Fluttering sensation in the heart

[Sak07]

I have always been an active guy. In School, College etc. i have always taken part in extra-curricular activites. Now i am working in an IT firm.

About a year ago, i decided to run up the stairs to my office on the 4th floor. I managed to do it altough i was gasping by the time i reached the 4th floor. I knew it could have been due to lack of exercise. Anyways by evening i started having some serious issues. Primarily i started feeling that my heart was not beating normally. I panicked and headed home immideatly. i consulted a doctor and he said it could have been due to some muscle tear in the chest region. So i took a pain killer and massaged the chest region with cloth soaked in warm water. I started feeling better within a couple of hours and after a day off i was able to resume work without any further issues.

Now about 2 months ago while travelling to work i accidently put a lot of burden on my left arm on my way to work. Now once again my irregular heart beats have begun. They occur randomly and for very short durations, therefore even in my ECG nothing came up. The doctor asked me to walk more often. Sometimes i also get such sensations in other parts of the body like back, hands etc.

Now i take extra precaution not to strain my left hand, but this time the heart beats have not normalized yet. This makes me worry alot as i am only 26 and i dont smoke, drink or have caffine also i try and exercise whenever possible.

The worst part is that i am unable to identify the cause of this problem and how am i supposed to fix it. I used to be such a healthy guy and now i am feeling sick due to my worries......

Please guide me.

Thanks

[Sak07]

Hi Itdood

Thanks for your post!

It has definitely given me a better understanding of my problem.

i googled more about PVC's and it seems quite similar to what i am experiencing. Although i will not consider this to be the diagnosis to be conclusive.

Btw can you please explain what you mean by troubling symptoms? Also you mention that you had a bad year with them.... does it mean that they are incurable? something like you just have to live with it?

I am really determined to get rid of this trouble ASAP. And i believe i have made the right decision by joiing this forum.

Thanks again!

[itdood]

I'm guessing you felt premature ventricular contractions (PVCs).  Yours sound like they would classify as infrequent and isolated.

PVCs occur when pacer cells in the ventricles fire when not needed.   There is no clear explanation for this, it just happens.  Most of the fixes for it are rather nebulous.

To catch infrequent-isolated PVCs, one would have to wear an event monitor.  A cardiologist would be a good start towards getting one.

Most of the time PVCs are benign.  Since you're not describing any troubling symptoms I would guess yours are benign.

My PVCs became the most noticeable to me in my early 30s.   When I turned 41 I had a bad year with them.  Because I have strong family history of CAD, I've gotten under the care of a good primary care physician and cardiologist.  I've had extensive testing due to the strong family history.  For now my condition is benign.

Getting yourself a stress test, echo, and perhaps even further testing can help greatly with your long term health care.  These tests will become your baselines and as you age, you can use these baselines against recent testing to check for changes.  If you get these tests done, grab copies for your own files.