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Just diagnosed with PACS and I'm scared
Heart Rhythm Conditions | Last Active: 4 hours ago | Replies (18)Comment receiving replies
I have an appt with my doctor in 3 weeks to see if he will give me a referral to a cardiologist
I want to ask for an Echo just to put my mind at ease i guess. Are there other tests i should be asking for as well?
Replies to "I have an appt with my doctor in 3 weeks to see if he will give..."
@muppet7777
Hey Muppet, it is entirely normal to have anxiety with any heart-related health problem, ...welcome to the club. Do your best to not let it overwhelm you. A visit to a cardiologist should help you figure out your next steps, ....don't worry, medication, echocardiogram, stress test or??? ...there are a lot of tests a cardiologist could ask for. I think a two week heart monitor, such as the Zio Patch, would give your cardiologist a better idea of what is going on. ....something you could ask about anyway as 24 hours of monitoring does not really give you a full picture of what is going on and you probably had increased anxiety for those 24 hours.
Check in again after you get some results back, ...or just reach out; this is a great group that could help set your mind at ease.
All the best!
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@muppet7777 Why an echo, and what specifically do you hope it will either eliminate or confirm? Just curious to understand your thinking on this.
If you have an arrhythmia that could be attributable to ischemia, as an example of what to look for, then a contrast dye CT scan might help, or an angiogram, an MRI, Doppler ultrasound of the carotid arteries can pinpoint changes in speed at the 'pinch point's if there is stenosis due to atherosclerotic plaque buildup. I don't know that plain ol' PACs have a root in ischemia. They might be a sign of mitral valve prolapse, of cardiomyopathy, hypertension that causes eventual hypertrophy of the ventricles....just as guesses, but they all require assessments and imaging to confirm.