Q; Hi, I am a 47 year old African American woman who has had an ICD/Pacemaker for nearly a year. Right before having my device implanted I was told I had bigeminy heart beats that were severe, and that my EF was around 30%. After placement my EF was up to 42-47%. Now, nearly a year later, I am told …
Marihuana and palpitations
Q: Before you claim this as “outside of your expertise”, know that I am asking you this question because my HEART was racing when I smoked marijuana. I use to smoke weed for 2 years, stopped for about 3 and then smoked it once recently and my heart was pounding and racing for about 2 and a half hours while …
My doctor told me I have an uncoiled aorta
Q: I went for a chest Xray for a cough and it was normal but on the report it said uncoiling of the thoracic aorta???? I asked my Dr what it meant and he didn’t know..(LOL).. So does anyone know what causes this and is there a way to reverse it.. I do not have high blood pressure and also …
Long QT, A Fib and PVCs
Q: I am 52 years of age and have had paroxysmal AF for the past 16 years for which I have been prescribed Sotalol to be taken when required. Recently I had an ECG that showed a QTc of 464 and my cardiologist referred me for a number of tests including an Echocardiogram, a stress test and ambulatory monitoring. I …
My doctor will not tell me about the results of my carotid ultrasound
Q: Three weeks ago, I woke up with blurred vision in my right eye. Last winter I had a problem with this eye (faces on TV screen “split”) for a couple of hours and had an MRI/MRA of my brain, normal results. I went to the ER after the latest incident, attending couldn’t find anything alarming, referred me to ophthalmologist, …
My doctor told me I have multifocal VT but not to worry
Q: In the setting of a healthy structured heart, what would cause a run of multifocal VT? I was told today by my doctor that it is nothing to worry about, but I would like to research the things that can cause it so I can ask for those to be ruled out. Thank you
Heart disease in Firefighters
Yesterday I asked an old friend of mine, the retired Deputy Chief of the Portland, ME Fire department, to comment on the article about heart disease in Firefighters. I was curious to hear his opinion, in particular in regards to changes that have occurred since 1999. Meanwhile, I reviewed data about Fire incidence: I. Improved Fire protection and prevention standards …
Chest pains and coronary artery disease
Q: I am a 34 year old female. I have recently had awful chest pain starting about 4 months ago. I went to my primary physician in September and he told me it was likely because I had a cold and had been coughing and strained something. I went back when it kept happening and he did an EKG and …
I feel these new extra heart beats
Q: Im 56 years old. 6 ft and weigh 180.In good health. Last checkup everything was fine. Perfect ekg heart checked out ok lungs clear. My question to you is recently I have been experiencing unusual skips in my heart.I am used to the normal skipped beats and had them all my life ,sometimes aware of them and sometimes not.But …
Severe Chestpains and fainting
Q: I am a 51 year old woman who is fit and healthy, low cholesterol, low fat diet, no food before bedtime, low to average BP and pulse. Grandfather died of heart attack at 53 the other at 73, father died early of trauma, grandmothers died of heart disease in 80s & 90s. Have Raynauds, GORD nexium 40mg daily. long …