Heart Palpitations when sick?

Factual Questions
1

I’m sick. Last week it was a flu; this week it blossomed into a lovely respiratory infection, one of the more wicked ones I’ve had of late.

What was interesting is about a week before I actually began having the flu symptoms, I started having mild palpitations. It’s just a fluttering sensation, one I’ve always referred to as a “heart hiccup.” This is nothing new to me as I’ve have been tested since this first started happening at puberty; at first they said it was Mitrol Valve Prolapse, but that fell out of vogue and now they’re saying it’s harmless PVCs. Fine with me, I’m all about harmless heart conditions. Typically what gets it going is stress, although sometimes it just kinda acts up on its own. Not only is my heartbest irregular, it’s random. :wink:

Anywho, it’s very common for me to have these sensations when I’m sick. Typically, it lasts just a few days or a week at most (usually when I’m sickest and feverish); this time around, it’s stuck around for about two weeks. It happens about every hour or two, and it’s never severe or uncomfortable (well, it did wake me up this morning)–just noticeable.

I had a doctor once tell me a few years back that it’s not uncommon for palpitations to accompany a fever and otherwise be another flu symptom, but I can’t find anything on the Net about it. Yes, Mods, I have discussed this with my doctor, although today, I’ve wondered whether I should bring it up again. (I saw a cardiologist last March.)

What pisses me off is whenever I finally get in to see a doctor about this, my heart gets stage fright and won’t perform. My echo was clean, EKGs are always clean, even the heart monitor I wore about 10 years ago showed nothing unusual. The only time it was ever observed was on an unrelated trip to ER, where the paramedics noted with a “Huh!” that my heartbeat was irregular.

Anyone out there get these symptoms when they’re sick, too? Anyone know how this works–is the virus and ensuing infection somehow screwing up my heart’s electical signals?

BTW…I lay off the caffeine when I’m sick, so that isn’t a factor. I also didn’t start taking a decongestant until yesterday, so that is not a cause, either. Dernnit. I want a cause for my effect!

2

Mitral valve prolapse won’t cause PVCs. Just a murmur. PCV is just a description of what you get: premature ventricular contractions. What causes that symptom is the question. Probably some electrical abnormality. Stress may trigger the PCVs. You probably should wear a 24-hour Holter monitor, which will pick up all PCV’s in a day on an EKG. This may help identify the source.

I’m not a doctor but I stayed at a Holiday Express last night.

3

No, no, barbitu8; apparently I wasn’t clear in the OP. I was orginally diagnosed with Mitrol Valve Prolapse about ten years ago, when apparently thousands of people were (wrongly) slapped with the diagnosis when they came in with certain symptoms. Several of these cases are being revisited and rediagnosed; the over-diagnosis of MVP has actually become the subject of numerous medical articles and even a recent mention in Discover magazine. I was *re-*diagnosed with “occasional PVCs” this past March, and the MVP diagnosis was scrapped.

I’ve worn a Holter monitor before; that’s what I was referring to in the OP when I said my heart has “stage fright” and wouldn’t perform for the heart monitor I was made to wear nearly 10 years ago. Recent EKGs have shown nothing, and it’s getting embarrassing to even mention the palpitations–why bring it up when they never see it? I’m paranoid they’re going to think I’m making this up, or at least making a mountain out of the proverbial mole hill. That’s why I’m here; I’m figuring this is just some sort of weird side-effect from the flu. (Anyone thoughts on that aspect?)

I guarantee: a cure for my PVCs is to wear a monitor, get an EKG or echo, or have a doctor take a listen. :wink: (Well, one did hear a click once…a click. Whoop-de-freakin’-do.))

4

If you’re been having them for over 10 years, it is no side effect from the flu. I believe that there is medication for PCVs. They have to be caused by some electric abnormality, but the EKG isn’t picking them up. Everybody gets PCVs occasionally. That is normal. If you get them only occasionally and they cannot be detected by studies, I would assume that you have just the normal skipped heartbeat or premature heartbeat, which we all get now and then. Do you exercise? Do they interfere with your exercise? What are your symptoms, other than an occ. PCV?

5

The symptoms that sent me to the doctors in the first place is what my current cardiologist believes is “a long line of PVCs”–about 5 hours long, in fact. They are most noticeable at night when I’m trying to sleep; they will keep me up, and I just lay there waiting for my heart to slow down so I can just sleep. I have to lay very still; any movement, like rolling over on my side, increases the speed and potency of the beats (it feels more like a hard heartbeat rather than a particularly fast one). I’ve learned to live with them; if I do my best to ignore them and don’t move, eventually (usually) I fall asleep. It’s very difficult to distract myself with reading or other similar activities during one of these episodes, as there is a feeling of increased adrenalin–I get very jittery, like I’m over-caffeinated.

It takes about a week for everything to balance out. Typically, I’ll get one really bad night out of nowhere, and the next few nights are a gradual improvement over the first until normalcy returns (yes, symptoms continue through the day, too, on those occasions; they’re just most noticeable, and most annoying, at night).

I was on beta blockers for a few years when first diagnosed, and there was talk of putting me on them again when I was re-evaluated this past March. However, as these annoying all-night incidents are very rare (2-3 in the last 5 years), I’d really rather go without. My doc agreed that heart meds are best avoided as long as these incidents remain so isolated.

Excercise: seems okay, although I don’t do it that often. I have to be very gradual, but so does everyone. I do remember my doctor telling me to quit my aerobics class 6 years ago; I was having trouble with nearly passing out and throwing up afterwards. (I seem to remember having a really high pulse, too, but heck–it could’ve been overexertion). When I do exercise, I power walk or jog, and at my own pace. I haven’t had the problems since.

6

Ruffian:
Did you take decongestants (pseudoephedrine, phenylpropanolamine, ephedra) while you suffered from the flu, or drink more caffienated beverages than usual? If so, those will induce more PVCs.

Qadgop, MD

7

Qadgop:

Nope. (It’s in the last paragraph of the OP.)