What Heart Conditions Can Cause Muscle Spasms Throughout The Body?

Posted on Fri, 4 Oct 2024

Question: I have been told that my heart is causing my severe muscle spasms in my extremities, fully body muscle spasms, low oxygen levels & seizures in my brain. What physical heart condition is this? I have a history of heart arrythymias. Diagnosed in 1995 with atrial fibrillation. Diagnosed around 2000 with mitral valve prolapse. Diagnosed with pre-mature ventricle constriction on more than one occasion. all with EKG monitors. Was in Cardiac ICU in 1999. No blockages to my heart were found on ultrasound of heart, veins & arteries. Spasms often start on the left side of the body & then I will start stuttering. Been told stuttering is a seizure for me. Can happen with laughing, too. Any exertion can trigger this. Not every time I do things but does happen. Heart rate can be high then low then high all in the same day. in 1990 I was diagnosed with low blood pressure. Was a healthy weight then around 120 pounds. Been as low as 34 beats a minute while conscious & 200 over 170 blood pressure while conscious another time. heart challenges run in my family. My son has a heart murmur. My grandmother had a pace maker. My grand dad died due to they couldn't lower his blood pressure from type 1 diabetes. weighed 123 when I got pregnant. Weighed 149 when I had my son. While breast feeding I lost weight the pregnancy weight down to 126 when my son was 6 weeks old but breast feeding for 18 months I gained 40 pounds eating healthy & walking regularly. Took thyroid meds in the late 1980's & have wondered if my thyroid is contributing to my heart & weight challenges. I am now 48. My son is 25. Thanks for your help.

Answered by Dr. Varinder (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:

Cardiac. Thyroid and Neuro evaluation

Detailed Answer:

Hello,

As I have seen that you have a very strong family history of cardiac disease and personal history of atrial fibrillation, MVP, PVC and unstable hypertension and thyroid problem.

Now as you must be knowing cardiac diseases run in families even though you were ruled out of blocked cardiac arteries in past.

Now I suggest thyroid profile testing as TSH, free T3, free T4 as you are gaining weight despite walking and adequate diet and it is an important sign of thyroid problem usually low thyroid hormone.

Second hypertension and arrhythmia should be taken seriously and I advise followup as ECG, echocardiography and chest X-ray pa view plus lab tests as kidney profile as b urea, s creatinine, gfr along with urine complete.

Also advised ultrasound abdomen to rule out any pathology.
I also recommend CT scan head to see any pathology giving seizure as these are unilateral.

As your bp is unstable I advise you to check BP at home at three times a day and prepare a chart of 1 week and then show to your doctor to make adjustments in bp medicines.

Avoid herbal products because these are culprits
of some irregular beats in some patients and you need only one dose of multivitamin antioxidant combination per day.

After check up and with reports you should see your doctor and if possible see cardiac and neurologist at least once.
Please maintain an adequate diet with minimum coffee, alcohol, smoking and avoidance of fast fatty foods.

Develop a hobby or engage in meditation plus social service.
Sorry for a long reply but with these tests all your problems will be solved if you follow doctor instructions.

Hope I have answered your query.

Take care

Regards,
Dr Varinder Joshi , General & Family Physician

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

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng