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Worried

Posted , 7 users are following.

kirsty45293
kirsty45293

Hi

So for the last few weeks I have been having palpitations that are scary and don't seem to have a trigger. When they come I feel like I can't breathe, like I am going dizzy and am going to pass out or worse.

The doctor thinks these are ectopic beats and an egg was normal. I had blood tests and my iron was so so slightly low so a repeat was done to test ferritin.

Well found out yesterday the doctor wants to see me within 2 weeks to discuss the ferritin result, I am so scared as to why! I am worried I may have high ferritin which can be indicative of cancer- coupled with how rubbish I have felt lately, not just the palpitations but bone and muscle aches and pains too, occasional headaches and just feeling not myself.

I am 29 and female.

Thank you for any replies.

2 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • GotAbitBetter
    GotAbitBetter kirsty45293

    Posted

    Hi Kirsty

    Am sorry to hear that you've been having palpitations. Certainly mirrors the symptoms I have with my Atrial Fibrillation and am not surprised that the ECG didn't show anything. Did anyone actually physically take your pulse, when they should be able to feel the fibrillation?

    Have they said whether the ferritin was low or high, or are you waiting to find out? As it's worrying you if I were in your shoes, on Monday ring your Doctor's Surgery, ask what the results were, tell them it is causing you stress and anxiety and ask to be seen as soon as possible, then take it from there. 

    If in the meantime you feel seriously dizzy and breathless again either go to A&E (and mention Atrial Fibrillation and your recent blood tests) or speak to 111 for advice.

    Take care....

  • derek76
    derek76 kirsty45293

    Posted

    Low iron would go with a low rather than high ferritin result. If you doctor suspected anything serious he would not be waiting for two weeks.

    When my ferriten was low I had a ferritin infusion to bring it up but that was because I was due to have heart surgery and it needed to be corrected quickly.

    It sounds as though the ectopic beats are really stressing you and causing the breathlessness. Time to stop Googling your symptoms, Many people find that their ectopics go away during exercise.

    You did not say what your heart rate is to indicate AF

  • frank61666
    frank61666 kirsty45293

    Posted

    You're a 29 year old female wiith low iron.....The first thing I would suggest, if you were here in America, would be for you to stop drinkning so many carbonated soft drinks.  Those soft drinks, with a little caffeine, could easily cause the low iron, to go along with a crappy diet typical of a 29-year old independent millenial, male or female.

    Frank

  • madge07350
    madge07350 kirsty45293

    Posted

    Get your vitamin d level checked out as well. Take no notice of the UK norms - they are lower than most other countries which considering the pathetic amount of sunshine available over large swathes of thd country is a disgrace. Anything under 75 nmol ( the lower level for adequate here in France) is insufficient. Low vit d can cause all sorts of aches and pains.
    • derek76
      derek76 madge07350

      Posted

      Perhaps she has too much vitamin D.

      Too much of any good thing is a bad thing. Too much vitamin D can cause an abnormally high blood calcium level, which could result in nausea, constipation, confusion, abnormal heart rhythm, and even kidney stones.

      It's nearly impossible to get too much vitamin D from sunlight or from foods (unless you take way too much cod liver oil). Nearly all vitamin D overdoses come from supplements.

    • madge07350
      madge07350 derek76

      Posted

      Without massive supplementation that is unlikely. Vitd deficiency is very common these days due to stupid advice about avoiding the sun and how much sun is needed to provide adequate amounts. I was diagnosed with this several years ago despite living in a sunny place and spending a lot of time outside due to being a keen gardener. But I was not exposing much of my skin when gardening and much preferred lying in the shade when relaxing outside. I was amazed at how low my levels were when the blood test results came back. But the terrible tendonitis in my thigh that was making walking difficult and had driven me ( along with feeling generally ill) to the doctor in the first place vanished within a week of taking the ampoule he prescribed (600,000iu). These very high loading doses do not seem to be given in the UK. It can take months to get levels back up even taking 3,000iu a day.
    • frank61666
      frank61666 madge07350

      Posted

      For proper absorption, vitamin d supplements need to be taken with fatty foods, otherwise it is not taken up at all.

      Stick with the sun, and maybe 15 good minutes a few times each day.

      Sometimes knowledge is bliss - and sometimes it can lead to....use your imagination.

      Frank

  • Schmokky
    Schmokky kirsty45293

    Posted

    Hi

    Sorry to hear about your problem - I know exactly how you feel

    I first got exactly the symptoms you describe when I was about 35. I noticed them when I was relaxing in a hot tub after a hard swimming session. I put it down to training hard and then not warming down properly. However, because I was alert to the problem, I started to feel my pulse regulalrly and pretty soon found I was getting the attacks after even very mild exertion. I looked it up on the internet (as one does) and tried cutting out coffee and alcohol, doing relaxation exercises and what not but all to no avail.  I even went to A&E because it had become so bad that I was missing one beat in every two and it was making me dizzy and very, vey scared. I went to a cardiologist who gave me a 24hr recorder (which recorded, usurprisingly, these 'ectopics') but he didn't seem sympathetic and just told me that I should avoid 'exessive exertion'. I was petrified and was I as convinced I wouldn't live to see 40. I also lost sleep because, every time I lay on my left side I could hear my heart and, as soon as I listened, it would start to miss beats. I felt myself going downhill with the episodes becoming more and more extreme with the gaps between them getting shorter and shorter. This went on for the best part of 10 years with me going backwards and forwards to the cardiologist and slowly losing hope.

    However, the [u]last[/u] time I saw the cariologist he looked at me and said "I don't now why you keep coming back - OK, so you have ectopics but I've never seen anyone die from the condition". I said "what about the extreme exertion?". He said "I just meant don't go round running marathons if you have a fever - just use some sense. When you exert yourself your heart rate goes up just as it's supposed to and, when you don't get enough circulation because of the ectopics your heart rate goes up as well so there's nothing to worry about". 

    So, from that day on I decided to ignore it and just do what I felt like. In particular I learned to sleep on my right so that it was harder to listen to my heart. After only a few weeks the episodes got fewer and fewer and less and less intense until, after a few months the disappeared altogether. Well, nearly. I still get them occasionaly but now, instead of getting frightened, I just get annoyed and try to do anything which will take my mind elsewhere. Most importantly, I [u]never[/u] feel my pulse. I'm now 57, unworried and very active; I enjoy swimming, cycling, weight training and hiking. I've climbed Kilimanjaro and the Atlas mountains, cycled up Tour de France cols and all sorts.

    Now I'm  not suggesting that you are afflicted with the same condition just because the symptoms are the same but, if you don't have a problem with your basic sinus rythm and you don't get runaway tachycardia then you might just have the same, annoying little electrical short circuits as I have - and where the worrying is the biggest contributing factor.

    Good luck !

    • derek76
      derek76 Schmokky

      Posted

      Well done letting your mind take charge and not your fears.and probably good advice for Kirsty.

      I waken up with very high BP, I don't know what happens in the night but when my mind takes control it it is pretty normal a few hours later.

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