Hi,
I was wondering anyone with SLE Lupus had a tendency to get tachycardia? I almost went to the ER after having a negative reaction to Alpha blockers my Uruologists gave me for postate enlargement. Over a year ago, had the same reaction I believe came from IV Vancomicin, a strong antibiotic to fight a staph infection they gave me during shoulder surgery. The fast heart rate finely settled down on it’s own. I didn’t know I had Lupus then, but it is all kind of making sense. Anyway, the doctor put me on antibiotics, but I doubt there is a urinary tract infection, now I have to deal with rebuilding my digestive system again…
When it happened the first time, I went to a cardiologist for the whole work up,everything was normal. Maybe they have different tests if they think it maybe SLE related? I also have trouble regulating body temp. My feet and hands will get real cold, then real hot, I use my cold hands to ice my back! ;0)
So I have been on antibiotics two days, I have already started getting a cold. I guess with the anti malarial and antibiotic, it really compromises the immune system.
I was diagnosed with lupus sle almost 4 years ago. I also have been diagnosed with supraventicular tachycardia (SVT). I was put on a beta blocker and that has helped. The cold hands and feet could be Raynaulds which has nothing to do with the tachycardia. It is common to have Raynaulds with Lupus. It is from poor circulation in the extremities and causes them to turn red, white, or blue and become numb. It's painful for me. I have to wear gloves with little hand warmers in them all day. I put the foot warmers in my shoes. It helps a lot! I hope this helps. I also hope you get to feeling better!
I have had lupus for about 40 years. I often had problems with tachycardia. Beta blockers they gave me for it caused a reaction in a damaged section of my heart. Now I have POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tacyhycardia Syndrome. Every time I stand up and walk, I get tachycardia. The tests if it's lupus related are the same. Stress test, CT scan, MRI. Lupus can causes dysautonomia and it's not uncommon. That's when your sympathetic nervous system, the part that is supposed to be controlled automatically, such as temperature, blood pressure, blood sugar, heart pumping, breathing, etc. doesn't function correctly. You can Google dysautonomia and learn more. There is even a dysautonomia association and support groups for it. Sorry you're dealing with this. Lupus is the strangest disease!
Hi,
When I was put on Beta Blockers a little over a year ago,I had a bad reaction the heart slowed down, but the rest of the metabolism was still going gang busters! My breathing was accelerated but was not getting the blood flow, so I started to get asthma symtoms. Everything eventually settled down until recently.
Sheila, I will research Dysautonomia and see if it fits. I have been diagnosed with Polyneuropathy related to SLE Lupus, also the blurred. I soon and brain fog. My Rheumy thinks the Hot/Cold feet and hands is Lupus related dealing with regulating the micro capilaries in the body, causing the blood to either flow to strong or be cut off. If I am already having neurolical effects, it makes sense that the nerves might be miss firing. This condition is often tied to the Dorsal root fibers in the spine being restricted with inflammation. They have a MRI that will detect this. There is also a special MRI or CT that will show blood flow in the brain. This disease is so strange, that the researchers are baffled where to start…
Wow i love learning new stuff about lupus. I didn't know about the dorsal nerve involvement. If you have neuropathy, that absolutely causes hot or cold hands and feet. I also have fibro which they now know is nerve related, specifically small fiber nerve inflammation. I have a number of neuropathies also, but t hey are on my skull, causing trigeminal neuralgia, one of the most painful conditions a human can experience. So now I'm researching supplements that might help regulate the heart. I react too seriously to most prescriptions.
I have a friend that has Trigeminal neuralgia, he is currently being treated with Botox injections for the pain, says that is the only thing that helps. Dr Weil says Calcium and magnesium helps calm the heart, but I don’t know if it would help for your condition. When I had tachycardia last time my GP tried to tie all my maladies to being psychological, I dumped him…
I'm glad you dumped him. They are taught in medical school that if they can't find the cause after a few tests, blame the patient. At that point you need a smarter Dr. who is willing to look for the unusual diseases rather than the most common illnesses.
In Europe in the emergency rooms, they treat TN with IV magnesium. It seems to help a lot of people. I take magnesium but haven't tried the IV version.
Hi, Jon -
I'm 62 and have had sinus tachycardia for a long time. It's not something that you can ignore, so I'm glad that you've identified it.
I was lucky, in that it was immediately clear that alpha and beta blockers were toxic for me. And it made my doctor look a little deeper.
In that I also have Raynauds, she knew that Calcium Channel Blockers were used to treat Raynauds, as well as heart related problems. So I went onto Calcium channel blockers and found out later that a few other lupus patients I was in touch with, did the same for various heart problems. Both sinus tachycardiaI, and arterial spasms in the heart muscle are helped by this med. The reason why calcium channel blockers are of great help, in that they make it so when a blood vessel does go into spasm, it is unable to contrict so tightly that blood flow is cut off entirely.
The only problem is that my doctor didn't understand the dosing correctly. And she gave me what would have probably helped a normal patient, without AI diseases. But I needed much more.
But it is amazing the difference. And the severe Raynauds problems I'd had for years, lightened up remarkably.
But please, self advocate, because doctors don't know crap about AI diseases in general. And I can tell you, that I have now, twice in the last four years, gone into superventricular sinus tachycardia. And what that is when the heart goes into a very dangerously HIGH rate and stays there. EMT's have to come to your house, do an on the spot EKG, fit you with IV's in both arms, and once they get you into the ambulance, before you can even leave your driveway, they give you a drug via the IV that literally stops you heart so it can reboot at a safer level. And then you get a ride to the ER and you stuck there for hours, and then sent right home. No one even keeps us overnight to make sure that it doesn't happen again ! which scared the crap outta me the first time. By the second time, I realized that this was standard and would be o.k.
But, each time, ER doctors wanted to put me on Beta Blockers, because that is what is normally done when middle aged men or women come into their ER with this kind of thing. And when you tell them that you can't take beta blockers, and that you are on calcium channel blockers, they look at you as if YOU are the lunatic, refusing to follow standard medical procedure, because beta blockers are standard and "everybody takes them". They insist they've never run into a case where beta blockers were not successful. Duh......................
Just don't let your cardiologist raise the level too high after an event like this. I never knew it, because when I began on the drug, this was not mentioned as a negative side effect. However, with Cardizem, for instance, NOW in 2015, the third most common "negative" side effect is listed as suicidal idealization. So like with so many drugs today, you need to pay close attention to any kind of pscyo pharmaceutical reaction or interaction with the drugs you are already taking. And if you find yourself with judgement impaired, it doesn't mean that this is NOT the drug for you. Only that you are being given too much of it, in most circumstances I know of..
I had sinus tachycardia all the time, however. My heart rate was normally very high.
If you only get it occasionally, when in flare ups, then your doctors needs to be aware of this, as it may all be part and parcel to your flare up and therefore, if you can tame the underlying disease, the same may happen to the various presentations during a flare up; at least in the present. If things change in thee future, your treatment will change as well..
Sorry for the long post. My brain is affected by this disease, so I just shoot out a lot of buckshot, shall we say, and hope that maybe, one thing I've said is helpful to someone reading. Just take what you like, and delete the rest from the grey matter between your ears ! ! !
Best of luck..................Keep us posted!
Kitty, your post helped me. i'll talk to my doc about calcium channel blockers.
Thanks for this post. I will be googling after I post this. I have my heart rate almost double from my resting sometimes for no reason; and it happens when I am sleeping and it will wake me up and clearly no exertion has occurred. I’m sitting at the rheumatologist office waiting for my appointment as I post! Thanks so much. I hope everyone gets answers. This is all so scary.