What Causes Dizziness And Heart Palpitations?
Question: Hi I'm a 21year old male and I've been dealing with several symptoms for a long time now that are getting worse and becoming very concerning. These symptoms include shortness of breath especially with excertion this started one day at random while I was just sitting watching a movie in May of 2016 and it was really really bad like there was no room in my chest. This has gotten to the point where if I try to even do pushups I get exhausted and even kind of numb in extremities. I've been getting lightheaded very easily especially when standing even for a minute and the I see stars easily sometimes with standing for even a minute. I do have some chest pain in a general region on my chest but that may be musculatory. I do also have pain in my inner left arm hand and wrist that pops up at the same time (don't know if it's relevant). I have heart palpitations where my heart beats really fast and hard like a machine gun for a second which is provoked most by caffeine and alchohal and when I exercise my heart will just stop for a second after a hard heavy beat then return to beating. The most consistant thing is these spots flashes and blurrs in my eye that happen for several reasons but also occure at the same time as the heart palpitations. I've also been in conversations several times now and slurred my words without even noticing (maybe just tired). These things do all tend to happen more when im using caffeine daily for a while. (Except for the slurred speech). I know that is a bunch of stuff that might be random but I just decided to put it all down while I'm here writing this. My main concern is shortness of breath lightheadedness and palpitations. Thanks for reading I really appreciate all the feedback I can get.
Brief Answer:
Need further evaluation
Detailed Answer:
Hi, welcome.
This is Dr Sameer, cardiologist.
First the Increased heart rate & palpitations which can have a lot of causes.
It can be normal sinus tachycardia due to anxiety or stress or after taking caffein, acohol or it could be abnormal supra ventricular tachycardia.
For the diagnosis, you need to do ECG at the time of palpitation & tachycardia. If the duration of palpitations are short enough to reach a nearby hospital, we put a 24hr ECG monitoring (Holter Monitor).
Breathing diffculty can have cardiac origin & You need to do a 2D Echo to see for any associated cardiac abnormality if any.
Thanks
Take care
Need further evaluation
Detailed Answer:
Hi, welcome.
This is Dr Sameer, cardiologist.
First the Increased heart rate & palpitations which can have a lot of causes.
It can be normal sinus tachycardia due to anxiety or stress or after taking caffein, acohol or it could be abnormal supra ventricular tachycardia.
For the diagnosis, you need to do ECG at the time of palpitation & tachycardia. If the duration of palpitations are short enough to reach a nearby hospital, we put a 24hr ECG monitoring (Holter Monitor).
Breathing diffculty can have cardiac origin & You need to do a 2D Echo to see for any associated cardiac abnormality if any.
Thanks
Take care
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Nagamani Ng