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Will It Go Back To Normal I Have Been Taking Hydrocodone ?

Posted on Mon, 9 Sep 2024

Question: I have been taking hydrocodone and I recently had a fast hard beating heart palpitation, I though I was having a heart attack. I went to ER and got EKG with the results: slight left precordial repolarization disturbance secondary to lvh. Chest xray and blood test normal for abnormalities or heart attack. When I got home I took another pill and got another fast hard palpitation. I have stopped taking the medication and not had one since. Have I damaged my heart? Will it go back to normal? Did I almost die?

Answered by Dr. Bhanu Partap (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Kindly refer below

Detailed Answer:
Hello

I can understand your concern for your health and I would like to know for what purpose you were taking hydrocodone, it’s basically an opioid analgesic.

Regarding your ecg, I don’t see any significant variations. However I would like to suggest you to get a routine echocardiogram done to look for any structural/functional variation.

If these palpitations are frequent and affecting your quality of life then further investigations are required.

Kind Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj

Follow up: Dr. Bhanu Partap (9 hours later)

The hydrocodone was for dental work that I had done.

I am concerned because my limited study of this slight left precordial repolarization disturbance secondary to lvh when symptomatic with an actual palpitation (ventricular arrhythmia?) seems to be a common electrophysiologic mechanisms leading to SCD.

I want to ask in your opinion was it a possible ventricular arrhythmia that I experienced?

I will definitely follow up with a echocardiogram. Thank you.

Follow up: Dr. Bhanu Partap (1 hour later)

Also, the palpitation lasted about 2 to 3 minutes. After them My chest was sore. I had them several times every hour to two hours getting softer each time.

Answered by Dr. Bhanu Partap (11 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Hello again

Detailed Answer:
Sir, kindly refrain from getting worried due to some ecg machine interpreted results. Whatever is printed on ecg is machine interpretation and most of the times inaccurate.

I didn’t find any significant changes indicating any life threatening arrhythmias. Palpitations which you have experienced might be some premature beats or some supra ventricular tachycardia (none of which is life threatening).

If you are encountering multiple episodes then along with echo also get a 48hrs HOLTER monitoring (ambulatory ecg recordings).

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Kampana