Odd vibrating in chest

[beerhoch]

Hello,

I am a 38 yo white male wdiagnosed with CAD in June and had angioplasty & 4 stents for blockages in my LAD & RCA.

Yesterday I had an odd experience; I was awoken from sound sleep with a rapid heart beat (100 BPM) and an odd vibrating sensation in my chest. It felt as though an electrical charge was in my chest, like a motor was running perhaps. It stopped abruptly, like someone had shut a switch off, then started back up again. I had the same thing happen later in the day while I was nodding off to sleep in the afternoon. I also felt some palpitations during the events.

Have you ever encountered these types of symptoms before? If so, what might have caused it? My cardiologist is booked until next week and I would appreciate any insight you might have on the matter in the meantime. Would it be wise to seek emergency care if this happens again?

Thank you for your help.

[Cleveland Clinic]

beerhoch,

hopefully only a nickname.

Have you ever encountered these types of symptoms before?

Alot of people have a heightened awareness of symptoms in their chest after having unudergone cardiac procedures.

If so, what might have caused it?

Its impossible to say. Generally the quality of what you are describing do not seem to be related to blockages per se.  However, this can sometimes be misleading. The episodic nature and the palpitaitions tend to go more with some type of arrythmia.  Without seeing an electrocardiogram of the episode its really impossible to say.


My cardiologist is booked until next week and I would appreciate any insight you might have on the matter in the meantime. Would it be wise to seek emergency care if this happens again?

Given your history I would tend to err on the side of a thorough evaluation of your symptoms.

good luck

[arthur]

I have exprienced the exact same symptoms. I get PACs due to pulmonary vein foci, and my EP has suggested that the vibration feeling could be my nervous system picking up the focal signalling.  Each focus is like a little motor that is always on.  What changes are the conditions which allow one to notice the motor running and/or allow the electrical signalling from this motor to reach normal pacemaker systems (causing the cardiac hiccup affectionately known as a PAC or PVC).  Those changing conditions are related to the state of your autonomic nervous sytem (affected by posture, eating, exercise, drugs and emotions).

The motor sensation was big when I was quite anxious about my condition (autonomic systems way up).  These days, with a great deal of understanding to quell the anxiety, I rarely feel the motor running (but I still do occassionally, like when waking up from a vivid dream).  Ask your EP if any of this makes sense.

-Arthur

[beerhoch]

I sell beer for a major importor, thus the nickname! The night previous to this incident however I did consume a pretty good amount of wine before, during and after dinner, I was somewhat intoxicated when I went to bed. Perhaps this had some influence on the incident.

I have had palpitations before (wore a holter monitor for 24 hrs 7 weeks ago, told results were 'fine'), but I have never had this 'buzzing' or vibrating sensation before however. I did not have them today at all. I did have diarrhea on the day I had the occurance, and several times that week (I came home from a european vacation with a GI bug, i'm now on antibiotics for). I had wondered if perhaps my electrolytes were messed up from the fluid loss?

I have also had two thallium stress tests in the past two months at two dfferent facilities (one administered by a CCF trained cardiologist, Dr. Salazaar at Toulane University in New Orleans), results of both were negative.

The buzzing sensation scared me, i just put a call in to my cardiologist to see if he would reccommend increasing my atenolol from 25 mg am & pm until I see him.

[knicks30]

Hey i get the exact same kind of buzzing in my left chest area. I notice it when i like bend over to pick something. I can also make it happen by banging on my chest. When i bang on my heart area(not hard) i start feeling that vibration. It could probably be the muscles in your chest probably spasm but then again i dont know. That's wierd though i thought i only felt that!

[whelans5]

Those palpitations are a pain aren't they.  I wish there was a quick fix for them.  I get them a lot.

One kind of feeling I have gotten twice in the last year was really weird.  It felt like a sharp pain that shot from one side of my chest to the other side, but didn't go anywhere else.  On both occassions it happened just after I woke up in the morning.

Has anyone else felt this kind of feeling before?  It has worried me since it doesn't feel like anything else I have ever had.  I didn't get any palpitations at that time, or at least none that I felt and trust me, I feel them all!

I wonder if it could be an esophogeal thing.  But then again, it would go from one side to the other would it?  I would think it would be just in the centre of my chest.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Connie

[mosem]

