Atrial runs and chest pain

[em1981]

I am a 24 year old female who has had abnormal heart beats since I was about 9 years old. At that time, I was told there was nothing wrong and I left it until recently when these symptoms have been bothering me again. Symptoms are: skipped beats; short runs of irregular beats that are stopped by changing my breathing pattern or what I think is the vagal maneuver; occasional high pulse (130); internal vibrating sensation that can last hours in the chest/stomach/tongue that seems to make palps worse; sharp chest pain occurring frequently on the left side basically in a circle pattern around the left breast from sternum to left side to near the collarbone, but the pain typically comes in one spot at a time, sometimes it seems to be related to movement and breathing, other times not - pain is typically not associated with palps, but rarely is.

I went to see a cardiologist and this is what was done: resting EKG - normal; 42 hour Holter - some PVCs/PACs otherwise normal; echo - normal: another 24 hour Holter - PVCs/PACs and a few atrial runs. Bloodwork for minerals & thyroid - normal. Holters didn't catch worst symptoms.

Diagnosis: anxiety! I am a worrier by nature, but at the moment there's no particular stress in my life other than these symptoms. I know the chest pain is not from panic attacks because the pain is more constant. I do get panic symptoms occasionally though. Should the atrial runs be of more concern? Why would the doc dismiss them? Also, does the pain sound muscular/skeletal? An ER doc once thought so, but it's not going away. Thanks!

[Cleveland Clinic]

em,

Your symptoms may be muscular or skeletal. With your work up the odds of anything directly related to your heart are almost zero and I wouldnt pursue any other work up.  The reason not to be of more concern for the atrial arrythmia is with a normal cardiac evaluation -- they are benign.  

You should work with a genral internist to develop a therpay plan for your chest symptoms.

You might also look back through some of the post to see how others have successfully dealt with their anxiety over their palpitations.

good luck

[em1981]

I think there's some additional details that may be important:
- A few years ago I ended up in the ER with a racing heart, they wheeled me into the cardiac emergency room and after 12 hours of this continuing they couldn't figure out why it was racing - gave me some stuff to slow it down but then it continued to race from morning to night for about the next 4-6 months - it would slow down while sleeping. I still occasionally get a racing heart, provoked by alcohol, caffeine, eating, being in the heat, or stress.
- I have had a few episodes of what seem to be panic attacks, that seem to be precipitated by a "weak heart" feeling with palps and the vibrations - during these it's almost impossible to exercise because my heart rate will jump really high and I get tired - there's also shortness of breath, etc.

Very hard to distinguish between anxiety and heart issues!! These message boards have been very comforting for me, I appreciate everyone here. Especially since I am in Canada and it takes a long time to get things diagnosed - I've been 7-8 months in the process right now. Thanks everyone!

[em1981]

Thanks! Yes, I think I need to focus on what's causing my pain now rather than worrying about my heart, because it seems as though the two are probably unrelated. Back to the docs I guess!

[Aruba417]

You sound like me! I'm also 24 and have had all the same symptoms as well as all the tests. Everything has come back normal for me too. So, I am told the palpitations are normal. So what's up with the pain? I get pain in the center of the chest as well as above my left breast. I've had this pain on/off again since January. I've seen a chiropractor, had a breast exam, seen a neurologist. I don't know what can cause the pain!!! But it IS very scary. And I can't seem to find a way to stop it. It's so unpredictable. One minute, I can feel fine, the next minute, I get pain. What have you done to relieve the chest pain? Have you found any relief?

[em1981]

I haven't found anything that can cure the pain so far - I take a lot of Advil, which seems to somewhat help, but I have to take it an awful lot to keep the pain at bay. And the second I stop taking it, it comes back.

I haven't had all the testing you've had for the pain - they just ran heart tests to make sure it wasn't that and after they decided that they just dismissed it as stress or chest wall pain. However it's not getting better so I think I'll have to go get some different kinds of tests done. I was hoping something like a chiropractor may be able to help, but I guess you didn't have any luck with that either. It's really a mystery!!

[em1981]

Thanks for the advice. I hate taking Advil as well, and I try not to as much as possible - but I did this morning and I'm still feeling a bad ache.

Like many people on these boards I'm afraid my doctor is sick of seeing me, I have a feeling she won't want to do anything if I return again for the chest pain. It's making me hesitant to go and just live with it instead.

[fearfactor]

Hi!  I have PACs, PVCs and occasional tachycardia, too.  I've been thru all the tests, ER visits, etc. and the diagnosis:  very mild MVP and ANXIETY!  At first I couldn't believe I was not dying, but I am starting to realize anxiety really can cause all these crappy, horrible feelings we have (at least for me).  I'm now trying to find some kind of medication to help my anxiety, as when I'm feeling relaxed I have no palps but when I'm stressed out I have many.  Good luck to you and I hope you find something that helps yours.

[em1981]

Thanks! My doc told me to arrange counselling because I refuse to take anxiety meds, but I haven't done that yet either. It's one of those things that takes a lot of will power to get into because it seems so weird and I don't wanna tell some stranger all my issues... oh well!

[em1981]

I have considered doing the self-help route as well (since I haven't started counselling yet, still debating it). Glad to hear yoga helped as well, I was thinking of doing something like that. Definitely need to strengthen up in any case.

Thanks!

[zapatista]

I have had PVC's for about the last 10 years.  I am a male, 38, not overweight, former smoker.
Mine can come and go, they seem to be stress related and get worse with alcohol and heavy food.
My main concern is that I seem to experience soreness with mine.  the more i get the more I have soreness, and when they are harder they increase the soreness as well.
Sometimes the soreness will extend to my hand.
I have tried to see if other people in the forums were experienceing this and with little luck.
Does anyone out there share this experience?

[shansgrl]

hi my name is melissa i am 21 years old and i was diagnosed with 6pvcs and 1 pac in 48 hours i also jus t recently noticed something new.....say that iam running around the house trying to clean up then i sit down or bend over fast i will get this weird air bubble type feeling in my throat and chest. iam not sure if this is a pvc or pac because it feels so much different then the fluttery feelin i usually would get i was also told that pvc/pacs are very normal and i have nothing to worry about and that if a cardio put a holter moniter on anyone it would show at least 6 pvs/pacs in not 48hrs but 12-24 hrs so that was quite nice to hear i also have bad anxiety attacks and the weird bubble feeling seems to happen when i think about it more same with the pvcs/pacs.   Im not sure but i dont think i have ever experienced a run before can some one explai what that feels like? i guess my best advice and what i should be telling myself is dont worry and live life to fullest and once you get your mind off the goll darn things you will notice they dont come as often!!!!! we are all going to live long healthy happy lives!!!!

[Nikhil1]

A related discussion, Palpitations with chest pain and Shortness of breath was started.