High Blood Pressure and palpitations

Thanks Lyn for commenting back and especially so fast! Well my grandma had bad heart problems and high blood pressure when she was young, had a bipass and a few heart attacks too so I guess it's genetic that's why I'm a little scared and because my heart rate sits around 100 even when I'm not doing anything and when I exercise gets up to 250. Sometimes even going to the toilet my heart can race really fast. I dunno Probably just over reacting but just a little bit anxious and want to know my results so I can not stress about it anymore and if it comes back all good obviously need to look at diet etc. I am Ceoliac so already can't eat a lot of foods

Lyn hope you are ok I know this is not an anxiety forum but you explain it very well must face up to fear

Thankyou Helen - I have some really big problems, health wise, have come face to face with my own death, obstructed liver, with no pain, just sick, and GP missed, later came close to a complete breakdown, due to being diagnosed with cancer, all just too much on top of everthing else, and then in the last 4 years my husband was diagnosed with Heart failure. I sometimes wonder how I cope but I have got to the point of living for today and not looking too far foward into the future, that has been one of the hardest lessons to learn. I cope by making a study of mine and husbands issues, with knowledge I seem to cope better, and the ability to pick up what Dr's/Nurses are saying, and also the ability to question them on their own level, (some get really hostile), so I get very polite and come armed with photcopies from medical text books, and papers, that stops them in their tracks, when you are quoting university text books at them, and backing it up with a briefcase full of information. In one case I was able to argue with a specilaist cardiologist that the tablets he had my husband on were wrong, they worked, but causing him alot of side effects, and I had the names of the tablets that he would do better on. He changed the prescription, I was proven right, he is doing much better on new tablets.

Thank you Lyn you are doing fantastic taking care of both your husband and your own health did you have chemo at all ?my sister is having it at the moment it is an awful experience she has bowel cancer and now has a biliary bag from her liver and also a colostomy bag so chemo on hold for now fingers crossed for her

Dear Helen - Oh reading your post, so sorry for you as well, best wishes to your sister, must be soooo diffucult seeing her so unwell. I was lucky with my cancer, had not got outside my uterus, they checked my lymph glands so apparently Chemo not required. Traumatic change of life nearly did for me though, nurses could not keep me dry I was sweating and in hot flushes so bad they were forced to call in specialists to look at me, massive doses of hormone replacement drugs, 3 years to step down from that. Whats not so funny is now my arthrtitis has beaten all of the medications the Dr's can give me, I am back to what they call old gold standard, Metrothrextrate, which is one of the Chemo drugs. I inject myself weekly which seems to keep the immflamation under some control, being needle phobic I found this very diffucult at first, thankgoodness for a really gentle and patient GP who took me through the process 5 -6 times, until I was confident. He now said I'm up there with the really good nurses, no bruising after injections.

In her 50's but suffered SVT Her whole life and also high blood pressure. I was diagnosed and came back severely Ceoliac antibodies in the 100's. Anything over 10 is Ceoliac. But mind you I got tested a few years ago and it came back negative but I didn't believe it cause I had stabbing stomach pains everyday and always tired and headaches. I had another test this year in January and found out I am Ceoliac, one of five children and they are all Ceoliac too. I think sometimes the test can come back negative if u havnt been eating much wheat. Have to eat atleast 2 slices of bread a day for 4 weeks plus other wheat throughout the day then get the test done again

Apparently Coeliacs can suffer from paplitations, apparently all part of the deal you have been dealt. You have to track down a Dr who really takes an interest in your coeliac condition, having good Dr is half the battle. I have Psoratic Arthiritis, or so the specialist tells me, although I come back negative for that as well, also negative for Rhemotoid Arthritis, but no question I have some kind of Auto Imminune process going on. I have worked out most of my own salvation, stay away from wheat products, tomatos, take lots of fish oil, bonus is now I don't have dry skin, as do most psorasis patients, Dr works with me with Fish oil prescribed by rhemotologist, as it drops your blood pressure as a side effect, so he watches me pretty closely, and he adjusts my blood pressure tabls depending where I am. Also take some pretty nasty anti immflamtories as prescribed by specialist. I am on the verge of trying cannabis oil, hopefully will be availbale legally here in Australia soon. Apparently Tumeric is also worth a try, I was told to start with fresh dried from the supermarket, and build up from a tiny amount, and see if i react to it, or get some relief.

