Breath Shortness, Hypertension, Pounding Heart. Echo Scheduled. Taking Atenolol. What Could It Be?

Posted on Tue, 1 May 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 1 May 2012 Answered on

Sun, 8 Jul 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : I have been experiencing shortness of breath (feeling of not getting a full breath) for a few weeks now. I do not notice it when in bed at night or when I am active - mainly when sitting or standing. I have a echo scheduled for July. I'm on atenolol and norvasc and my hypertension is well maintained, and my bp is averaging 118/68. My heart feels like its pounding harder than normal but my pulse is about 58-60. What could it be?

Answered by Dr. Ravindra L Kulkarni (3 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for the query.

It is good to know that you are regularly following treatment for hypertension and it is under control.

Pulse 55-60 is due to medicines which you are taking for blood pressure and is not a sign to worry.

However as you have developed shortness of breath on activity, it could be early sign of ischemic heart disease - a condition where blood supply to heart is compromised on exertion. But as there is no chest pain / sweating, you need not worry.

Preventive cardiac check up is essential for you. I would encourage you to discuss with your cardiologist and consider these:
1. Getting Echocardiogram at earlier time
2. Assessment with stress test - treadmill test which will evaluate your functional capacity of heart also
3. Basic blood screening like lipid profile, Blood sugar level and so on.
4. Also consider consulting with your physician for drug adjustments like addition of diuretics which will also help to control blood pressure as well as relieve complaints of shortness of breath.

Hope this has solved your query.

Kindly plan your preventive check up at earliest. Let me know if you need more help.

Wish you a good health.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad

Follow up: Dr. Ravindra L Kulkarni (9 hours later)

Thank you for your response. The SOB is better upon exertion and gone when in bed. It is only noticed when sitting or standing. My serum cholesterol is:

Chol: 3.80 (2.00-5.19)
LDL : 1.61 (1.50-3.39)
HDL: 1.89 (>1.10)
Chol/Hdl: 2.01 (<4.4)
Tri : .66 (0.45-2.29)

Glucose 4.6 (3.3 - 5.5)

I do not have any fluid build up and my bp averages 118/68. I do have parathesia (which was first noticed with the immunosuppressants) however it seems to be more pronounced lately.

Could the symptom of SOB be a negative side effect of the atenolol, or a possible low B12 (I have high levels of methylmalonic acid) rather than ischemic heart disease?

Thank you

Answered by Dr. Ravindra L Kulkarni (12 minutes later)

Hi,

It is good to know that your lipid levels are with in normal limits.

Serum B12 defficiency will not cause shortness of breath. However frequent abnormal sensations called parasthesia may be due to Serum B12 deficiency. You can consider Vitamin B12 supplements for that.

Shortness of breath with atenolol alone is not common.

Now at this situation even if you have lab normals, preventive cardiac check up with echocardiography and stress test will help.

Hope you schedule your tests at earliest and let me know if you need my assistance to interpret them.

Wish you a good health.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar