The Glade 4.0

I may be out of shape, I may actually have an issue, or it may be all in my head.

Anytime I do anything more than walk up a flight of stairs, my chest gets tight and I get really short of breath and I can feel my heart pounding in my ears.

Anytime that I have exerted myself physically, within a few hours I become very weak physically and even sometimes get bouts of tachychardia and nausea which a doctor diagnosed as panic disorder a few years ago and put me on xanax.
When I mentioned the correlation between exercise and the tachycardia approx. 2-6 hours later every time, another dr suggested I might have a valve problem and wanted me to have an echo something done but my pcp listened to my heart with a stethoscope and said he would have heard it if I had it and its all in my head. He did say I had reactive hypo-glycemia though. Really, I get super-fatigued and ill feeling even after walking the dogs. If its all in my head, ok, but how can I build up some endurance?

So....exercise advice? My body appears to be in great shape and I have lots of strength, I just completely fall apart after any thing that gets my heart rate up.
I would love to be in shape and go jogging and stuff but I dont wanna kill myself either.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Ok, first, let me say "Get a second opinion."

Second, I have a condition known as Wolff-Parkinson-White. I have a *very* mild form of it, and I wouldn't have even known about it had I not had an EKG done while I was experiencing a severe asthma attack. My PCP had pumped so much epinephrine and albuterol and **** into me that my heart was jackhammering in my chest. I got the leads attached to my fuzzyness (oh yeah, those are fun to remove), and after a few minutes of monitoring, the PA says "Hmm." Long story short, they detected an abnormal delta wave and I ended up in the hospital with all kinds of electronics attached to me.

I saw a cardiologist, and he put me on a Holter monitor for like 2 weeks or something, and I had to undergo a "Thallium Stress Test". See, the condition only shows up under exertion. And this Thallium Stress test was about the most fun I've ever had in a hospital gown. Basically run on a treadmill, with an IV and EKG leads all strapped to you, and then they inject radiation into your arm(!). Then you lay on a table while an imaging machine whirs at you and checks your pumper out.

Suffice it to say, your PCP was a bit dismissive in his diagnosis. Yes, it may not be a valve issue, but there are other things out there that could cause you to go tachy.

Also, an Echocardiogram may be utilized as well, in addition to an EKG.

Edit: Peener

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Holy shitsnacks!

Go see a doctor. This sounds too serious to self-diagnose or to leave to laypeople.

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Thanks Arafys...for the advice and the after-thought....ROFL

Hop, I will. I've just gotten used to doctors telling me its all in my head and choking down xanax and phenergan and praying when I have my bouts of tachycardia.

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"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Maybe don't mention the anxiety issues. Tell them that when you perform strenuous or mildly strenuous activity that you go tachy and get nauseous. Clouding the issue with "Oh, and I have occasional panic attacks" may cause them to jump to that as a diagnosis. Its all how you present your issue to a provider.

Perhaps PM SquirrelGirl. She's a doc, maybe she has some advice for ya.

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Holy shitsnacks!

This, especially the bolded part!

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

Yeah I'd go to a doctor and let him know what you're looking to do. At first the endurance will be low and most exercises will kick your ***. You just need to be consistent and it will come in time, usually faster than you'd think. The soreness will go away too, for the most part.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Kate, I recently took care of a 30yr old girl who had been to several different doctors and had accumulated several scripts for Xanax and various antidepressants. She was told she had a panic disorder. She described it as becoming short of breath upon exertion and then her heart felt like it was coming out of her chest. Her husband finally brought her in to the ED when she almost passed out on him during one of these episodes. Upon admit, she had a heart rate of 210. She was short of breath, sweating and having chest pain. This was here worst episode she said. They gave her Adenosine 2x ( helps to slow the heart) with no results, they cardio-verted her 2x (shocking her to get the heart back into rhythm) with no results, finally they had success with another drug called amiodarone. She came to ICU and had one more episode of tachycardia. Moral is..no one believed her and told her she was having panic attacks, it's all in your head... She was transferred to another hospital to further investigate what was causing her episodes when she was stable. Keep seeking answers..until you get the one that is right for you. Don't let them throw a pill at you and say it's all in your head. You know your body an you can sense something is still not right. Keep seeking!

Lemme know if I can answer any questions.

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