Hope you don't mind me butting in here Lyn, but a lot of your latest post rings lots of bells with me, and I just wondered as you mention being unsure as to what auto immune illness you have going on whether Polymyalgia Rheumatica has been ruled out and/or steroid treatment prescribed? 

Mrs o-ok,  Dr specialist tells me I have psoratic arthritis, but I come back negative on the Genetic tests. Have been in her care now for ten years and even she is baffled that I don't respond to the drugs she has prescribed for me, we have been through the whole chemist shop. One of the newer drugs is Arava, or lefluomide, that has some effect for me, at 10mg, but when she put me up to the higher dose, 20mg, my blood pressure went through the ceiling, thats a whole story on its own. I became an interesting patient for the drug co. as the reaction is so rare apparently. So I curently take 10mg lefluomide daily, and 35mg of methrotrextrate by injection once a week. She has ruled out Biologicals as the newer drugs, as x cancer patients not reccommeded, and i also come back as TB positive antibodies, injections in NZ when a teenager as preventive, whole population as TB at that time so high, now blocking me from medicine i could be given for arthritis.

When racked with pain, at my first appointment with a rheumatologist he asked me if I'd ever had psoriasis.  I hadn't - at the time I didn't know the relevance of the question but I since know that in his search for a diagnosis he was ruling out psoriatic arthritis.  It wasn't until very many months later when even worse symptoms joined in the 'fun' that I was eventually diagnosed with both PMR (Polymyalgia Rheumatica) and GCA (Giant Cell Arteritis), and prescribed the only tried and tested treatment known to be the most successful - the steroid Prednisolone (Prednisone in the US).  There are no tests that confirm PMR - it is commonly a diagnosis of exclusion - although many people have raised markers of inflammation showing in the blood tests ESR and CRP.  However, 1 in 5 patients with PMR never have raised markers!  In this case, if a Dr suspects PMR, s/he will often put the patient on a trial dose of steroids - if the pain resolves in a week or so, the Dr usually then takes that as confirmation of diagnosis.

​I assume that with you having been diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis, you may have previously had psoriasis?

​I have a friend who was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis a few years ago and she was prescribed the steroid Prednisolone together with Methotrexate - I assume, like her, you are also prescribed folic acid to offset problems that can occur with Methotrexate?

​I just wondered in your case whether in the absence of a definitive diagnosis and poor response to treatment, whether PMR and steroid treatment had been considered.  Much depends on what your symptoms were at diagnosis. 

Mrs o-uk,  my orginal symptoms were extremely swollen joints, to the point where when I fell on the floor at home couldn't get up again, thats when I presented at emergency Dept. Have had psorasis in scalp my entire life. hands looked like boxing gloves, had no movement in wrists, and couldn't lift my arms. ESR has been a high as 77, and CRP in the 30. Prednisolone, seems familiar, if I remember tipped me into a super high, super low, form of depression, I was all over the place, back to hospital within days of starting it, they took me off it straight away. Other drugs make me itch like crazy, others have had no effect at all. Specialist tells me and she has worked in England as well, I am the most intractable patient she has in her practice, nothing appears to work very well, so we play a game of musical drugs to keep me going. Folic acid day fater metrotrestrate, used to the routine now, on Friday night inject myself, for a needle phobic person I have become very good, no bruising, or so my GP tells me. He now gets me to give my husband injections when he needs them, he's heart failure, so needs occasionally various medications which I keep at home for emergencies, I have become an expert on Heart Failure. Specialist in cardio, said I have a job any time I wanted one, on his wards, he said I have something special, couldnt believe I had no medical training, he argued with me about my nursing training.

When specialist sees me now, he for early part of appt asks me where I think my husbands ejection Fraction is at, initially was 23%, went up to 46%, 2nd last appt 43% last appt 38%, he has good and bad days, at the moment I think he has slipped again somewhere about 33 - 35%, hope it is not lower, encourging him to keep fit. He is an unusual heart failure, as he does not have clogged arteries, specilaists came running from all over the heart hospital when they did his angiogram, couldnt believe their eyes, they redid the angio for the visitors. just amazing to look at even for me. He is now four years on from something that was supossed to kill him.

Ah, Lyn, yes your lifetime of psoriasis on your scalp would have naturally led to a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis.  However, not being able to lift your arms is also a classic symptom of PMR.  It is true that Prednisolone can cause depression in some patients, particularly at the higher doses.  Importantly, they have now found treatment that you can tolerate and which is keeping your inflammation at bay.  Good luck and long may that continue.