Does this hard heart beat sound like anxiety?

[crystalfresh]

During a situation (left blank) my heart started to beat very fast. Then my heart started to beat hard, harder, until it was painful and them the heart rate slowed down but it kept beating harder and harder until it was getting scary painful. Then after 5-10 minutes the heart returned to normal but my heart hurt for about 1 hour after.

I am not looking for a diagnose just wondering if anyone had experienced anxiety like this? I don't think it was anxiety but want to know if this is normal anxiety feeling and if the heart muscle can hurt after it stops.

Thanks

[KirstinMc]

Hi Hun, I know I'm not alone in the old anxiety worry thing but I have never met another person who's palps hurt her like mine do! Blimey! It's awful, it scared the hell outta me, it really does. I saw a Cardio guy a while back and got the all clear on my ticker. I have papls 24/7 and really am tired of them. Have had anxiety problems for 10 yrs but the palps about 2 yrs at their worse. I always find they are worse after eating or having a few beers. Hope your ok hun XXXX

[crystalfresh]

I couldn't breathe well after being stung and wondered if my heart was part of the reaction or when asthma set in if I was worried it was anaphylactic again that set off my heart. But clearly I can see from others there is no way to tell until I feel a drop in blood pressure if it is bad asthma or anaphylactic shock. Since my wonderful allergies are often systemic the only thing not always affected is my heart. Leaves me scared and wondering. So now I must question if anxiety set off my heart. If my chest turns blue I know it anaphylactic for sure but that has not always happened. Wondering about the other times. Then times I was sure it was anxiety it turned out not to be. Anxiety is so hard to diagnose when its actually happening. When I can take my blood pressure then I know the difference since anaphylactic lowers my pressure / anxiety and asthma raises it. But most of the time I don't have a bp machine and I am guessing. Still haven't found a way to tell between them other than to wait a few minutes to see what happens.

[be still my beating heart 13]

Painful heart beats have become a part of my daily life.  My long story made short is that for seven years I have had anxiety panic disorder and in the beginning my "palpitations" were rapid pounding heart beat that occured mostly only during panic attacks, which is what most people here experience.  Then there are those of us who begin to have the errant extra beats (aka palpitaions) which I developed over 3 years ago.  My cardio captured them on an event recorder and he told me they were harmless and will not kill me, to stop worrying.  They did so many tests and gave me the all clear so I did my best to learn to live with them until one year ago when my son was born.  After his birth I began to experience quite painful extra beats and still do to this day.  They have been very frequent hard and painful the passed few days but they usually are when I have missed out on sleep.

As you seem to be shy about revealing what you know triggered your "episode", I will tell you what triggers them for me:  

lack of sleep
eating too much food
drinking something too hot or too cold
getting startled
after a heated argument
whenever I feel so bold as to smoke a joint
caffine (limit chocolate, don't drink tea/soda/coffee)
too much sugar/fast food
stimulants (cannot take decongestants, cough syrups, or energy drinks)

Avoiding what "triggers" I can, and adressing any others I'm faced with helps me live with them on a daily basis.  The pain I feel with them is IN my heart, and when I have runs of them it will leave me with a mild "angina-type" feeling in my upper chest cavity.

I hope this helps and that you feel well today!

Cori

[crystalfresh]

I have had my heart going boom boom when I am startled from my sleep. Heart is racing nearly double speed. Feels kinda cool because you get that alert energy, but never hurts like after being stung. Maybe I will get lucky and never get stung again to find out.

[crystalfresh]

Talk about a situation that should be brewing with anxiety and there isn't anxiety. So maybe all the other times was anaphylactic? Just trying to learn why my heart goes boom boom after being stung. Thinking maybe some of the time it was just anxiety. Maybe, maybe not. I guess I have to wait until the next time I get stung so I can get a blood pressure reading to know for sure.

[crystalfresh]

I was comparing an anaphylactic shock to anxiety to a systemic allergic reaction. Just trying to see if anxiety "feels" different before the blood pressure drops enough to feel the actual shock. I have had it happen and always wonder in that situation because not always is my heart affected. Wondering if sometimes it might be anxiety to an older situation when it was anaphylactic shock.

From what I hear anxiety and anaphylactic shock heart symptoms sound exactly the same and indistinguishable with out a blood pressure test on the onset of symptoms. This is really bad because it delays me from treating a real anaphylactic emergency because I question if it is anxiety. So I wait to see how bad it gets so I can be absolutely it is real.

I was hoping to learn that anxiety did not involve heart pain to find a difference. Lucky this only happens if I get stung and that's not too often. Other wise I never get pounding heart. The alternative would be to treat all as anaphylactic shock but using my eppi if not a real reaction could be dangerous because if my heart was going boom boom my blood pressure is high and adding medication to raise pressure is a bad idea. If anaphylactic shock my pressure is low even if my heart is boom boom so the eppi brings it back up to normal. Bummer. I will still have to make a conclusion bases on each event as it happens. The good part is no matter how nervous I get my breathing is never affected. If I have breathing trouble it is always real and never anxiety. So treatment is administered correctly and timely. But this heart thing has left me with more questions than answers. And it happens fast, only get a few minutes to think about it.

Then there was last month when I was bit by a deer fly and thought for sure it was a yellow jacket wasp. I ran in quickly, medicated with antihistamine, nasal spray for mucus. Grabbed my inhaler, eppi, blood pressure machine and stop watch. Started the stop watch and sat quietly. Waited. Finally 6 minutes hit on the stop watch and not a single symptom happened. No heart beat, no asthma, nothing, not even a rash. I waited 10 minutes to be certain. No reaction. At that moment I realized everything was fine. So here is a situation where I believed it was real and nothing happened. So I really don't know what is what. I have definitely had anaphylactic reactions before. Just don't know ya know.

[crystalfresh]

This is for everyone who as ever had anxiety fast heart beat. I would like everyone to post YES or NO or OTHER-please explain. Thank you so much. I need to hear from all of you to help me decide what may have happened to me.

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

Similar thing happenned to me. Turned out to be a combo anxiety / panic attack with heart palpitations.......I did think that I was having a heart attack - and it was uncomfortable for awhile afterward.........................