skipped heart beats and anxiety

[kimalei]

Even though I have had anxiety since late teens (35 now) just over the last year and a half has my anxiety been a everday ordeal. When it started effecting me on a daily basis that is when I started noticing my skipped heart beats. I have had alot of blood work done, an ekg and a echocardiogram and all of this has come back normal. I also wore a monitor but of course while I was on the monitor for 24 hours I never had a skipped beat....imagine that.
Anyway my question is, can anyone think of any other tests that should be done to make sure my heart is okay? My father died at 44 with a massive heart attack and I just want to know for sure, 100% that this is all anxiety related. I dont know about anyone else but sometimes I think that these flutters or whatever they are are gonna start and not stop and something really bad is going to happen. Please advise...Im so tired of being scared to death....

[zubaforlife]

Hello everyone. I am a 33 year old mother of four, and I have had anxiety and heart flutters, palpitations and skipped beats that actually feel really funny, and some times they even hurt. This is a saver sign of stress. It is rally important to get enough sleep at night and manage stress accordingly. Get active ! Mine always gets worse or more noticeable when I am inactive. My body seems to have lots of energy with no where to go some times. This can also manifest itself as anxiety. My advice is do not be afraid of it! Manage it ! Your cardiologist is not leading you astray. Fear only increases our anxieties and makes things seem worse then what they are. Try to stay positive. Mine was so bad when I was 19 I could not even leave my own house. Now nothing stops me from doing what I enjoy doing. Its all a mental block! I can honestly say that with confidence because I live it all my life. I still  get my moments when I can not deal, but when its that bad that's what lorazepam is for. You just need to trust in the realities of life. And accept that we all die some time. Some of the healthiest ppl I know died young, while life long drunks and addicts have lived to see there late 70's . Really genetics is only one factor. What you eat, do, live is a huge factor as well. And heart health is advancing every year. I hope this helps. You should not have to live your life in fear of dying. We all have that destiny and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. So live every moment to the fullest and do your best to just take good care of you. And one more thing, look at this past year and half. What is different? You will see that stressful changes, good or bad, will most defiantly trigger this stuff.
Good luck! I believe in your ability to change this for yourself! :)

[ian15]

love how you fight your fear.... i want to hear more how to overcome fear with skip beats. im not sure if its anxiety thats causing my skip beats.... how would you know?

[donna80]

Awe bless yes i hear you :-).. I had the same problem when i had to have an mri with contrast, omg i felt like a right idiot!!

I also get palpitations, they are so scary, i have had all the tests done, and all they picked up were sinus tachy, pvc's and pac's all benign... Just the anxiety over them..

I get them everytime i go in the shower, but i wont help myself, i was given beta blocker propananlol but i am terrified of it, i have taken it once and had the side affects lol.. I wont touch it again, i have just started KALMS bought from boots the chemst, hoping they will help me.. I have also started to make time for myself, i am not rushing around for no one anymore.. Fed up of it...

Make time for yourself, learn how to control your breathing. Its so easy to do.. BUT when the fear hits you, when the palps hit you, i understand its very hard to stop worrying, which in turn makes the symptoms worse.. I still dont know how to control when that happens, i guess cbt will help us change the neg thought to a positive, and eventually we will automaticly think positive..

Also when your experiencing a symptom, try focusing on your big toe, how it feels, you can feel it touching your other toes etc, or some people focus on their breathing (for me it makes me hyperventilate lol)...

Hope ive helped..

[gtobill]

whin i do something strenuous or bendover i get skipped heart beats its getting rediculous.

[Genny83]

Panic Symptoms?

Well, for example, while I was doing the ct scan, I was flushed before, red in the face just thinking about it...my heart seemed to be beating faster........then once the nurse told me some effects of the iv contrast, ...well,....I thought I was gonna go into cardiac arrest...Im not kidding you. I lay on the bed, she gave me the iv....when I know Im about to panic, I start joking around, Im very sarcastic, trying to appear relaxed, and maybe calm myself down.....but then that nurse left the room, and I knew that stuff was going thru my veins...I couldnt NOT get a good breath, and this is what happens.....at that point, I had chest pains, my hearts was POUNDING, like I could hear it, fell it inmy throat even, I wa slosing my breath, my throat got all dry, I was dizzy....then when the nurse walked back and in and asked how I made out, Ijumped and laughed about how I had myself so stressed out--that was it.....got of there fast, and laughed at myself the whole to the car with a friend of mine, telling her,..."next time I get like that, smack me!!"...I was perfectly normal, but my fear of the dye, of an allergic reaction had me in complete panic!

Symptoms can be different for me.....depends ont he situation, but its usually chest pain-especially if I hear bad news or something of that nature, sharp chest pain...headache...like I cant catch my breath....I cant lay down cause my heart feels likes it pounding and I can hear it..........last night for example, after reading so much about all this, and brain tumors and everything else, Ihad a pounding headache, I woke every hour last night--woke up with chest pains.........I do it to myself, mut it feels good to know whats going on now,.....

[RARA35]

I get those palps when I go through anxiety. I was so freaked out at first, I had all kinds of testing done, just to find out I was totally O.K. The Dr. explained to me, although it feels as if your heart is skipping a beat, you are actually having another beat in there. One time, while I was going through the thick of things, I was so nervous around some new people I was meeting, they wouldn't stop. I had to excuse myself and go call my Dr. She put me on a beta-blocker (which I hated and didn't use for long.) I finally calmed myself down and was so embarrassed by the situation. I have since got more control and occasionally get them. Sometimes when my hormones are out of wack! I think a lot of people go through this and I don't think it's a dangerous situation, just nerve racking!