I experience the same symptoms, and have had difficulty explaining the sensation to the Cardiologist, who says it sounds like nothing he has come across before.
I can only describe it as a rapid buzzing in the left side of my chest that wakes me up from sleep sometimes 3 times a night. It always occur when I am rest. I can sometimes ease it by standing up and moving around or walking for 15 minutes or so.
It starts and stops immediately, like someone turning on an engine, and sometimes it stalls and starts rapidly again like a car motor. It is annoying, and I lose sleep.
It only started after I began having heart problems (as yet undiagnosed but I suspect valve problems brought on by the use of Minocycline for a long term chronic fatigue problem).
I have had an ECG when I get the symptoms and the cardio says there is a slight 'spike' but nothing he can understand. I expect an ECG when you have this sensation will show nothing - which I think is really weird.
It does seem electrical, as if the circuitry is somehow cross wired.
I not that Arthur says he gets a PAC or PVC but I do not know what these acronyms stand for. I have a 20 year history of ventricular tachycardia.
After stumping the cardiologist with this one, I thought I was the only person in the world with the problem.
Hey, we should form a group aimed at getting this diagnosed.
It is definitely coming from the heart or near it, but my cardio is completely stumped. I am going to try another.
I thought it might be a rapidly vibrating heart valve, or an arterial bruit or coronary artery spasms or oesophagel spasms (brought on by reflux - which I do not have), but I have not been able to come up with a satisfactory answer.
I have noticed one thing though. If my nasal and air passages are clear while sleeping at night I am less likely to be woken up with this buzzing. So what does this tell me?

I would really like you to e-mail me with a result if your ECG showed anything during one of these episodes, or if you find out what is causing them.
Thanks
Mark
***@****
Perth, Western Australia

[Bethbethbeth]

I can't believe it!  Like everyone else, I thought I was the only one having these strange vibrations deep on the left side of my chest.  Due to family history of heart disease, palpatations and odd heart beats, I have had a heart ultrasound, bloodtests, and wore a cardiac monitor for a month, during which time I recorded my "episodes" of irregular beats.  (Naturally, the vibration didn't occur during that time.)  My cholesterol is 168, my heart has non-life-threatending "extra beats" and I exercise very regularly. I am about 25 lbs overweight.  My cardiologist is not concerned about anything revealed by my tests.  I didn't mention the vibrations to him - I thought he'd think I was nuts!  I recently went off Monopril for high blood pressure and started Toprol XL, which makes my heart beat so hard, I called my dr and was advised to cut the dose in half to 25 mgs per day for at least a week to give my body time to adjust.  Now I get the vibrating sensation almost every night.  It used to only happen when I drank too much. (I hardly drink anymore.)  I'm so glad to have found this site!  Thanks, everyone for sharing ---
Beth

[Pluvi]

Wow, I am not insane !
Or at least not insane and alone with this bizarre affliction.
Using Google this was the only discussion of this *condition* I found...

When I first noticed this, I thought it was a mild earthquake (I live in California), then I thot it was a truck or some heavy equipment running nextdoor.

Since it's continuous (when it's vibrating), I assumed it can't be tied to the heart beating. I thot it might be some muscles "shivering" like or spasaming, which is really what it seems like it is.

It does seem to occur more often when I'm relaxing or lying down - as opposed to sitting at my desk.  And sometimes it's more faint than other times, and seems to be in the general center of my chest (can't tell if front or back).

It's just damn bizarre !

[Pluvi]

Wow, I am not insane !
Or at least not insane and alone with this bizarre affliction.
Using Google this was the only discussion of this *condition* I found...

When I first noticed this, I thought it was a mild earthquake (I live in California), then I thot it was a truck or some heavy equipment running nextdoor.

Since it's continuous (when it's vibrating), I assumed it can't be tied to the heart beating. I thot it might be some muscles "shivering" like or spasaming, which is really what it seems like it is.

It does seem to occur more often when I'm relaxing or lying down - as opposed to sitting at my desk.  And sometimes it's more faint than other times, and seems to be in the general center of my chest (can't tell if front or back).

It's just damn bizarre !

[donray]

Sorry to hear about your situation but it sounds to me like an arterial spasm which is very likely a sign of a severe blockage in at least one major vessel and is also refferd to as variant angina variant angina is due to coronary artery spasm.  About two-thirds of people with it have severe coronary atherosclerosis in at least one major vessel. The spasm usually occurs very close to the blockage.

If you are interested their is a natural product that has been proven very effective in reversing heart disease and preventing sudden cardiac death and heart attacks by safely and effectively unclogging blocked arteries it truly is and amazing product it has also been proven by countless testamonials and medical results to reverse congestive heart failure it can be found at.

www.newheartandbody.com  good luck!

[arthur]

The severe blockage paradigm can also exhibit itself as a "thrill", ie, a periodic vibration due to the turbulence of blood flow.  The vibration I and others have described is continuous, and is very likely due to a cardiac focus whose movement (to and fro) is being picked up by the nervous system surrounding it, and amplified to the extent of "feeling" it.

It is clearly centered at the back of the heart, and is most easily felt when lying down on one's back.

-Arthur

[veelad]

donray

There is NO product that can reverse heart disease, once the muscle is dead, it cannot be bought back to life. There is a new development in the UK which combines 6 drugs, 4 of which are known , asprin, an anti-biotic, cholestorol drug (statin),losec (ant acid drug) and two secret ingredient drugs all combined into one tablet which is claimed to cut heart attacks and failures by a whopping 86% but is still undergoing trials and wont be around for another 2 years.

I would not advise anyone to go "herbal" or natural drug taking, and always seek advice from your doctor

[DebW1954]

A related discussion, Vibration in left side of chest was started.