I'm so sorry, for some reason I only come here when I'm having problems I've had AS for 10 years, but I was only diagnosed last year. For the past couple of years I've been having these weird symptoms with my heart. It's only happened 3 or 4 times, but it's an experience that sticks with you. At first I thought it was anxiety, because my doctors were convinced my AS symptoms were caused by stress (before we found out it was really AS). I had another episode last night and decided to do some research, and unfortunately there seems to be a link between AS and heart problems. During my episodes, it's hard to breath, my chest and throat feel like they're caving in on itself, and it feels like my heart is beating fast and misfiring at the same time. It's the strangest sensation, I can actually feel the blood in my heart sloshing around like a half empty bottle of water being shaken back and forth. It's not painful, but it feels really weird and it's kind of scary.

Obviously, the next step is to see my doctor. But other than that, do any of you have any advice, similar stories, or links to articles on the subject?

my husband was having some scary heart issues (i think anytime its the heart, its scary) in his 20s, probably related to the pain he was in mostly due to very bad GERD.

he wore a heart monitor to capture the episodes. the way the doctor explained it, it was like the signal was getting trapped in the and bouncing around.

anyway, as his GERD got better, so did his heart symptoms.

and before he found the heart doc who took the symptoms seriously, a lot of doctors tried to convince him it was anxiety and panic attacks. it wasn't.

the bottom line was that it was probably nothing serious. that was about 20 years ago. his heart is fine.

BTW, my husband doesn't have AS. just pain issues like the rest of us.
When i'm in a lot of pain, my heart pounds. doesn't beat faster, just pounds. its a symptom from my body responding to the severe pain.

but both are different than yours as well, i understand that, but thought i'd share.

my stepfather on the other hand, who has crohns, started having afib heart issues in his 50s. related to the crohns? we'll never know. he had it ablated, but that didn't help him. it does tire him out but exercise has helped him have more stamina.

let us know what they find out. hope its nothing serious.

Hey there,

Anytime it is the heart, it is nothing to ignore. I have never had that experience, but I would get it checked out.

Best to you,
Tim

Unfortunatly Im getting a pacemaker. The cardiologist said that the inflamation from AS was left unchecked for a long time and has messed up the electricity in my heart. Im not sure if Im getting a pacemaker first or getting the tendons in my right foot put back together. I was kinda hoping to get them both done at once but they tell me thats not going to happen.

Dont mess around it can get serious fast. There are also drugs that can help in the mean time 'right away'.

according to most of the AS sites i have visited heart probs are a RARE complication of AS.....so be positive Scarlet

Scarlet83 - don't mess around with this. Go see yr doctor as a matter of urgency and IF it happens again meantime then get thee to ER. They'll get you on a heart monitor, do an ECG and all the rest of it. Went through a scare myself before C'mas. TG it was not heart, only costochrondritis, but, have had a TIA plus an MI in the past. Not pleasant.

Take care -

Not trying to scare you, but I experienced those exact same symptoms off and on for about a yr. before having almost total heart failure from an enlarged and congestive heart. Find a good cardio dr. and get it checked out, don't wait like I did.
J.R.

Obviously from all these experiences it could be so many things. While you might take comfort in the fact that not all of the possible causes are serious, and that AS heart complications are rare, the fact is that no matter what our experiences are you are bound to be terrified. I agree entirely with Molly. Make an appointment immediately, and if it happens again before that date get immediately to an ER. They will indeed be able to get a monitor on you and gather info for your doctor.

In the meantime, try to do things that relax you. Also, can you think of anything that each episode had in common? An event? A trigger food? The more you know about the details around each event, the better. Yet another excellent reason for keeping a journal... I really should start one.

The doctors are right and wrong. Having AS causes stress, stress increases AS.
stress and AS causes real heart problems. Go see a real heart doctor asap.

The most important thing is to stay positive ALWAYS. In my view as long as Im breathing all is well.

To relax I have a comfortable chair in the middle of my room. The chair is surrounded by 4 300 rms speakers and a 500rms sub. I sit in my chair and listen to music really, really loud. It makes me feel better, sometimes I just sit watch music videos as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yn3ViE6mhY&feature=relmfu

I also sit in the chair and read books off a big LED TV.

When I went into the hospital when my heart was bothering me. It scared my son because I was in there for a while. When my son asked me what was wrong and if I was going to be OK I replied.

"Im going to be fine. I asked them to turn me into a robot, perhaps even an autobot. They said that they couldnt do that but they can make me a cyborg". We both agreed that a autobot would have been really cool but a cyborg is pretty good too.