What is a Left Bundle Branch Block?

Well, I figured since I had lots of time on my hands now... I would spend some time blogging on what exciting things have happened to me in the past few days. For the past few weeks I have been having some weird quivering and flipping feelings in my chest around my heart. Just like strong palpitations and fluttering... I thought maybe this was just stress (not that I really have any of that in my nice calm, quiet life! HAHA) But, you know, maybe anxiety or something. And as a typical busy mother, I ignored it and went about my days normally. On Tuesday, November 11 - I was having a lot of discomfort in my chest. My heart was going crazy in my chest and I was having lots of pressure, it was hard to take a deep breath. So my friend, Christina, suggested (insisted) that I go see Dr. Adjei so I would stop complaining. LOL I am so loved! So off to the doctor I went. Dr Adjei ran an ECG and it showed a Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB). This was not alarming, but was concerning and needed to be checked out by a cardiologist. Here is a short excerpt from The American Heart Association about Bundle Branch Block. What is the normal condition? The heart has its own pacemaker, called the SA node. This is a specialized group of cells in the heart's right upper chamber (right atrium). Somewhere between 60 and 100 times a minute, this pacemaker emits an electrical impulse. This impulse then travels throughout the heart on a specified route. As the impulse passes through the heart, the heart muscle contracts (beats). The impulse first travels through the upper chambers (the atria). Before it can go to the lower chambers (the ventricles), it must pass through one small group of cells called the AV node. The AV node is between the atria and the ventricles. After the impulse goes through this AV node, it goes along a track called the "bundle of His." From there, this bundle divides into a right bundle and a left bundle. These two bundles go to the right and left lower chambers of the heart. All of this is much like following the roads on a freeway map.
What is bundle branch block? Normally, the electrical impulse travels down both the right and left branches at the same speed. Thus, both ventricles contract at the same time. But occasionally there's a block in one of the branches. This doesn't mean that one of the ventricles won't contract. It just means that impulses must travel to the affected side by a detour that slows them down. That means one ventricle contracts a fraction of a second slower than the other. Usually if there's nothing else wrong, a person with bundle branch block shows no symptoms. But a bundle branch block shows up as an abnormality when the electrical impulses through the heart are recorded with an electrocardiogram (ECG).

So Dr. Adjei referred me to Dr. Huggins, a Cardiologist at Memorial Medical University Hospital, in Savannah, Georgia. I saw Dr. Huggins on Friday, November 14th and he ran another ECG and an Echo cardiogram. The Echo cardiogram shows that the front left wall of my heart was damaged due to a possible heart attack. The left ventricle of my heart was not emptying because of low ejection pressure and thus blood clots have formed in the lower left ventricle. Dr. Huggins, immediately admitted me to MMUH and started me on blood thinners, blood pressure medication, cholesterol medicine and some other things I can't remember. I have been observed and been placed on 24/7 heart monitors until they can decide a course of action. The doctors are quite baffled - calling me an enigma!