Skipped Beats

Hello my name is Chad. i write in a couple of days ago about having some skipped beats. You told me to watch out for lightheadedness or chest pain. What I have since noticed is that I do occasionally get a sort of buzzing feeling in my forehead and right behind my eyes. I dont know if I would call it lightheaded because I don't seem to loose my balance or fell like I need to sit down. I never really associated the skips and this buzzing before because they don't seem to happen together. I also have wrote in a while back about some chest pain and you thought it probably wasnt caused by my heart. This pain comes and goes usually wuth stress but sometimes just appears out of the blue. Sometimes it is in the left center of my chest, sometimes right at the bottom of my ribs, or in my back, neck, or my arm but always on the left  side. Sometimes it is a sharp stabbing pain and other times its a dull aching pain. These skips, pain, and buzzing feeling usually happen separate from eachother. Most of the time I will feel a skip and not feel either of the other two. Or I will feel this buzzing and not have noticed any skips or pain.
I have had ekgs, an echo, a stress test, a holter, an event recorder, chest X rays, and blood tests. Its been a few years back but they said everything looked OK. I never was able to catch one of these skips on any of the tests but I do remember having the pain during my echo.

Do you think these other things i have described may mean something more serious?

Should i go back to the DR.?

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Whenever questions like this arise we always recommend returning to your doctor.  Most likely everything is normal but things may have changed and it is better to get it checked out.

[ChrisMcG]

It sounds as though, like me, you are extremely tuned into your body.  Once you have been scared by the "skips" or PVCs, it takes a long time to stop looking for something really serious.  I am not an MD but my sense is that the dizziness that signals a more significant problem is pretty obvious.  In other words, you really really feel as though you are going to pass out, or you actually do have fainting spells.  I have experienced the buzzing thing that you describe, but I think its nothing.  Or anxiety related somehow.  I remember obsessing over whether I felt dizzy or not once I was told that that is a sign of a more significant problem.  I also get random chest pains, but so does just about everyone I know, even those without a "cardiac problem."  It's just that once you have been scared about your heart, all those little things seem like Something.  Hang in there.

[chad]

Thanks Chris, I really appreciate your comments
I hope your right.

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Thanks for your comments Chris.  You are most likely right but it is always better to err n the conservative side of checking things out first.

[Vince]

I've been educating myself on these posts throughout the day.
I, too, have suffered from skipped beats for years.  Recently, they have become more frequent.

I've been through EKG's, holters, Echos, etc, all coming out fine..  Although I plan on contacting my doctor for a follow-up, I have found great comfort in the similarities to other postings and it has brought peace of mind. Thank you for this service.  It's been extremely helpful and informative.

[ChrisMcG]

I agree:  this is an invaluable site for pvc sufferers because this condition causes so much anxiety and worry (usually not warranted).  It provides what our (sometimes numerous) visits to the cardiologists cannot:  ongoing information, feedback and reassurance.  I know that it is considered benign, but because it doesn't feel that way, the pvc patient is helped tremendously by the kind of supportive feedback by the MDs and others with the condition.   If only I could convey the fear and the damage that such a basically innocuous rhythm disturbance causes!  It would be interesting to know whether a certain "personality profile" is succeptible to pvcs or whether the pvcs themselves engender a certain response.  But to the Drs. -- believe me when I say that some well-placed reassurance (after allthe necessary tests have been administered) does as much to heal as any medication at your disposal.  Your work at this site reaches far and wide, trust me.

[Sandra L.]

See, now I have the opposite, never was much "worried" about my enormous amount of skipped beats, my mom has them too, but they have started making me intensely, unmistakeably dizzy, and pass out if I don't lie down right away.

You can't mistake this sort of thing! Before I pass out, sometimes I do get a tingling feeling in my face, along with a lot of other weird symptoms.

Good luck, I'm still trying to find out what this more ominous PVC's thing is. I have never had a normal EKG. Always show tachycardia, PVC's, single, or in runs. Blood pressure is too low. Anxiety level is excellent, no anxiety here:)

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Thanks for your comments.