I'm sorry Connie. I know it's really hard not knowing what you are dealing with. I'll keep you in my prayers.

Linda

I hope he is alright and you get some good news.
clare

best of luck!

I know when I mentioned my racing heart to my doc, he asked quite pointedly if it was accompanied by lightheadedness.

There's a strong possibility, w/ me, that a racing heart is from a too-high dose of synthroid, but the doctor said, "if you get lightheadedness, I want you in here pronto." (I don't know what he thought it might be, but he was very firm)

So keep on them; don't just wait to see what happens. I'm glad to hear you're talking w/ a heart doc.

Come to think of it, those are the same words my cousin used to describe her panic attacks years ago. Hope whatever it is will be diagnosed soon.

Ask the doc if it's tachycardia. That's what I had and had surgery for it. Someone else here just had that surgery.

I assume the doctor has asked if he's taking any medication that he might be reacting to. I can't take Naprosyn (Naproxen), for example, because that's the reaction I get from it.

They rechecked his thyroid, even tho he was just in for his yearly testing in Jan. He is smack dab in the middle with both the TSH and T-4.
The only other medication he has taken is one he's been on at least 4 years. Lorazapam (very small dose)...since this all started happening he is sure he is going to die of a heart attack, have a stroke, or has a brain tumor and so the doc gave him some Alprazolan for anxiety.

I sure hope you can get some answers tomorrow. I can just imagine how scared you both are. (((Connie & DH))))

~Betsy

It sounds like it might be paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. Does he ever check his pulse when he feels like that?
I hope it is something easily fixed. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.
Keep us updated, please.

bestlawn and i had the same feeling...

A couple of years ago (when I was 35 weeks pregnant for Benjamin), I had something similar happen. I remember I was sitting in the bathtub having a cool bath - Claude was sitting on a stepstool beside the tub and we were just chatting. All of a sudden, my heart started to race and I felt lightheaded. We rushed to emerg. at the hospital and when they registered me and checked my vitals, my heart rate was over 250 beats per minute!! I didn't realize a heart could go that fast! It didn't go down on its own - I had to have oxygen and a shot of some sort at the hospital to make it calm down. The doctors called it SVT - Supraventricular Tachycardia. It happens periodically now, but only for a few seconds at a time. I haven't had anything that severe since (Thank God!). My doctor at the time told me that if it started happening frequently, I could have a relatively simple procedure called an ablation done on my heart that should take care of it. A very few percentage of people with SVT end up having to have pacemakers.

It's VERY scary when it happens, but from the reasearch I've done, I've found that it's not usually really serious or life-threatening.

Just something else that it could possibly be. Hope you find answers soon!

Thanks everyone! More to check out.
Whatever it turns out to be we will deal with. I just hope its something somewhat simple.
Carol~ Yes, he did check his pulse once he got home from working that day ...it was a half hour later of course but it was oh gosh I gotta ask him, I think 135 BPM? Which is usually his exercise pulse somewhere in there. It was elevated for awhile, I think til after we ate supper?
Nicole OMG 250BPM! Holy hannah girl! I think I remember you posting about that. I will look that up too.
My ex DSIL,Hunters Dad, had some episodes of racing heart and as far as I know still does, his was called atrial fibulation??

He needs to have on an event recorder or a Holter moniter to determine if he does, in fact, have a heart arrhythmia.
A pulse of 135 unless someone is exercising aerobically is too high. It would be interesting to know what his pulse was at the time of his "episode."
Maybe the echocardiogram will answer some questions.

I forgot to ask about his caffeine intake? That may be a problem, too.

He has reduced that the past couple weeks too. He has decaf in the AM and sometime one cup about 2:30 pm. His pop that he is still drinking is no caffine. He only has 1 can per day.

Thoughts for you two, connie!

(((((((((((((((((((Connie and DH)))))))))))))))))

My Dad said quite a number of years ago, when he was in at least 60s, that he'd had some episodes of heart racing for a short period - don't recall if he said for how long - think not more than an hour or a few, if that.

He said that the doctor didn't seem concerned about it.

I think that in your shoes I'd pursue the matter, to find out what's going on.

It may be harmless - but if it isn't ... now's the time to take what action may be indicated.

At the same time ... heart doctors (and GPs) deal with such situations every day ... and they know a lot more about these things than we do.

Good thoughts and a prayer going out to you as you deal with this situation.

ole joyful

I'm praying for your DH. Hope you get some answers and GOOD news tomorrow.

Connie, the echocardiogram will tell the doctors a lot. My mom just had one last week, for her atrial fibrillation, the doctor wanted to see if her valves were working right since she had rhuematic fever as a child.

She gets the lightheaded, racing thing too, and it probably going to get a pacemaker soon.

I get the racing heart thing occasionally, but I don't get lightheaded from it, so my docs are not concerned about me. And by cutting out caffeine, my incidents are down to very rarely happening at all. I did have one episode though in the middle of the night when I couldn't get it back to normal by doing any of the usual tricks, I ended up having to take an icy shower (that was NOT fun at 3 AM!) to slow it down. Brrrrr.

I hope they diagnos your DH soon and get him fixed up. I know he's worried, but if it was something super serious, they'd have him in the hospital, I would think.