I am a 23 year old female and just today I had an episode that really really scared me but I am unsure of where to go for help and if anyone would even believe me if I did.

I was in my kitchen unlacing a shoe that my dog had torn up and just out of no where it was like color had exploded in my eyes and i had the familiar sensation in my chest kinda like my heart wasn't beating, like skipping a beat, and i was extremely dizzy.

I have had those feelings before, just quick and usually go away if I take a really deep breath, but today just the one deep breath wasn't doing it. I had to take several before my vision returned to normal and the feeling went away. Afterwards it felt like I had just run a mile and I was very, very shaky. Now I feel a little shakey and slightly sore, right smack dab in the middle of my chest (in a space about the size of the tip of my finger)

I am confused and scared. I was just at my doctor 2 days ago, for an unrelated problem of urinary frequency, and she says that my blood pressure looked great (126 over 80) and she never seems to hear anything wrong with my heart when I am there (if she listens at all) I do not know if i should go back and finally confess to having these infrequent "skips" or if they are just stress and fatigue getting to me or if they are a serious side effect of the detrol she put me on.

I am worried because of my past behaviors, eating and others, that may have damaged my heart or if I should be seeing someone to further try to correct what I have done. I have started to try to eat healthier, salads, water, cutting out caffine, fruits and what not and I was starting to feel better the past year (not so many episodes of late night skips and a little more energy)

The main behavior that has me worried is the fact that a year ago and for about 15 years before that I was horribly addicted to over the counter nasal spray. I finally beat the addiction last march, but I do know that during those years on nose spray that I had high blood pressure (in the high 140s) and that I had many nights where I felt that my heart was racing and skipping beats. My fear is now that I am still having these episodes (not as many) and just had this huge one today, is that I have in some way damaged my heart.

I am afraid to start exercising again, though I want to because I know I am out of shape physically (not overweight just not active) but I am afraid to do that when this is going on. I fear telling my family , as they will brush it off as stress, or that I still on occassion still have caffine, and before when I tried bringing it up, it was blamed on the nose spray. i do not think my doctor will do anything as she continually says how good my blood pressure is now that I have gotten off the nasal spray and she's never said anything about my heart before.

Any insight to what I am experiencing would be greatly appreciated.

Megan

Hi Megan,

I know how scary heart palps and skipped beats can be, but yours sound particularly unnerving! Definitely run this by your GP, for your own peace of mind at least. She'll undoubtedly do an EKG, and probably a Holter monitor and an echocardiogram. These are all easy, easy, painless tests that will give the doctor lots of information about your heart - and probably serve to reassure you. I'm sure if you describe your symptoms fully to your doctor, and let her know that this is a recurring problem, she will not brush you off (and if she does, I would waste no time finding another Dr.)

Kenkeith has a good suggestion about getting blood tests to check for electrolytes and imbalances of that nature. That is certainly one possibility that should be checked out.

Did these episodes begin *after* you started taking Detrol? Either way, your doctor certainly needs to know about it.

Say, I was a major nasal spray junkie for at least a decade also! I finally got off it by diluting the spray with saline solution a little more each day, but even that was tough. That stuff is fiercely addictive, that's for sure. I wouldn't worry about that damaging your heart. For what it's worth, I just came through a thorough cardiac evaluation with flying colors, and as I said, I was a heavy everyday user of Afrin for many years.

Good luck with your doctor and I'm sure you'll be fine - but do get checked to be sure. Our health is too important to take chances with. :)

Thank you for the replies... I do think I will call back to my doctor and see how fast i can get in again.

"Did these episodes begin *after* you started taking Detrol? Either way, your doctor certainly needs to know about it."

I have had episodes before, not as severe and usually only when i was in Bed lying down. They were only like quick one second things, I'd sit up and things would be normal again then I'd try to lie back down and there would be another one. (my main cause of insomnia for the past 5 years) But after I quit the nose spray, they seemed to quiet and I figured it was mainly because of that. Just recently, however, was this big episode, and the day before when I was at work I just felt really, really sick to my stomach, and really shakey. It passed in like 20 minutes and after I managed to eat a quick pop tart (the only thing I could get my hands on) and I was confused as to what had caused me to feel like that for such a short time and in such intensity. I started taking the Detrol 3 days ago. The first day was fine, these past two days have been starting to point towards the Detrol as an instigator.

I tried researching Detrol's side effects to see if the stomach burning and nausea were just because of the pills, but could only find dry mouth as the most common and most frequent side effect.

And Wintergarden congrats on getting off the nasal spray as well! you did it in a far better fashion than I did. I tried doing it gradually as my doctor recommended, and by diluting it as well. I finally came to the decission after several failed attempts, to quit cold turkey. I threw away every bottle I had stock away and just didn't sleep for about a week solid! :eek: It was the worse week of my life, but I feel much better about getting off of the junk.