What Causes Elevated Pulse Rate, Exhaustion And Diarrhea?

Posted on Thu, 16 Jun 2016

Question: My wife is 651/2 and has had to battle rheumatoid since she was 32 and has developed colitis and recently for 5 days has barely been able to eat anything some broth a few crackers , she visited our family physician yesterday and gave a stool sample , but today I am still concerned Normally her blood pressure is pretty low 100-110/60 or less , today blood pressure is slightly elevated , but my real concern she says she's exhausted ( lot of trips to the bathroom) but her pulse rate is usually around 70-80 tops but all morning the blood pressure seems ok BUT HER PULSE HEART RATE HAS BEEN 126-128

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (15 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!

Her symptoms could be related to an electrolytes imbalance caused by diarrhea. You should know that diarrhea can cause severe hydro-electrolytes imbalances in our body (especially potassium), which can lead to cardiac arrhythmia.

I recommend going to the ER for a careful physical exam and some tests:

- a resting ECG
- a complete blood count
- blood electrolytes
- kidney and liver function tests
- fasting glucose

She may need to take intravenous fluids.

Hope you will find this answer helpful!

Kind regards,

Dr. Iliri

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

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