I have now been acquainted with heart butterflies, aka, atrial flutter. Let me backtrack…
I was still feeling short of breath whenever I’d exert energy, i.e. having a shower or trying on different outfits, and my chest still felt like I was wearing a lead vest, so I called Cardiologist #2, and was able to get an appointment for today. In addition to those symptoms, I started feeling this odd fluttery sensation in my heart/throat. I first felt it after I climbed my apartment stairs a couple of days ago, and then it started happening on and off more frequently throughout the day. It’s an odd sensation, like there’s a butterfly in your chest, and it takes your breath away slightly. It happened frequently today, including the entire time I was sitting in the waiting room at the cardiologist’s office.
When he called me in, he asked me what was going on and hooked me up to the ECG monitor. Luckily the “heart butterflies” were active at that time so he could actually see what I was talking about. Apparently, atrial flutter is the correct term for heart butterflies. He’s ordering me a holter monitor and gave me an RX for a beta blocker- that I’m a bit scared of because my blood pressure is already hella low. Anyway, I went next door to get a stress test, which part of me loved because I could finally get back on treadmill! But unfortunately I couldn’t even finish it because I was so out of breath. I didn’t even run! I just walked quickly. I even told the tech and my cardiologist that I just ran 8km quite easily two weeks ago! So we stopped there and my doc ordered me a CT to see if I have a blood clot in my lungs.
Holter monitor appointment is July 17th and I’m just waiting on my CT appointment now…