Seeing a cardiologist today

[Miakoda]

Im a wee bit nervous (aka anxiety-ridden), as I'm seeing a cardiologist at 1:30 today.

Back in late September, I had a weird thing happen. It was approx. 11:00 pm, and I was sitting on the couch reading, when all of a sudden I felt this onset of intense pressure and a feeling of numbness in the left side of my face and neck and shoulder. The best I can describe it is like when you have a severe upper respiratory issue, and you only feel and hear yourself, and everything else sounds so distant. However, I didn't have any pain in my head or neck, but just the feeling of pressure and numbness (actually felt like left side of face was paralyzed, but it wasn't). At the same time, I had chest pressure and got extremely short of breath. I began hyperventilating. I was scared out of my mind. By thankfully, the episode passed within minutes, and although I was shaken up, I was otherwise ok. Because hubby had to leave for work at 3, I decided not to wake him up.

Fast forward almost 2 weeks, and I had a similar episode at around 10 pm. This time, I would've sworn I was having a stroke, as my entire left side went numb and I just felt this weird pressure. But this time my heart was racing (about 140 bpm), and I was so short of breath I could barely breathe. I felt so dizzy, lightheaded, and nauseous as well. I actually threw up in the kitchen. I was beyond panicked, as was my husband. This episode lasted about 20 minutes, but I was too stubborn (& too afraid) to let him take me to the ER. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack or stroke, but I was also afraid that was just my panic and anxiety talking. So I just took an aspirin and a Zofran and went to bed.

However, the next morning I woke up, and I still had the feeling of numbness and pressure in the left side of my head, neck, and arm, so I drove myself to the ER. The doc there just smiled and diagnosed it as an atypical migraine, which I had never heard of. I get migraines, but they are not even close to what I experienced at this time. The doc said, that basically, an atypical migraine can cause neurologic issues, which accounts for the numbness, pressure, dizziness, and nausea. He then blamed my anxiety for the rapid heartrate, chest pain, and shortness of breath.

I left upset, as I just didn't feel that those diagnoses were right, but who was I to disagree?...

Well, since then, I've had sudden onset of rapid resting heartrate (the other night it fluctuated between 127 and 135 bpm) and heart palpitations. I've had this recurring feeling of pressure in the left side of my neck, and you can actually see my pulse at the left carotid (it's freaky).

Because of all that, I made an appointment with a cardiologist. I go today at 1:30. And I admit: I'm kind of nervous. -_-

[PlottMom]

Good luck - I hope they can give you some answers. ERs can be so incredibly frustrating :/

[Renee750il]

(((((HUGS))))) and hoping for a simple, easily fixable explanation.

[smkie]

Will be thinking of you. ~~~~~vibes~~~~~~~~ for a simple non evasive answer that puts your mind at ease.

Glad your getting it checked out.

[Doberluv]

How very frightening. I hope the cardiologist finds that it is indeed anxiety related and not something more serious. I bet there will be some kind of medication to help. I'm glad you're going in now. These are not the kind of symptoms to mess around waiting with. Lots of vibes headed your way that everything will be okay. (((hugs)))

[Dogdragoness]

I hate doctors because they are oftentimes arrogant & don't listen ... Hey just because I don't have a medical degree doesn't mean I don't know my own darn body you know? Which is why I don't go to the doctor unless I am feeling like you do & afraid there is something terribly wrong with me.

I didn't even go to the hospital when I go kicked in the shoulder

[joce]

Hopefully just anxiety(even though that's awful all on its own!). Maybe they will stick you to a monitor for a while.

Any new meds recently? A friend just started a new weight loss drug and she described rapid heart beat and fluttering.

[Miakoda]

No new meds. I actually stopped taking my Wellbutrin and Buspar back in August because my bloop pressure was high. Seeing as how I had low/normal BP before taking it, and since one of the listed know side effects was high BP, I attributed it to the meds and stopped taking them.


I'm in a room waiting to see the doc. This is the worst part of a doctor visit IMO.

[Moth]

Good luck...

I hope you get some answers. That way you can get better instead of having to worry and be scared...

[Picklepaige]

I hope it's nothing bad. A few years ago I had a similar thing happen to me, but it just turned out to be anxiety attacks.

It's scary, whatever it is!