been lightheaded for over a month also been to hospital details In post

Heart health and blood vessels
1

Hi I have had missing beats in my heart for years they come and go but when they happen it feels like for a few seconds my heart is empty like a void is their.

The new symptoms I've been getting are lightheaded near on every day for over a month I have been to the hospital many times over the years even last week they kept me in for observation I had ecg xrays bloods all came back as normal. I asked the doctor why I feel lightheaded and feel like fainting he said I don't no but it's not your heart.

I am going up next month for a 24 holter monitor.

What I would like to no is what is going on with me each time I go to hospital they say no your heart is perfectly fine so why am I getting lightheaded unable to focus and when I stand for 5 or 10 minutes I get vertigo and feel like the room is wabbleing like I'm on a boat.

Any help would be appreciated as I feel doctors just don't seem to listen.

2

One of the ways I described my feelings was feeling "hollow" inside.

NHS didn't detect my Ventricular Tachycardia for two years, and that includes two 24 hour Holter monitors, their view is that is you don't get the symptoms the precise time they are looking at you, you never get the symptoms.

So I bought my own little ECG, that way I could capture the ectopics whilst I was having them, the NHS suddenly took me very seriously once they saw the results.

As for the feeling dizzy upon standing, look up POTS Dysautonomia, Ectopic beats are also a symptom of POTS. Scroll down the yellow box on the right and you will find a forum here for Dysatonomia you can join.

Be prepared to be fobbed off by the NHS if you live in UK, they like to put everything down to "anxiety" hence the average time for diagnosis of POTS is six years.

 

3

Cooling,

I suffer with Ectopic Beats, extra and missed beats. I also suffer what's commonly known as a pause after some ectopic. This feels like the heart has stopped briefly, then fires up again. 

This caused me much anxiety in the early days, I now deal with it much better having learnt much more about them.

Afte a pause I often go light headed, not quite faint but sometimes is does feel like I could drop. I steady myself, sit down if needs be and recover in a few minutes.

Ive have treadmill stress tests, stressed angiogram, and I've also been on the table for an Ablation to try and cure the ectopics. 

In the end I'm on a cocktail of drugs that seem to be masking most of my symptoms, making everyday life more manageable.

i had a heart attack back in 2011 and had been fine until June 2016, when these ectopics came out of nowhere.

Ive seen 2 different cardiologists and both have said the ectopics are harmless, I have no choice but to trust them!

 

4

Thanks for the responses everyone it's nice to see I am not alone in these things.

The lightheadedness is going on all the time I only have the missing beats occasionally but the lightheadedness is near on constant even if I don't have the missing beats.

I swear though these doctors just never want to help or listen they just want you in then get out as soon as they can.

I just wish new why instead of the doctors saying the oh it's anxiety disorder it seems to be the diagnosis they love giving.

Any more info from people would be great it is nice knowing I'm not alone.

5

i have skipped beats too

iam always lightheaded its very bad feeling

i feel fatigue very quickly

my heart beats hard with little exerction

iam 21 years healthy man

all blood works

ecg,ultrasound came fine

plaese let me know if you find any thing

6

Can I ask, how did you get the NHS to look at your ECG results as I asked my GP if I could do this idea and she said not really as I would not know what I am looking for? Also how expensive was the monitor you had to buy? Help appreciated thanks

7

Hi Jason, Looks like the NHS are already trying to fob you off as it wouldn't be you not knowing what you are looking for, it would be you showing them so they can decide.

In my case they had been investigating me for two years and never found anything at the time of the tests, which is why I bought my own ecg. a Prince 180B which I see are now £189.

I was getting two symptoms, as soon as I got one captured on my device, I printed it off and took it to my GP and said this is what happens when I get said feeling.

He therefore sent it to a cardiologist who said it was just benign ectopic beats and nothing to worry about.

I should have waited to capture both symptoms as they felt different and the second one looked quite severe on the graph, so when I went back to my GP for the results of the first one, I then showed him the second one and said, "what about this", he, (a mere GP) looked at it and said, "thats just more of the same", that would have been that and maybe I would be dead by now if I wasn't lucky enough to have a friend I see every couple of months who works as a secretary in the NHS and so has access to cardiologists. She said she wanted to get a second opinion, so I let her, next thing I have this second cardiologist ringing me at home telling me to call an ambulance.

If you click on the box below, you will see one of the graphs this ecg produces, whilst the written comments the thing comes up with are rubbish, the actual graph looks exactly like the one in the frequent ambulance rides!

If you do get one, you either already know what a normal heart rythem looks like or just look it up on online images, an ectopic beat will stand out as being different from all the others. In my case here, you will see just a few normal beats, most of them are ectopics joining together to form Ventricular Tachycardia.

 

8

They obviously monitor you ,when your heart is being GOOD. .sounds as though you are stressing out big time, so your heart is joining the party. I had some boom, bang a bang ,moments with my heart, which thousands of people experience .I .Like you ,panicked ,and asked a top cardiologist what it was, Apparently 

it  can happen ,and the feeling can be a tad alarming,, but ,,he said ,it normally will settle down ,and it may happen,again, but not to worry about it ,,Breathe normally ,and relax,   

9

Thank you for the information wish i could afford one of these mini ecg machines but they are on average 140 pounds bit out of my price range.

