I've been having issues with skipped heartbeats, irregular beats, for about 3 or 4 months now. This has been multiple occurrences daily. It started in May, after I thought I might have had a heart attack. I was in the middle of nowhere, driving, going to clients homes and I got a pressure in my chest, like a band going across my chest. I thought it might be my bra, and was trying to readjust it, but no matter what I did the pressure stayed. Then I got a very bad pain in my back, between my shoulder blades. Since I'd been driving a lot that day (typical for me), I thought I might have just been putting a strain on my back, and tried to sit straighter, hoping that it would help. Then I got a pain in my jaw, and right shoulder, and down into my arm. I called the office, and asked them to look up heart attack symptoms in women, and explained what was going on. Since I was in the middle of nowhere, no traffic, no houses, and had no way to describe where I was, as I was on some backroads, I decided to keep driving. It stopped after about a half an hour. But ever since then, I get these daily skipped heart beats.
I've had chest pain a few times, which resulted in visits to the ER or to Urgent Care. But by the time I get there, they've stopped. But I've had 3 instances in which I lost vision in my left eye. It just came on suddenly, like this greyish, almost no color film came over my vision. The first time it happened, I thought I might be having an occular migraine, as I've gotten one in the past, but this didn't have the zigzagging lightening in it and it didn't move when I would look around, like it did then. It was just sort of there and stayed there. Then after about a minute or so, it was gone. The next two times were like that, too.
About 3 days ago, I was lying on the couch watching a movie and it happened again. This time I had a blood pressure cuff which also measures my pulse, so I decided to keep track through it. The highest my BP got was 134/72 and the lowest was 97/58. My pulse ranged from 102 to 124 and was irregular a got bit of the time. This time it lasted for almost 20 minutes. I felt a pressure in my head and a tightness in my chest while it was going on. I also felt dizzy, kind of like I was going to pass out, but I didn't.
I have a cardiology appointment on Monday, but my boss asked me to follow up with my doctor to make sure I was okay to wait until Monday. It was his half day so they had me go to urgent care in case it was retinal problem. The doc in Urgent Care said he thinks it is TIAs, that I'm having classic signs, plus with everything else going on, and that I am high risk for getting them, since I have a history of DVTs and pulmonary embolisms.
I had been off my blood thinners for two years, due to no insurance. I earn too much for assistance, but not enough to pay out of pocket with a pre-existing condition.
I asked the urgent care doc if it could just affect my vision, and he said it could, if a small piece of clot broke off and went to the occular veins, that it would block my eyesight until the clot finally moved and then my vision would come back.
So, what can I expect at the cardiologist on Monday? I know the ER doc that referred me wants me wearing a holter monitor and mentioned that I would need a stress test. But he didn't know about the visual issues, because I didn't equate them with my heart issues. Urgent Care doc told me to make sure he checks my carotid artery. But other than that....any other tests?