Geff
11-02-17, 04:20
Hi everyone.
I'm from a small town in the middle of the United States. I thought I would go ahead and post on here, both to say "Thank You" and to be part of this community.
I'm grateful that I found this place.
About 7 months ago, my Dad passed away after a three year battle with cancer. I didn't realize just how much that affected me until a few months ago.
Three months ago, I was sick with influenza and started having a lot of really strong heart palpitations. The first night they were so strong that I was convinced I may not live through the night. I had a fever (that would last for 7 days... I was on day 6), I had chills and couldn't get warm, and I was exhausted but couldn't sleep.
I argued with myself all night on whether I should go to the Emergency Room or not. I didn't want to freak out my wife and young kids, so I stayed in bed and and tried to deal with the palpitations the best I could. They lasted all night long. I was terrified.
The next day, I was able to get in to the clinic here and the doctor said my heart sounded fine but would send me over for an EKG, a blood test to check my thyroid, and an X-ray to check for pneumonia since I still had a fever and she thought I may have it. She also gave me xanax... she thought I may be having anxiety.
Anxiety? I don't have anxiety. I've never had anxiety in the past.
I did have pneumonia but everything else was normal. I continued having a lot of palpitations.
A day later, the fever was gone but not the palpitations. The doctor had given me antibiotics on day 5 of the fever.
The next day, I went to work and near the end of the workday, I started having strong palpitations and then my fingers and toes were going numb. My arms started tingling and going numb. I had no idea what to do and was terrified that I was having a heart attack. I had someone take me to the Emergency Room.
I had never been an anxious person before, but sure enough, I was having a panic attack. My face was tingling and I was shaking... I had never experienced anything like this before. They did another EKG and blood tests. Everything looked good but my potassium was a tiny bit low. After I calmed down, they gave me a potassium pill and sent me on my way.
A couple days later, I was still having palpitations. A lot. I had an appointment with the doctor already set from the week before to check on the pneumonia. It was getting better and she wanted to put me on propranolol for the panic attack/anxiety. She also wanted me to wear a holter monitor to check my heart.
I didn't take the propranolol the first week after she gave it to me. A couple days after the appointment, I got the holter monitor. The entire time I wore that thing, I did felt pretty normal and didn't notice any palpitations. A couple days later, they started again and I started taking the propranolol.
I did NOT like taking the propranolol. It made me really tired. It made me so tired, I was worried about it. I was out of breath just walking up the stairs to my bedroom. That continued for the first week. I felt so tired that I was a little dizzy and light headed. After about 9 or 10 days, that got a little better each day.
I'm still taking the propranolol and I haven't been able to take the long walks for exercise that I used to. I get pretty tired after less than half the walking time I was doing before all this happened.
I might go a week and not really notice many palpitations or even think about it much at all and then they come back. This week the palpitions have been a little more often and stronger than the week before... but we have had a few stressful things happen this week. I'm guessing that stress is at least one of the triggers for me.
Now, here I am writing this as I'm having some palpitations.
I know this is really long and I don't expect people to read all this... but it does make me feel a little better to know there are a lot of us out there who have this same problem and I am not alone.
I'm glad I found this forum!
I'm from a small town in the middle of the United States. I thought I would go ahead and post on here, both to say "Thank You" and to be part of this community.
I'm grateful that I found this place.
About 7 months ago, my Dad passed away after a three year battle with cancer. I didn't realize just how much that affected me until a few months ago.
Three months ago, I was sick with influenza and started having a lot of really strong heart palpitations. The first night they were so strong that I was convinced I may not live through the night. I had a fever (that would last for 7 days... I was on day 6), I had chills and couldn't get warm, and I was exhausted but couldn't sleep.
I argued with myself all night on whether I should go to the Emergency Room or not. I didn't want to freak out my wife and young kids, so I stayed in bed and and tried to deal with the palpitations the best I could. They lasted all night long. I was terrified.
The next day, I was able to get in to the clinic here and the doctor said my heart sounded fine but would send me over for an EKG, a blood test to check my thyroid, and an X-ray to check for pneumonia since I still had a fever and she thought I may have it. She also gave me xanax... she thought I may be having anxiety.
Anxiety? I don't have anxiety. I've never had anxiety in the past.
I did have pneumonia but everything else was normal. I continued having a lot of palpitations.
A day later, the fever was gone but not the palpitations. The doctor had given me antibiotics on day 5 of the fever.
The next day, I went to work and near the end of the workday, I started having strong palpitations and then my fingers and toes were going numb. My arms started tingling and going numb. I had no idea what to do and was terrified that I was having a heart attack. I had someone take me to the Emergency Room.
I had never been an anxious person before, but sure enough, I was having a panic attack. My face was tingling and I was shaking... I had never experienced anything like this before. They did another EKG and blood tests. Everything looked good but my potassium was a tiny bit low. After I calmed down, they gave me a potassium pill and sent me on my way.
A couple days later, I was still having palpitations. A lot. I had an appointment with the doctor already set from the week before to check on the pneumonia. It was getting better and she wanted to put me on propranolol for the panic attack/anxiety. She also wanted me to wear a holter monitor to check my heart.
I didn't take the propranolol the first week after she gave it to me. A couple days after the appointment, I got the holter monitor. The entire time I wore that thing, I did felt pretty normal and didn't notice any palpitations. A couple days later, they started again and I started taking the propranolol.
I did NOT like taking the propranolol. It made me really tired. It made me so tired, I was worried about it. I was out of breath just walking up the stairs to my bedroom. That continued for the first week. I felt so tired that I was a little dizzy and light headed. After about 9 or 10 days, that got a little better each day.
I'm still taking the propranolol and I haven't been able to take the long walks for exercise that I used to. I get pretty tired after less than half the walking time I was doing before all this happened.
I might go a week and not really notice many palpitations or even think about it much at all and then they come back. This week the palpitions have been a little more often and stronger than the week before... but we have had a few stressful things happen this week. I'm guessing that stress is at least one of the triggers for me.
Now, here I am writing this as I'm having some palpitations.
I know this is really long and I don't expect people to read all this... but it does make me feel a little better to know there are a lot of us out there who have this same problem and I am not alone.
I'm glad I found this forum!