The information is helpful thank you.

It seems my skip bears are occurring when I lay down to sleep now.

I hope the holter test I am to have on 14th of March sheds light on it

10

That's the thing having to trust a doctor and then worrying did they mess up or ignore some things you say.

As for my lightheadedness it happens near on all the time it feels lightheaded/fog mind if that makes sense then the skip bears happen then pain lingers in the area for sometimes days. Just wish docs would give a proper diagnosis to it

11

Some people have legitimate problems going on and doctors do make mistakes and people sometimes are not properly diagnosed so just telling people on here who are worried to relax and it will go away is not helpful. You seem to go to every post with the same kind of sometimes mean replies.

12

It's as you say jordan64432 I no their is something wrong it is not me stressing out. It's when a doc says this I am like seriously it's my body you think I would know.

I am grateful that you added your input but what is wrong with me is real it is not anxiety i seriously wish it was.

The downside to having something wrong for a long period of time and not have a diagnosis is you get health anxiety which can exacerbate the symptoms making them feel worse but it won't create new ones at a whim that linger for weeks.

I wish some doctors would frequent this board as much as us with issues it would be nice to have their input.

13

I saw my MP about this issue, I told her peoples lives are being ruined because of these GP with little god complexes who think they know more about you in five minutes, than you know about yourself. The average time for diagnoses of Dysautonomia, is six years, some POTS sufferers have to endure 15 years of doctors telling them its anxiety before being properly diagnosed.

Whats interesting, is that there is a GP or two on the Dysautonomia forums, who have the condition themselves and are told by their own doctors they have anxiety!

Turns out GPs have no training at all in this condition so why they have to blame anxiety for a condition they are not qualified to comment on is disgraceful.

14

Oh yes I whole heartedly agree no pun intended. It should be mandatory that a gp update every few years on these kinds of things the heart is THE major organ next to the brain of the body all gp should know about these conditions that can effect it.

Also have them randomly spot checked keep them on their toes if the fail they must take a refresher course.

But 15 years for pots is a huge joke granted pots is not life threatening BUT the effects it causes can cause your life to be in jeopardy ie falling down stairs or fainting on a busy road or even cooking. 6 years for Dysautonomia diagnosis is equally bad. I no personally it's been 3 years and 4 months for me so far and they still won't diagnose me correctly I know what's wrong or have a general idea these docs simply don't or that they are afraid to say I don't no let me do some research it's as simple as that. I won't hold it against a doctor if they said let me do some research I'd think we'll more power to them they actually care.

It does drive you crazy waiting for these things if I had the money to go private I would but sadly I'm unemployed currently which limits my options extremely

15

Well an update to my conditions.

The docs did a series of tests on my heart echo cardio, stress test, holter test and series of blood tests all came back as fine I even had lower then average skipped beats which is good doc said. Over 24 hour period only .5% of beats where skipped average is 5%.

The doc said that it could be muscle skeletal related due to the fact I had bells palsy about 6 months before this all started over 3 years ago and my neck became extremely stiff for about 2 weeks I couldn't turn left or right 4 months before it all started.

I looked online and keep hearing about the vagus nerve so I am unsure if that is causing it and the doctors in the hospital seem to not want to even acknowledge that something is wrong.

I really don't know what to do in this situation I feel like I am banging my head off a wall.

16

Believe me I know exactly how you feel. January of 2010 marked 8 years for me trying to get a diagnosis. It started out as a pressure and a feeling as though blood was pushing really hard through my left side neck. Along with that, I immediately got light-headed, chest pains, shortness of breath and felt like I was having a heart attack. I've not been the same since and still no diagnosis except I've developed mild cardiomyopathy. My heart beats really hard which it never did before and also I have horrible pain right where my main artery runs through my stomach . I know it's frustrating for you, hopefully you'll find the right doctor who really wants to help you find out what is wrong. Good luck.

17

Hi jordan64432, I have the exact symptoms as you. Even the "feeling as though blood was pushing really hard through my left side neck". 

Did you get any diagnosis?

18

Forgot to say that in those episodes, my muscles (mainly on the left side of neck) get very hard. Completely stiff, like a rock. Then I get light-headedness, elevated heartbeat, brain fog, weakness, tiredness, dry mouth, dry hands, etc, I'm feeling hopeless since I've done so many exams and they all came back fine.

19

Hello, I am sorry that I just got your messages. No, I have not got a diagnosis yet. How are you doing? Have you found anything out?

20

Many of my tests have also come back normal then why do I have cardiomyopathy and a low EFR? Doesn't make sense, I was fine before the incident that changed everything. Do you have any protruding veins in your left side neck? My external jugular and anterior jugular protrude in and out with inhaling and exhaling and where they come together just above my clavical....they bulge above that and then disappear behind the clavical bone. It's not flowing back to the heart like it is supposed to. To me something is occluded.