Arrhythmia!! Can anyone relate?? Long, sorry

[be still my beating heart 13]

I am a 30 year old female, smoker :-(, and experiencing heart palps, ectopic beats, with both fast and slow heart rate.

Brief history:

-Palpitations (pouding heart) for 7 years, daily, esp. after heavy meals, with dizziness upon standing, burning and weak legs

-Ectopic Beats:
   - began two years ago, once a month
   - once a week about year & 1/2 ago
   - now daily for just under a year, as many as 100/day

-A-fib or tachy (unsure) twice while recently pregnant


My father passed away at the age of 50, shortly before my palps surfaced, from an electrical disturbance in his heart.  The coroner called me and told me to have everyone in his family checked, that his heart was structurally sound with no blockages, and a pill could have saved his life.  I sought medical assistance through my GP and ER docs 8 months later and was told by all that my ECG's were fine, that it was just anxiety, and they gave me Celexa.  I took it for a month and quit after a severe personality change.  I battled my "anxiety disorder" for about 5 years before going through a 15 week at-home self-help program which relieved all of my anxiety but the palps, dizziness, and occasional burning, weak legs never disappeared.  Listed above is the "time-line" of my ectopic beats history.  When they first surfaced I had insurance and went to my GP atleast 5 times before he referred me to a cardio who did an ECG, ECG stress test, echo w/out consrast, and I wore an event recorder for a month.  ECG, fine, stress test, fine, echo, fine...a few extra beats were captured by the event recorder and the cardio said "nothing to worry about, quit smoking..."  Easier said than done.  I try to quit everyday.  Anyway, I recently had my second child.  After the birth of my first I experienced a withdrawl of heart symptoms for about two months which slowly progressed back into the daily palps, the ectopic beats surfacing about 1 year and half after my first child birth.  I delivered my second just over two months ago.  While pregnant I had a severe increase in the ectopic beats, with two extremely scary moments of either A-fib or tachy.  I again experienced a relief from the palps, but the extra beats remained.  They normally felt like a "thump and roll" but now they feel like a pressure filled beat.  The dizziness and burning legs has only happened a few times in the passed two months.  But I have begun to feel dizzy while sitting, followed by a headache, and an awareness of my heart beating VERY slowly, and this scares me into a panic attack (chest pain, cold hands/feet, sweaty palms/pits).  The second time this happened I was cooking dinner, felt dizzy, ect., was then taken by ambulance to the ER where they did an ECG, 3 chest X-rays, chest CT scan with contrast...normal ECG, no blockages, go home...In the ambulance the paramedic said my electrical current wasn't "pausing" as it should, like it was firing in the atria and the ventricles were contracting too soon??? and mentioned WPW syndrome.  I have also taken my pulse upon awakening and was startled to find my pulse was 44 bpm.  My normal resting pulse is between 64 & 72 bpm, with an increase to 94-120 bpm while standing.  I have CONSTANT low BP, 94/62 average, even while pregnant.  But I smoke and I have only ever heard of it causing your heart rate to increase and increase your BP as well.  I have no insurance and am waiting to be approved to be seen at the local free-clinic in mid-June.

Does anyone else have a similar condition??  What could this be??  Is it just anxiety, and if so, has anyone ever heard of a panic attack with a standing heart rate of 64 BPM??  I an familiar with sick sinus, brady/tachy, and heart block.  I did alot of research after the death of my father.  I am scared to death that I need immediate assistance, because when it's too late....it's just too late!  Any advice, comments, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!  Thanks to all who read the whole thing!

[be still my beating heart 13]

Thank you both for responding!!  Heartflutters, it's comforting to know there are people out there like me who, although they've been suffering, have had a condition similar to mine for quite some time.  I am hoping mine is a "harmless" arrhythmia as well.  And your right, I do need to stop worrying about it so much, take a deep breath, but then again that deep breath would cause an extra beat, so what do I to forget about them?? :-)  And to Maggie, my father was seen by his GP about 6 months before his passing for a complete physical and his dr. gave him the all clear.  He had no complaints about his heart at that time.  He passed unexpectedly at the age of 50, although he had been complaining of being worried about his heart for a few months.  We all told him not to wait till the beginning of the year to get on my mothers insurance, to just go and get it checked out and he passed on Dec. 11, 2000.  He had never been evaluated for problems with his heart.  The coroner only had the results of the autoposy to go by.  I believe they labeled his cause of death, heart disease, but I can't be certain.
Would long QT cause your heart rate to drop low at times, then races at other times, with extra beats in between??  I'll have to read up on it.  My father would never talk to me very long about his worries about his heart so I can't "compare" our symptoms.  His father, mother, and brother died of heart disease as well...  Thanks again!

[maggiemag]

Did they tell you exactly what arrhythmia your father died from??  If the coroner actually called and said to have everyone checked out, it sounds like prolonged Q-T, but you must not have it as it almost always shows up on EKG.  I would have them put a name to whatever it was.

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

p.s. when i smoked made them much worse i layed them down never touched another one, i wanted a healthy heart and smoking made it unhealthy

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

so sorry your going through all of this. first let me say ive been on a 10 week of pacs all day long 6-7 a min, its not been fun, mine feel most like flutters and many in a row. i know they are pac because i wore a 24 hr montor and i had over 3000 in 24 hr, yes they scare the heck out of me and has caused me to be very anxity and stress, i have not gone a day in 10 weeks with out panic.
my heart pounds races and flutters/palps  but they are not going to kill me . i know thats no help but its true if you have been checked out your fine, my pac are coming from the top part of my heart thats where pac comes from, so it scared me to thinking thats where the ele tells the heart to beat , but my cardio told me they are not dangerous from top ot bottom unless you have a heart condation, they have never said you do right . stress will cause you to have more of them so try and relax, ask for a 30 day event montor thats how sometimes i have to get my nerves under control by wearing one i can send it in and they tell me its ok after 3 weeks you relax and know they are not going kill you. i know when you have a baby your body changes and i have read on here where a lot of after birth they have many of them. maybe someone will come in who just had a child and you will feel better about that, i think if you have wpw it shows up on a ekg, did the er say anything about that, if not dont worry about it .and if your like me the more you read on net the worse you feel , so not good to read all of that. if er sent you home your fine, try relax , it will help the palps to slow down . easy said i know been init 9 weeks . everyone told me same but i didnt . ive had them 23 years and still here , at first like you a few here and there last two years i have them once a year and they last for months all day long. i hope you have a palp free and stress free nite.