Feeling Weird

  • by sonya
  • 2010-12-30 02:12:18
  • ICDs
  • 2438 views
  • 5 comments

Hope everyone has been enjoying the Holidays. I have had my CRT-D for almost 6 months now and have not had a pain free day yet. I hope I am not getting my hopes up too fast but I started out with a EF of 20 according to the cardiologist and 4 months after my CRT-D was put in he said I was in the 30 range and that wasn’t quite what he expected. I have had people tell me they had the same problem and it took them 2 yrs for the Heart Muscle to improve.

What was weird is that last week I was having supper with my children at a restaurant and I felt my body get hot/cold and a feeling of doom came over me and I faded out for a minute and the whole night I had sharp pains in the heart area that kept waking me. I went to the hospital the next day and they could find nothing wrong. I am wondering if it is the leads in my heart or what. I stay very tired all the time, but I am told it is the Coreg. Has anyone experienced any of these problems? Happy New Year.


5 Comments

feeling weird

by wired for sound - 2010-12-30 02:12:11

Hi Sonya,

My symptoms came on very suddenly and the way I was trying to explain it to the doctors, my husband and anyone who would listen was this:  hot/cold feeling and an incredible feeling of doom coming over me. I had an intermittent 3rd degree AV block. Funny thing - at the hospital they did a trace ECG on me, at which time I was in sinus rhythm and discharged me home. (They never ever put me on a monitor.) 

At home I thought I would try to "run it off" - not a clever idea when you have a heartblock and had a full blown syncope - smashed the side of my face in. After that they realized what was going on and I haven’t had another attack after my PM was put in.

Anyways, my point is, I don’t know why you feel like this, but I am quite blown away that we described our symptoms with the same terminology.  I really think you should get checked out.

Good luck.

Hard way to get a diagnosis

by ElectricFrank - 2010-12-30 03:12:43

That's a rough way to get diagnosed. They tell us to get to the hospital if we have any of those feelings, and then when we do the whole thing is ignored.

frank

Medications

by jvaltos - 2010-12-30 04:12:16

I have to agree with Smitty here on this one. Obviously, we are assuming that you are not in overt heart failure and that your labs area pretty normal, but Coreg (beta-blockers) are notorious for causing fatigue. Looking at the medical information on the packing will support this as does the daily report from patients.

The most important thing here is to simply ask your physician to consider stopping it for a while to see if your symptoms improve. BUt being aware that beta blockers reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke and improve heart failure symptoms in most patients. The other option may be to try the other approved beta blocker for heart failure (Toprol)

Good luck
Dr Valtos

Again, always talk with your personal physician regarding medical advice before making any changes.

Coreg and Fatigue

by SMITTY - 2010-12-30 09:12:25

Hello Sonya,

The only part of your message I will try to comment on is the Coreg you are taking and the fatigue you are experiencing. I have had several doctors to ignore my pleas about not being able to take Coreg. Each time my fatigue was unbelievable. The last time after three months on Coreg I found myself unable to walk about 2 blocks to the doctor’s office without sitting down to rest. In fact when the doctor saw me he told me immediately to stop the Coreg and made my being unable to take any beta blocker part of my record.

I’m not sure how long you have been on Coreg, but the literature says the side effects, such as fatigue, may go away after a few months. It has not happened for me and I know of no one it did happen to.

Good luck and Hapy New Year to you.

Smitty

Been There

by gerry - 2010-12-31 12:12:05

Hi Sonya. I also have a three lead CRT-D that was implanted six years ago,but before the implant I was being treated with all the meds including coreg 25mg 2x daily and from the get go, I was fatigued 24-7.thought it was just the poopy pumper.After the implant things began to improve in most areas except for the fatigue.What he told me I could do was take 12.5 in am 12.5 8hrs later and 25 before sleep.It helps somewhat.My EF was 17 before implant and is now 22.Keep talking to your Dr and all the good people on this site. Have a Happy New Year. Gerry

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