Heart skipping a beat

[KennyTS]

For the past couple of weeks I have been feeling my heart skip a beat at night while lying down. A few months ago, i went to the doctor due to my anxiety. we noticed an extra beat (ventrical) on the ekg. so being the nervous person that i am, I went to a cardiologist. He did a stress test followed by a sonogram of my heart just as the stress test ended with my heart rate up to 175. he said my heart really was fine and that if he had 100 patients my age (45) come in, 50 may have an extra beat here and there. So I calmed down and was fine up until a few weeks ago when it felt like my heart stopped for just a second while i was trying to sleep. it happens a few times a night and i am streesing about it so much that I think I may be doing it to myself with my anxiety. My question is this, being the doctor, who came highly recommended by a few people, said that my heart is fine, should i still be worried and what else can i do to fix this?

[CCFHeartMD18]

It sounds like you are describing premature ventricular contractions (PVC's) which, as your physician pointed out, is very common.  These extra heart beats from the heart's bottom chamber are not life threatening but can sometimes be problematic in terms of symptoms.

As the prior post pointed out you can do some things to help.  I would recommend keeping a diary to see if you can pinpoint certain things you do that may exacerbate them.  Biofeedback can be a helpful exercise.  As a last resort, you could discuss with your physician regarding medical therapy to suppress them but these medications come with side effects that could potentially be worse than the feeling of PVC's.  

[kalisfreddo]

Hello, I have this exact same issue. I am only 20, but my cardiologist assured me that my extra beats were fine, even though I can feel them all the time. I notice them more at night when I lay down because my body is still and not active. The best thing that I can do is cut out caffeine, and lower alcohol content and try to control my anxiety (on a small xanax dose). I only notice my heartbeat when I'm laying down now if I think about it, and my cardiologist said that he could prescribe me beta blockers to lessen the notice of the heart beat if  I wanted them.

Hope this makes you feel better :)