Feeling down about palps

[venusi]

I have had sinus tachy and high bp for almost 3 yrs and it is making mine and my friends and family's lives a misery.  It scares the crap out of me.  I'm 23wks pregnant now, I'm on beta blockers, but I am finding that over the past couple of days the beta blockers have not helped much.  

I am getting sick of getting palps every time I eat, my heart racing after every meal and I bloat really badly.  I am more hungry now because I'm pregnant and whenever I eat a nice steady rate reaches about 90 odd and I feel it palpitating in my stomach for hours.  I havent been able to breathe deeply for over 3 years too, for some reason when it all started my breathing was also weak and shallow yet slow.  I have had tests - all apparently normal!

But because it scares me it has ruined my former marriage, the whole issue caused my now ex husband to just get so sick of me being scared and asking him to check to see if his rate was the same as mine or if mine was abnormally quick (when it began), then I have been scared to exert myself in anyway.  I used to be really active and now I fear climbing the stairs because when I do my legs ache like mad, I feel exhausted and my heart rate is really quick - that's just climbing a small flight of stairs of about 7 or 8 steps.  

I am 31, tall, slim, I have a healthy diet.  I just cannot understand why out of nowhere I got like this.

I'm now in another relationship and it is destroying this one.  I have these awful attacks sometimes, maybe panics I don't know, but I get SVT with them and I am terrified now of being alone at any time in case my heart rate goes mad.  It causes me and my new boyfriend to have massive rows because I am scared of going anywhere alone because of it.

I have seen a cardiologist and they cannot find anything wrong and so I keep gettng told its anxiety.  But my questions are:

Can anxiety really make your heart rate permanently elevated so much that you need beta blockers to keep it at a reasonably normal rate?  Can the arrythmia be cured?  And how???  I'm giving birth this year and the whole concept of the heart rate issue and the birth are terrifying me.  I wish it was cured before the birth.  I was so healthy until I gave birth last time (this all began 2 months after giving birth to my first child and the symptoms started out of nowhere).

[cindy707]

What a great post LBBBguy your post really did touch on the heart and not the physical.  Sometimes i get those same exact thoughts and you believe you are the only one going thru it until you see something like you've written.....i like your comment about keep moving forward alot....someone told me a long time ago that we have to live our lives like the movie Days of Thunder where Tom Cruise was afraid and panicking because he couldn't see the race track (because of the smoke on the track) when he knew in his heart he could win and the pit boss told him....."Its not just on this track that you fear....in life we can't always see whats ahead of us so you just have to race right through the smoke until you can see clearly again." It reminded me of that saying...i think it fits all of us on this site....we have to speed thru the smoke to enjoy the rewards and not be afraid.  Great job LBBBguy!

[LBBBguy]

I just wanted to add that I can empathize with the desire to just get your life back. I got diagnosed with a couple of issues (WPW and LBBB) last year, and have had palpitations and anxiety and some other issues that came with it. Right now I'm still not quite what I would describe as "normal" after my ablation for the WPW, which was two months ago. Some days are better than others. On the good days, I think my life is back. On the bad days, I start to have my doubts and wonder if I ever will be able to live life without the worry over my heart, which now seems to be always lurking. I can't say if your palpitations are purely the result of anxiety or not, but I do know that the mind has a very powerful effect on the body, both negative and positive. Getting your mind working for you rather than against you is important, but can be difficult, especially if anxiety has already gotten a foothold. For me, I just try to keep moving forward. On the bad days, I maybe try to take a step back by finding ways to escape from stress if need be, doing some mindful breathing, getting some exercise when possible (as vigorous as I feel comfortable doing), and trying to let go of the negative thoughts and obsessions about my heart. I think it helps, and I do gradually seem to be getting better, though it's not always so easy. There's definitely a two steps forward, one step back pattern to it.

