Anxiety?

[IMFletcher]

Hi Everyone,

Just a simple question...

Do the majority of you, on this site suffer from some level of anxiety (I know I do!!)? We all acknowledge that there is a direct correlation between anxiety and ectopics. Is the predisposition to being anxious about health issues something that exacerbates heart issues, such as PVCs/PACs? Obviously those with anxiety will find it hard to ignore the sensations of premature beats, and seek constant reassurance. In your opinion, how much of this struggle is purely a mind game?

Best to all,
TM

[Jannie411]

I used to have severe anxiety before I had my ablation.  Many doctors told me that the anxiety was what brought on the SVT episodes, tried to give me tranquillizers.  I refused to take them because the SVT came long before the anxiety, not the other way around.  To make a very long story short, my EP agreed with me -- it was very validating to hear after all the years of being told I was wrong.

[DonnaS77]

I can relate to what you are saying. I wasn't feeling good. I went to er and heart rate was 250.I was told 5 more mins. and I was going to get zapped. I had vtach on monitor. The trigger for that one was watching tv and laughed and set it off. I have recently started having the racing heart again.I HATE when they say it is stress. I had my Mom passing and I had no events. I recently had trouble with a heat wave. It triggered racing heart again. I walked from my bathroom to the couch and pulse was 164. I rocked a child and it started racing 140. I find it fast when I stand up I get dizzy.Stood up last Friday and it was 160 walking to my car. None had anything to do with stress.

[Mom2four85]

growing up with arrhythmia's all sorts of things including anxiety was to blame...first it was for attention (umm really?) the dr said I would make my heart beat really fast so I would faint..yeah I loved hitting my head or getting stitches from the falls...then as a teen it was because I didn't eat enough and anemic and then I exercised too much...as an adult it was because I had kids too early (age 19) and stressed alot; then because I had anxiety/panic attacks; then blamed on gaining weight from pregnancies & kids...you name it it's been blamed on it probably.

Have I had anxiety? yes; but I had no clue until I was 42 what was even wrong with me and I've had arrhythmia's since I was 9.  Did I wait around for them? not hardly; did they bother me? not really - even with 50,000 pvc's, VT VTach, my heart stopping when I faint.  I did whatever I wanted when I wanted and if I felt a run or fainted; I just got back up and went on about my business.

Until 2 years ago when dr's literally freaked out over my case.  50,000+ pvc's, sleep apnea started, damage started and they told me to stop exercising and no activity = WRONG answer...

I wish I knew then what I know now I would have never stopped what I was doing and stayed active but they scared me and told me I would die if I did; so what I have something dangerous - it didn't crop up over night and probably has been there my whole life if some of my dr's are right...so I stopped living like they told me and have had to slowly crawl and scrape my way back up the well they threw me into.

I've had more anxiety in 2 years than I have in my other 42 years combined...I think it's due to not exercising which really helped with the symptoms and control anxiety/stress.  I literally turned into the Hulk - don't make me angry because that adrenaline surges and I'm out of control; it stinks and causes more problems.

whether they're benign or not doesn't make that much of a difference; you treat them pretty much the same way and just cope with what you're dealing with and move on

[dmacd74]

Pacs and pvcs make me stressed, then the stress increases them, vicious cycle.

[merileegal]

Anyone who knows me sees me as a pretty calm person. When I started having SVT I instinctively knew on the onset of the attack that being calm was critical. Like Jerry, I can have a short fuse at times and get stressed for a while until I think things through and put things in perspective. Stress seems to be a big trigger for my arrythmias. So I guess when I'm stressed I am feeling more anxious which results in more arrythmias.

[Jerry_NJ]

I don't think I am anxious, but I can "fly of the handle" too easily... my wife says my voice gets hard and harsh and I don't even notice it.... but I don't think I am anxious.  

On the other hand I suffer from permanent atrial fibrillation, so maybe I am anxious all the time and don't know it because I have no other reference.  Now, I know I can become frightened at times, is that a form of anxiousness?

