Bigeminy definition.

[Guest guest]

Dear Laurel,

I HATED the heart side of being hyper and you have my empathy in what you

are going through. My whole illness was kicked off with an " episode " whilst

I was on a train where I thought I would die my heart went so fast... the

cardiologist thought this was supraventricular tachicardia - but who knows

really, I just know it stands alone as the absolute scariest moment of my

life.

In your post you said " I have palpatations all the time but the ectopics are

really scary, especially when they feel like bigemini and cause tightness in

the chest sort of like angina. "

I had to chuckle cos I wasn't sure if if " bigemini " was slang for " hurts

like hell " or a medical term so I looked it up. This took me on a quick

trip round the the Oxford concise Medical Dictionary. IN case anyone else

is curious about the terms - I thought I'd share it ...

Bigeminy - the condition in which alternate *ectopic beats of the heart are

transmitted to the pulse and felt as a double pulse beat (pulsus bigeminus).

It is a common manifestation of digitalis poisoning.

Ectopic Beat (extrasystole) - a heart beat due to an impulse generated

somewhere in the heart outside the sinoatrial node. Ectopic beats are

generally premature in timeing: they are classified as supraventricular if

they originate in the atria and ventricular if they arise from a focus in

the ventricles. They may be produced by any heart disease, by nicotine form

smoking, or from caffeine from excessive tea of coffee consumption: they are

common in normal individuals. The patient may be unaware of of their

presence or may feel that his heart has " missed a beat " . Ectopic beats may

be suppressed by drugs such as Qunidine, propranolol and lignocaine;

avoidance of smoking and reduction of excessive tea or coffee intake may

help. See Arrhythmia.

Digitalis: N. an extract from the dried leaves of foxgloves (Digitalis

species), which contains various substances , including digitoxin* and

digoxin " , that stimulate heart muscle. Used to treat heart failure it is

administered by mouth, or in emergency by injection. High doses can cause

nausea vomitting loss of appetite, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and abnormal

heart activity.

I find this last bit really interesting, because alot of the time I was very

hyper I went around whining that I felt like I had been poisoned.

Okay, cheers one and all

DAWN ROSE

>

>Reply-To: graves_support

>To: <graves_support >

>Subject: Re: Tee hee !!! ( endo app.)

>Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 18:52:36 -0500

>

>Elaine,

>

>Could you elaborate on ImmunoStart? Is this a Rx or OTC?

>

>I have always been hypotensive. Generally I'd have to have my BP checked

>twice because it was always hovering around 90/50. Of course I got faint a

>lot but never had to worry about hypertension. Now, it seems, my blood

>pressure is creeping up. I actually have had readings in the 130/90 range!

> Its also puzzling that whenever I start to go hypo (and I'm guessing here

>because its been nearly impossible to get lab results) I get a dramatic

>increase in PVC's. I have palpatations all the time but the ectopics are

>really scary, especially when they feel like bigemini and cause tightness

>in the chest sort of like angina.

>

>This never, ever happened before the RAI. The heart thing was the very

>worst when my TSH was untreated and in the 70's. Could this have caused

>some kind of autoimmune set-up? And, now that it seems to want to hang

>around, what might be done about it? Could this possibly be autoimmune as

>well?

>

>Thanks,

>Laurel

>

> Re: Tee hee !!! ( endo app.)

>

>Hi Pam,

>I notice you mentioned blood pressure problems. I have them too and so do

>all

>4 of my brothers and both of my children. Many studies show that lots of

>us

>with essential hypertension have autoantibodies to cardiac muscle. While I

>haven't been tested for these antibodies, I do have mitochondrial

>antibodies,

>and these also show up in autoimmune hypertension. I've started taking an

>immunomodulator, ImmunoStart which contains glucans. I also quit HRT, which

>had caused my bp to really spike.

>The last issue of Clinical Endocrinology and Metaboism has a study showing

>how hypertension is related to deficiencies of Human Growth Hormone. I had

>a

>HGH test recently while we were working on new lab methods, and my level

>was

>very low. So I'm considering trying that. In the study, subjects treated

>with

>HGH experienced a significant blood pressure reduction. I have to research

>this further, but it would seem that since autoimmunity increases in aging

>and, according to some studies, all essential hypertension is autoimmune,

>that HGH might benefit immune function, which could account for its

>beneficial effects. Just something to confuse the issue further, huh? Take

>care, Elaine

>

>

>