Irregular heartbeat

[Barbara Stewart]

My old blood pressure machine wasn't acting right so I got a new one and just tried it out. It has lots of measurements and one of them detects an irrgular heartbeat. Well, it detected one on me. I'm just about eight months post op and my blood pressure is up. My cardio doesn't want to do anything until I get my bowel problem taken care of (another wonderful condition), but I can feel my heart beat in my head when I lie down at night. Sometimes I hear it when I'm not lying down. I'm not sure what A-fib feels like, but the other night I felt a quiver in my upper chest, right about at the top of my incision scar. Now, I'm worried. Should I be more assertive with my cardio about looking into my bp and my irregular heartbeat? Is this something I should worry about?
Thanks guys.
Barbara

 

[Karlynn]

I would. You may want to request a 24 hour Holter monitor.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I assume you have a stethoscope with your BP meter, so, just LISTEN to your heart. Irregular and / or rapid heart beats are easily detected with a stethoscope.

Most arrhythmia's are NOT life threatening. Someone wrote a good tutorial on arrhythmias (probably Tobagotwo) which may be in the Reference Forum. A SEARCH for arrhythmia, PVC, PAC, A-Fib will bring up links to WAY more discussions of those arrhythmias than you will want to read...

Your Cardiologist may want you to wear a 24 hour Holter monitor to confirm your suspicions and identify exactly what type of arrhythmia(s) you are experiencing. Different types of Beta Blockers target different arrhythmias.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[aussigal]

I had my BP machine pick up the odd heartbeats as well., not everytime but enough times to get me concerned. Warfarin is one of the treatments for this so I was already covered...mine settled and rarely occurs now...

I think if this is really bothering you that you should definately be more assertive in seeking an answer or reason for it...worry too can also send our rhythm off...

When I had A-fib it was not odd beating but a speedy 150bpm, you could really hear and feel the heart racing and I was feeling very ill, clammy and woozy.

Good ole "google" has tons of info on A-fib and other arythmias.

 

[Yankeeman2]

I feel obligated to tell my story concerning irregular heartbeats. I had my AVR (St. Jude's) in 2007 but only have noticed recently my heartbeat was irregular. I talked to my cardiologist about it (I check it with a stethoscope) and he said it was NOT atrial fibrillation and said don't worry about it. Despite that diagnosis he later had a monitor surgically implanted in my chest (called a "loop" monitor, I think) which tracks my heartbeat and, while I'm sleeping, electronically sends the record to his office via the wifi system in our house. Since that happened several months ago, I have twice been telephoned and ordered to immediately see a specialist who could provide additional opinions concerning slow pulse rates while I'm sleeping, some of them in the 30s and 40s. In both cases, the specialist said that very slow heartbeats are common while sleeping and not to worry about it. Summing up: if a cardiologist (or a physician's assistant) tries to put one of these in you, think twice before you let them. Sometimes technology overruns common sense. Final note: the second trip to the specialist, located about 30 miles away, was in the middle of a hurricane that put the power out on all those red lights along the way.