[EroToo]

Thanks for responding so quickly.  Glad to see you have a great sense of humor.  What are your panic symptoms? I think I could live with them all except the constant shortness of breath.  (or maybe not).  Got dizzy today and that scared me too.  If I weren't a woman, I would think it was my prostate LOL.  Didn't make that one up.  Someone else on the group said it to me.

[Genny83]

You can reallly freak yurself out you know.

I learned this when I had my ct scan today...lol......I was super nervous about getting an iv for contrast, I hate putting **** in my body, Im always paranoid over allergic reactions, n just a plain sook.

The nurse had the needle in my arm, started telling me what I may experience, about 1 min later I wa slike,.."oh yeah, I fell that..I feel all hot and flush, and short of breath"..she laughed, said she didnt even administer the stuff yet! I felt like an idiot, so then she leaves the room, the stuff goes thru my veins, Im lying there int he machine, complete panic...my heart beat soo loud, and heart, had heart palitations....couldnt catch my breath at all--thought for sure my throat was closing over....I was freaking out, I was just baout to put my arm up and yell for help when she came back in and said,.."all done!"....I joked with her about how nervous I was, walked up and got my purse, and out the door I went, laughin at myself.....I WAS PERFECT! Adn imagine-I was about to yell for help! lol..how embarassing!?

Anyways, my point is--soimetimes we can bring this on ourselves without evenr ealizing it--I have chest pains, and skipped beats alll the time, and its now Im realizing its when Im having a bad day or week, or Im upset or osmething.....when everything seems to be going my way--Im feeling good.......anxiety is a terrible thing,...and I m learning that unfortunatel, I cave to it! and suffer.....

Gluck with it all, and just relax, be happy, and smile--yer not crazy....you prob just analyze everything and worry over everything like I do.....and dont even realize it!!!!

I hope you do ok!!

[EroToo]

My 2 kids, 29 and 31 think I am crazy because I went to the ER and had all the tests and still can't breathe.  Oh well, I've been called crazy before.  The doc upped my tranquilizers till all the new meds kick in.  I was panic free for so many years and I remember what I went through for what seems and eternity and I don't think I could live through it anymore.

karen

[silverberg]

What you have is classic Anxiety, more so since you are focused on you heart and that your father passed away from Heart Attack.

You really need to focus on accepting your heart is ok, CBT is great, you have to accept that you have had all the test and they are fine! also Really ask yourself, this skipped heartbeat, whats the odds of me having a Heart monitor on for a extended period and NOTHING?? take pencil to paper right now and really look at the odds?

You need to realize that you are focused on your heart and your gonna feel everything!

I have been free of PANIC for 7 months now, but I still have the Anxiety once in awhile (which is normal everyday living) but I went through this period with indigestion and thinking,  what if this is a sign of heart attack? really had to KNOCK IT OFF! it's just the Anxiety trying to rear it's ugly head! it takes time to refocus your thoughts, but I would suggest also that you NOT use any device to monitor your heart and everytime you start to feel anything, (get a copy of all your lab work and test results) take out them results and tell yourself, I HAVE HAD EVERY TEST, I AM FINE, I AM NOT MY FATHER, I AM ME AND THESE TEST PROVE IT, NOW IS THE TIME FOR ME TO WORK ON MY ANXIETY ISSUES AND FOR ANY FEELINGS I HAVE IN MY CHEST, WEATHER IT IS INDIGESTION, SKIPPED HEART BEAT, FLUTTER, I AM NOT A DR. I DO NOT DX MYSELF. (then make a joke about it), do this everytime! if you are somewhere you feel you can't excuse yourself or say it all in your head and make a face like you just heard a joke!  

I know what it's like, it's like me telling you not to think of a pink elephant.. LOL it will be stuck in my brain.

Now is the time for you to change your thought process and DO NOT GIVE THEM FALSE FEELINGS ANY CREDIT THAT HARM IS NEAR! keep posting and work on stopping that cycle of anxiety.

[kimalei]

I guess this is how I send back a reply.... i am new to this site. Thanks for the reply to my post. Sometimes I wonder how anyone ever deals with this. It can really make a person think they are going to go crazy. Sometimes I wonder what my kids and fiance think about me. If they think im just crazy or what. I know what you mean by the shortmess of breath... I hate that feeling and I cannot take much more of it either. My doctor just gave me pristiq samples to try and she uped my beta blocker....Now here is the crazy part, I am scared to take the meds because of what the side effects may be. I keep telling myself I will start them tomorrow but I dont. I know that I have to this time though because I am starting a new job Monday and I need to get all of this under control so I can lead a normal life.
Anyway, thanks again for your reply.
Kimalei

[EroToo]

I get palpitations, fast heart beat, shortness of breath all the time for the past couple of weeks.  I called 911 a couple of weeks ago and went to the ER last Tuesday.  The EKG and check Xrays came back normal and they said I was having severe anxiety.  Waiting for my new meds to kick in because I CANNOT take the shortness of breath anymore.  I feel like some with lung disease who is going to die any minute.  I know how you feel.  Lets hope we all start feeling better soon.  I am 58 and have had panic attacks since I was 18.  My kids still live at home and think I'm nuts.

Karen