I'm not sure what that means for you, but I think if your doctor can't find anything serious, you should either trust the diagnosis or get a second (or more if need be) opinion so that you can trust it. From there, assuming you get a clean bill of health, then I think you're going to have to figure out something that will get you moving forward again. There's just too much good stuff (a new baby for example!) going on out there to be stuck inside your own mind worrying about this all the time.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[cindy707]

I don't think that you are asking for much V....just to get your life back which is very reasonable.  Like i said take the bull by the horns and get proactive with your life.  Anxiety can def. give you arry. because you are forcing your heart to work harder thru the stress and trust me your heart  doesn't like that one little bit.  You have to bear in mind that beta blockers also lower your blood pressure which is excellent because it soars when you are stressed and that is not good.   Relax.... i know its easier said than done and maybe you just need someone to vent to on a regular basis which means getting a referral from your heart doc that knows which doc to send you to so that you can deal with this mentally and get back to your life as you knew it...they know which docs deal with the mind when the heart is the issue believe me.....

[venusi]

Hey, I've had a holter monitor and I have been waiting for the results for a few weeks now, I had to wear it for a whole week just before xmas.  I'm on the beta blockers too.  I think I just want to know why this has happened.  According to my blood work up everything is fine.  I had an echo done, countless ecgs, a 48hr monitor back in 2007 and now a 7 day one this past year and they are telling me its anxiety but how can anxiety give you an arrythmia like that?  Can it really make your body decide "Let's keep her resting rate at about 90 to 100, go absolutely mad when she walks about.  And lets really scare the crap out of her when she's already scared."  I am so desparate to cure it before the birth.  I want to go running again and dance again.  I want to be independant again, get angry without getting an attack, eat without a palpitation.  

[venusi]

Hi, my thyroids have been checked about 5 times and they say that they're normal :-(

[cindy707]

Hi i read your post.  I am so sorry that you are going thru this but you are letting it take over your life and that is not good.  There are literally millions of us out here like this and go thru this.  I know its scary but believe it or not its not as bad as it may feel to you.  It sounds to me like to you need to make an appt. with a whole different heart doc and ask him if you are a candidate for a holter monior so that they can see where this is all coming from or if it is just anxiety that is out of control.  The holter is like a little walk man that has leads just like an EKG that you wear under your clothing for up to weeks at a time and the doc can read what is really going on with you.  Don't let this destroy your life venusi...you are not crazy.  A suggestion for you is to go out and buy a wrist cuff that takes your blood pressure and pulse for you and is easy to use so that you don't stress your family out and you are informed and don't have to involve anyone else but you.  You could possibly ask the new doc if you are a candidate for a reading in an EP lab so that they can map out the electrical activity in your heart for the most in depth reading that they can get that is non invasive and who knows maybe you'll be a candidate for an ablation to correct this problem because it has a pretty great success rate.  Neither you nor the baby need this stress right now and yes stress and anxiety can def. cause this but there may be something more going on and you need to take the bull by the horns and get yourself back on track and informed without pulling everyone around you into this with you.  As far as being afraid that something will happen when you are alone so what venusi....lots of people go days and days with this and sometimes up to a year and if it does go crazy its a simple phone call for help but you shouldn't be afraid to go anywhere because if it is electrical based from your heart it has a mind of its own and will start up whenever the mood strikes it,  Sounds to me the reason you are so afraid is that you are not getting all of the information that is out there.  And yes there is a wait to treat it,....many ways and beta blockers are actually farily good for you because they relax the heart so that it doesn't have to work so hard, regulates it and keeps your blood pressure down.  I would start today and start taking back your life because SVT's don't have you you have them....research in your area for specialists that treat your problem or post the area where you live and maybe someone else from the community can offer you a referral.  Good luck and congrats on the new baby..............

[marieo298]

          Hi,  I am usually on the thyroid forum, I too have heart palps. Mine are
     from hyperthyroidism. Have you had any thyroid tests done? My heart issues
     began after my first child was born and I spent many years not knowing the
     cause. I was diagnosed with Grave's disease many years later. It's worth
     getting checked for it. It's good news that your cardiologist found nothing
     wrong, but I do know how scary it is. Meditation helped me, also little or
     no caffiene, and try not to stress. Best of luck.