Hi there- my story.

[Forristicat]

Hi there, my name is James.

I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 2008 (I was 22, turned 23 that year) and had a right hemicolectomy, in which meant 10cm of my right bowel had to be removed due to inflammation from the Crohn’s. I was on Flagyl, an antibiotic, after I had the bowel surgery.

Afterwards I've pretty much only been on Questran Lite medication, which is a mixture I drink once per day in the morning which eases the diarrhoea symptoms post surgery. (My stools are usually watery but things haven't been bad, I open my bowels once a day and everything was managable).

In the midst of all this, I think I had palpitations/arrhythmia which may have started a few years back from now (vague I know), where my mother when she hugged me told me sometimes my heart was beating a little fast in her opinion.

Also, when having a bath, I did look at my chest to see my heart beating a little fast. I shrugged all of this off, foolishly not following up with a cardiologist/GP.

About a year to a year and a half ago from estimation, I woke up in the middle of the night randomly with, well, a pounding palpitation. I put this down to some sort of panic attack and again, didn't follow up with a GP/Cardiologist as I thought it was some subconscious nightmare I didn't remember.

Flashforward to October 16th this year, where I had been put on some azathioprine on advice by my Gastroenterologist due to a bit of a Crohn's flareup which was detected by a colonoscopy early in 2015.

About 12 days into taking this medication, I had a very bad reaction to it and eventually had to go off the medication. The symptoms included nausea, vomiting, worse diarrhoea, fever close to 40 and...heart palpitations. In hospital my heart rate was at one stage 160 BPM lying down and they
had to get the emergency doctors where my heart rate spontaneously reverted to 120 BPM. Scary stuff.

I since have gone to see a cardiologist when I was discharged from hospital- the hospital's initial diagnosis was that everything, including the heart palpatations/arrhythmia, was due to the bad reaction to the medication.

The cardiologist said that it looks to be an electrical problem and I have had a few holter monitors done, my next appointment is next Friday to discuss the results of the latest monitor. I feel like I am coming back to normal as I have taken a lot of supplements (B12, Magnesium etc)-- also been taking probiotics, D, Calcium, and Zinc for the Crohn's), and that there is less fluttering and palpitations, but I am since on some beta blockers so it may be due to that.

I am still not sure, regarding the palpitations/arrhythmia, if my medication reaction to azathioprine made it worse and more obvious, or did the medication cause the palpitations/arrhythmia, and knocked my heart 'off rhythm'. I am leaning towards the former, that I had this condition, as it would explain myself waking up in the middle of the night with the strong palpitations before I went on the medication.

The fact that I have had 10cm of bowel removed could also mean that I have difficulty in absorbing nutrients/electrolytes (or too many electrolytes leaving my body due to the diarrhoea from the surgery), and my further poor choices (including excessive drinking on weekends), contributed to these palpitations. I have since quit drinking and caffeine and have been trying to get my life back on track.

Thanks for reading and this community and stay safe everyone.

I guess my main concerns at the moment (hence the 'worried' post icon) is that I won't respond well to further medication (even though I have only tried one so far), and well as worried about further surgeries.

Stay self, and enjoy your day :hug:

 

[buttER]

Hi Forristicat

Welcome to the forum. I have arrhythmias (what a horrid word to spell) - as in skipped beats rather than higher bpm - when I have an infection. It is the first sign for me that I have a viral infection. But it is also triggered by medicines. For example, I know I cannot have diclofenac. And last time I was in hospital I had problems after an upper endoscopy. I should find out what medicine they used so I can avoid it.

I understand your concerns and I think you are sensible not to ignore it.

What treatment are you on now after your bad reaction to aza?

 

[Clash]

It is my son that has CD and he has had sinus tachycardia with iron deficiency anemia, prednisone, and lowish b12. Each time correcting the situation ie getting iron level to normal or tapering off pred has corrected the high heart rate.

I don't have CD but do have two conditions that deal with the autonomic nervous system and cause sinus tachycardia. The autonomic nervous system controls the things we aren't conscious of or do automatically like breathing, bp, heart rate digestion and temperature regulation.

So the two ANS issues I have are postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. Which means my hr rate rises 30+ beats per minute and remains high with orthostatic changes like going from sitting to standing.

The other ANS issue I have is IST or inappropriate sinus tachycardia which means I have a high resting heart rate above 100 and an average of <90 in a 24 hour period. Usually with IST the hr is normal during sleeping but I know some where it spikes.

The treatment for these is generally beta blockers. For POTs, higher salt and fluid intake is sometimes recommended. There are other meds that help treat this and it can be individual as to what works. Holter monitors can be used to dx IST although if your on a beta blockers it will obviously skew results. A tilt table test is used to dx POTs.

 

[Forristicat]

Thanks for your responses.

buttER- yep, I’m learning that learning our personal reactions to these medications/treatments is an issue as much as our condition itself.

I am on no official treatment at the moment. I have an appointment around April next year with my Gastro doc. I think they wanted to give me a break following my very bad reaction to the Aza, although I am now worried what my body is going to do in the meantime leading up to that appointment time.

They did the usual bloods when I was in hospital for the arrhythmia, came out fine, but I too thought it had to be some sort of infection. Yes, definitely find out what medicines could be causing it.

Clash- I am also on beta blockers for the time being- a low dose- of half an 80 mg tablet twice a day. It helps for sure, but I want to come off them.

 

[Clash]

Were you tested for iron deficiency anemia? Have you since been tested again for b12 deficency. The issue is if you are dealing with only sinus tachycardia and not an arrhythmia then this can be caused by vitamin deficiencies which can be common with CD.

 

[Forristicat]

I got diagnosed with SVT I believe. The cardiologist didn't do any bloods, although you've just reminded me my Gastro Doc did order some bloods before my next appointment to them in April.

In hospital, yes I had all the tests done. And I do remember them mentioning that I am not anaemic. Not sure on the B12 although. I've been taking a lot of heart friendly supplements to stabilise things, such as Magnesium and indeed the B12.