache and the out of hours dr noticed my heart rate was high which I hadn't really noticed and he sent me to a and e, all the tests they did were normal then I started feeling exhausted and getting pressure at the base of my head and the GP has referred me for all these tests l. I wasn't anxious before I think I am getting there now with all these tests. I hope you get to the bottom of it soon it's horrible for the person who feels rotten but I sometimes think it's worse for the people who live with them x x x

[blatantplacemark]

Hi Loz - do you suffer from anxiety ? The classic giveaway that you might do is that you instantly refer to the possibility of a brain tumour in yourself ... This is super unlikely! How are you feeling now?

We are no further forward really. He still feels the same and a further appointment with the doctor yielded nothing. The Dr did agree to send his egc results off to the cardiologist this week so we will wait and see what he / she says. His heart is still doing the extra beat thing and he is still feeling wiped out a lot of the time. I'm totally fed up with it all tbh

He asked the doctor if it could be a B12 deficiency but the Dr said nope. He's been told by the Dr to try and get back to normal and go to work tomorrow so he's going in for a few hours to see how he goes.

Is it normal for a Dr to basically do not much with a patient who has not visited in over 15 years and not had a day sick off work ? Oh and no history of stress or depression or anxiety? The doctor says he's fine, bloods all normal and that the ectopic beats are normal too

[lozwil]

Hi I hope dh is well, I wondered if you had got anywhere with this, I have the exact same symtoms and have had for the last 3 months I am awaiting mri results as I convinced myself it was a brain tumor due to pressure at the back of my head and ear/balance problems I am also waiting for a cardiologist appointment my ecg was normal but they want to b safe if his heart starts racing I recommend going to a and e as then your gp has to refer you to get things checked out. I was wondering if it all could b anxiety xx

[blatantplacemark]

He thinks it's a middle ear thing as he's often felt pressure round his ears and the back of his head/neck which isn't a headache and the light headed ness isn't dizziness he says ... It's more a feeling of being off balance. Whatever that means!

I'll get him to call the surgery on Monday and ask for a print out of his bloods so we can see exactly what's been tested. He's off work until a week on Monday and due to see his doctor next Friday

[TheGreenNinja]

You didn't say if he'd been tested for b12? It can cause almost all the symptoms he's having (not sure about pressure in his head and throat).

[FadedRed]

Having had a quick skim through my local hospital consultant staff list, I think they maybe don't use the term anymore . Old fashioned? name for a Medical consultant to whom a GP would refer, where the GP had not been able to decide that the patients' symptoms where definitely due to a particular area of the body e.g. Cardiac problems where a referral directly to Cardiology would be more appropriate.
However, on the hospiital list, there were a number of consultants in 'Acute Medicine', so think this is probably the more modern term.
Sorry if I caused any confusion here, it's been many years since I last worked in a hospital setting.

[blatantplacemark]

So like a more specialised GP then? Hmm, after his last appointment the doctor said he wouldn't have a clue where to refer him due to the nature of his symptoms. He did say that he concluded after three ECGs and ten or so on the portable device that his heart was fine

[FadedRed]

Sorry, Op, Physician= Medical rather than surgical, general rather than a particular specialism.

[Unescorted]

Blatant I am in public sector. The sr has been stressful - no one has a safe job atm. I too exceed expectations but I can't count on having a job in 18 months.

[Preminstreltension]

My mum has atrial fibrillation and some of the symptoms sound similar. I don't know if the heart tests he's had are sufficient to rule that out. I'd be asking for a referral to a cardiologist. If they can rule out heart things then at least you have some comfort even though you don't yet have an answer.

[blatantplacemark]

Phil - and that's why I struggle to put it down to stress and anxiety. I think people are either prone to it or not ... Unless of course something obvious triggers a bout of it. But then, I've never had to consider it before in relation to my husband. He's as puzzled as I am about it. And the symptoms change and vary so much! He had a numb side of his face last week which gradually went. And then a few days when he felt very queasy and literally couldn't eat.

And then we'd be sat on the sofa and his heart rate would leap up from 60 to 140 ... Or he'd feel loads of pressure in the back of his head.

I just know him SO well though and I can't quite believe he's having panic attack or stress stuff. But with such a wide range of symptoms, what else could it be

[PhilPhilConnors]

The difficult thing is being confident in yourself to do things when it feels like you're about to have a heart attack .

[PhilPhilConnors]

I have similar symptoms and have been told it's anxiety.
It's very worrying though to have physical symptoms, particularly when they hit you out of the blue when you're not feeling particularly stressed. I can rationalise it when it happens following something I know triggers it, but it's difficult when I can't.

[BeezerBubble]

Maybe veering away from what ails your DH but we have a x trainer which I could merrily peddle away on but whenever I went out for my constitutional, cos exercise helps stress, my legs went funny.
My DW til recently oblivious to my issues, she is a worrier and didn't want to worry her with my health concerns. We've been together 27 years

[blatantplacemark]

Beezer - I am very prone to the odd spot of health anxiety so sympathies there. My husband isn't like that at all though, I've never heard him voice Ny sort of worry about anything though tbh. Maybe the odd concern about the heating bill : )

We've been for a walk anyway in the cold and rain so that's his daily constitutional out the way. He would normally have played golf today for five hours but hey, a 15 minute walk it is.

[BeezerBubble]

Beezer - thanks for your reply. Are you generally an anxious person ( my husband is so not! ) or did this just appear out of the blue for you too?

Always been a bit of a worrier re health but those worries up til recently masked by usual life worries. Past few years, absolutely nothing to worry about apart from health so a small niggle becomes worriesome and concentrated on which makes things worse.
Only thing I want to emphasise again is how unwell your own mind can make you feel.
One thing I did think I had was anemia, thanks to google. Turns out I've too much iron in my blood so iron pills I was taking were not helping.
That's not to say your DH is suffering from stress but it could be simply that rather than some exotic as yet undiagnosed intermittent condition.

[M0ggy]

It might be worth him asking for a blood test to rule it out, Its the only way of knowing if someone has it, hope he feels better soon - and gets to the bottom of it.

[blatantplacemark]

Hope you're on the mend now! He's had no sore throat at all, he says it just feels a bit constricted

[M0ggy]

My glands have never felt 'raised' or painful to touch my neck, its inside that is so bad, GP gave me a mouthrinse called Difflam, which helps,
I could be fine all day, then by evening really bad, then all fine again by the following evening.

Its frustrating, but Im glad I know whats causing it now, I was struggling to get upstairs when I first had it, & had to sit on the bed for a while to recover, bloody pain it is, as usually I am like a wild thing, always busy.