[lds001]

I have had anxiety for years...started when I was 19.  Palpitations started in my early thirties.  I know for a fact that when I hae Palps....I am anxious....so did the palps trigger my anxiety or did my anxiety trigger the palps.
Sometimes I know that stress is a trigger for my heart issues...sometimes not.
For me Anxiety and heart issues go hand in hand.

[IMFletcher]

Hi -

Thanks for the feedback...interesting comments...Ireneo - do your arrhythmias really not make you tense?? I wish I was apathetic towards my premature beats...!!

I am still curious if those who experience heart issues are/were people who have a history of general anxiety toward health...perhaps in the past it was headaches, muscle twitches, other medical concerns etc...Clearly some of us are wired to be more concerned regarding any abnormalities with our body...not necessarily hypochondria, but definitely sensitive to any "issues" that may occur...I know I have had a predisposition to worry about my health more then others (friends and family) in the past...

I am certainly not a psychologist, just curious if anyone out there was "low stress/anxiety" until their heart issues arrived on the scene...

Thanks for all of your input.

Best,
TM

[ireneo]

I notice if I'm tense about something, my heart will act up more. But my heart arrhythmias don't make me tense.

[curmudgen]

"Just a simple Question" has no simple answer from those of us with benign episodic PAC's/PVC's..... I can't imagine anyone of us are sitting around anxiously awaiting another episode of arrhythmia.  That said anxiety triggers adrenalin, which in turn stimulates the heart....Turning off anxiety and waiting for the adrenalin surge to disappear certainly is beyond mental control.  I tried what I never thought I would do and that was to increase my dose of beta blocker.  It has been three weeks now and I seem to have fewer episodes and they do not last as long.  I am not recommending this for anyone to try because of the individual responses we have to drugs.  I monitored my BP and pulse to make sure they didn't get too low.  
  

[bbxx]

I was sitting talking on the phone one minute..fine...suddenly my heart felt odd, and within seconds I was going out. I could feel like waves going on for about a minute in my heart. It was odd, and I was lying down unable to sit up...I almost went out even laying down. Then my heart went into a very fast beating....for quite a good 15 minutes if you include. B the ambulance ride. By the time the ambulance arrived the only thing going on was the tachy...they missed the whole bizarre heart rhtym....so of course they ask me if I have anxiety. I said I DO RIGHT NOW! They acted like I had a panic attack. I told them I did not have a panic attack UNTIL I started to go OUT! When you are laying there and you feel your heart in an odd rhythm and you had a near faint....you KNOW it may be serious...so YES...I got scared.....AFTER.

[littlegreenman1]

No, not at all. I'm anti-anxious.

My SVT was very random and exascerbated by exercise.
I used to wish it were mental or something I could control rather than something that was controlling me.

[MichelleP_3811]

I can only go by my own experience.  I had avnrt until I had it ablated a couple of weeks ago.  The episodes were not necessarily triggered by anxiety but if I was anxious or stressed I would get more episodes.  I generally would get one or two a week but they tended to be short lived.  When I agreed to do the ablation the two weeks before I had it done I was having 7 in a week and some of them long.  I was very anxious about doing the procedure and so I have to conclude that though anxiety is not the reason for having the condition having anxiety will make the condition worse.  Whatever one can do to release stress in their lives will make their symptoms easier to deal with.

[DeltaDawn23]

It is pretty hard to be calm when your heart is flippin' out.  I have Afib, pac's and pvc's as well as short runs of tachycardia.  When my heart is out of rhythym I get dizzy, breathless and sometimes feel faint . . .  so yeah, I'm anxious!  What bothers me is doctor's trying to say, "Oh, you're anxious, that's your problem.  Well the anxiety came AFTER the heart issues, not before.  I didn't know until recently that the Afib caused the dizzy, out-of -breath feeling - nobody told me that and many other symptoms were classic Afib.  It would have been nice to know over the last 10 or 11 years -- THAT would have made me less anxious.