Connect
← Return to Irregular heartbeat issues
Discussion
Comment receiving replies
@pah17
Always interested in people’s stories. Always trying to connect the dots.
When my mother was finally diagnosed after she had a concurrent parasite infection (maybe from drinking water or produce, who knows because we lived in the same house and I wasn’t affected)., and some strange bites with black centers thought to be from bites from outdoors. She was in such distress she was ready to die. Once she saw a doctor who was able to diagnose the parasite infection and the PMR things started to turn around. She lived to be 90 and died of a defective aorta.
Wondering if the 15 years of prednisone contributed to that 🤷🏻♀️?
Now I’m having an irregular heartbeat so I’m sure prednisone (or the tapering) is probably the culprit. Hope to get my results soon.
Replies to "@pah17 Always interested in people’s stories. Always trying to connect the dots. When my mother was..."
Connect
@caroljeand
Any updates from the 48 hour heart monitor?
I had heart problems when I was on Prednisone. My heart rhythm was "irregular " because of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs).
A few PVCs once in a while aren't a problem but I was having too many. When I felt my pulse, I had a lot of "skipped beats." I told my PCP about the skipped beats and an EKG was done. The EKG revealed left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) which surprised my PCP since I never had any heart problems before.
Since LVH is usually caused by high blood pressure my PCP wanted me to check my blood pressure at various times of the day to see if I could detect "hidden" high blood pressure. I detected a blood pressure of 210/110 one morning and I ended up going to the emergency room. I was placed on telemetry with every 15 minute blood pressure checks. After 2-3 hours my blood pressure returned to normal. An emergency room doctor suggested my 210/110 blood pressure was caused by anxiety from checking my blood pressure too often!!!
When my PCP doctor found out ... he was livid. He sent me to a cardiologist who determined that Prednisone was likely causing my blood pressure to fluctuate and be out of control. The cardiologist said my heart was irritable because it was being stretched by extremely high blood pressure at various times. For some reason my blood pressure could be anywhere from normal to extremely high. I needed 3 blood pressure medications to control my blood pressure.
https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/prednisone-raise-blood-pressure-3562473/
----------------------
I stayed on 3 blood pressure medications for 10 years while I was on Prednisone. I tapered off Prednisone about 5 years ago. After I tapered off prednisone, I had episodes of low blood pressure. One by one my 3 blood pressure medications were discontinued. Within a few years of stopping Prednisone all my cardiac medications were discontinued.
After stopping Prednisone --- along with my 3 blood pressure medications ... I have also stopped 5 additional medications which were treating Prednisone side effects. I don't have high blood pressure anymore and my LVH has resolved.