Heart Palpatations

[DobbaDough]

I am 39 year old female and for the past two days have been having FREQUENT heart palpatations.  I've never had them before and I'm getting a little freaked out.  This afternoon for about 2 hours they stopped but I have several episodes each minute.  It doesnt last long but I really hate the feeling!

I've searched the net for information and still have questions.  I'm worried about how many I am experiencing and the sudden onset.

I am a single mom with no health insurance and I just cant afford a doctors appointment right now.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Ihatepalps2]

hi! Boy, "itdood" sure says it like it is!! The palpitations are so frustrating. I too, have been suffering with them for years--at least 17 years. Have had MANY tests...stress, echos, EKGs...even as recent as August of this year. Wore a holter (portable heart monitor) for 24 hours. Only it caught me on a "good" day--I only had 720. He looked up my results from 2007, and I had 11,000 in a 24 hour period! I was on an older style medicine ( which I really was used to, and liked alot-Atenolol for at least 15 yrs) and just in Aug the Dr said maybe that wasnt working so well for me anymore...and put me on Metoprolol. Its NOT a magic pill....I thought at first it was...I didnt have ANY palps for a few weeks. But now I have them for a few days...then they go away...and then come back. I drive myself NUTS trying to find out why they are back. Never can figure it out...other than I know stress helps mine fire up. I wish I had a better response for you.
Mine just came back on Friday. Ive had them all weekend--ALOT of them...probably 10 a minute at times. The doctor tells me to ignore them. Yea!!! NOT!
I go about my day, as much as I can... I walk-my exercise route like I always do...but can feel my heart, increased due to the walking, but still misfiring as Im doing it.
I cleaned the house today, was active most of the day. Even at this very moment, my heart is jumping and bumping as Im typing these words. Sometimes I get so ANGRY...other times...I actually cry....feel like they have "beaten me down".
So...I can truly understand how you feel.
Coming here helps me, I hope it will you too...but if you can, please get checked out by a Dr first....just so you know they are benign and harmless.
Then you can work on "ignoring them".!

[itdood]

It sounds like PVCs.  I get them too.  I can see my chest thump too.

At times I get 8-10 per MINUTE!

I've been through many many tests.  Been to the docs more this year than I care to count.  The docs have been completely unable to help me.  I've gone as far as to have a cardiac MRI at a good heart hospital.

All they can do is rule out major issues.  Once that's done there aren't any effective treatment measures for benign PVCs.

While I know I won't die from them, they are uncomfortable and it was dissrupting my life and my sleep.

Most of the time PVCs are benign but there are rare occasions when they aren't, just so you know.    It is reassuring that you are only describing the thump and no other issues.

An EKG and stress test might be helpful to rule out major stuff.

I've gotten mild short episodes my entire life, never enough to get on my radar, then suddenly in jan of 2009 they came on constant.  I was geting about 10,000 per day at my worst and getting no sleep.

I'm improving these days and just went a week with none.  Then had some last night when I tried to go to bed.

There's no rhyme or reason.

I ended up developing a bunch of coping strategies.

When I lie down, if they fire up on me, I change positions.  Positions have an effect on mine.  When they are going crazy when I lie down I turn on my stomach and that usually helps though it takes about 5 minutes.

I eliminated most complex sugars from my diet.  I've lost 15 pounds on this alone.

Magnesium supplments works a bunch of different ways.  It does calm me, reduced my BP.  For a while I thought this was very effective but they came back a few weeks ago worse than ever.  I learned that calcium and other electrolytes should be included to balance these out, I did this and everything calmed down again.

So I'm down to 0 most days.  SOme days they come back like crazy and all my coping skills kick in.

"benign" PVCs s-uck and general medicine hasn't a clue on how to treat them.  General medicine will focus square on the heart for this issue but I personally don't think that's where the problem lies.  I think it's a combination of diet, hormones, stress, body mass.  I really think that even a mild electrolye imbalance, if chronic enough, can be a cause.

There are no easy answers.

[DobbaDough]

Hi - thank you so much for responding.

It started with a flutter feeling in my chest, almost like a tickle.  In the beginning I didnt understand what was happening.  I even qauestioned if I was getting a cough because the flutter kinda made me feeling like I needed to cough.  (kinda weird).  I grabbed my stethoscope, sat down and just started listening.  It SCARED THE LIVIN' DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ME!  My heart was skipping beats.  My heart doesnt 'stop' for long but its long enough to freak me out.  Later I went and laid back on my bed and tried to relax a bit and as I was laying there I realized that I could actually see my chest 'bump' up and down when my heart did this!  Gee Whiz!

Last night around 8pm or so my heart was skipping several times every minute.  This continued for nearly 3 hours.  It then slowed down to 8 - 10 per hour.  Eventually it came way down and I was comfortable enough to get a little rest.  Its 6am now and they are back.  Currently I am back at 8 - 10 per hour and they are increasing.

I have calmed down a bit this morning but I sure hate this feeling!  I'm not on any medication (no illegal drugs either), I dont drink caffeine, I dont drink or smoke.  I dont have much of a health history other than brain tumor removed 12 years ago and no problem since then.  There is no history of heart health issues in my family.  

I am home alone with weekend with my youngest son who has just come down with the flu.  Needless to  say the entire situation is not fun.  Yesterday I made call after call tryng to find somewhere to get medical attention that I could afford but theres nothing available so far.

I have done a ton of reading on the net and I understand that palps are very common and usually harmless, however, I am worried about how close together mine can be.  The episodes of 5 -6 per minute are very very scary.  I'm quite good at calming myself down and being reasonable but its got me concerned.  I am also worried about the sudden onset.  I literally had no warning, the palps hit me like a mac truck.

Crazy hu!

[itdood]

Palps can mean a bunch of different things.  Fast rate, skipped beats, feeling your heart beat....Can you give more specific feelings you are having?

Is there a free clinic you can go to get checked out?  When I was a kid growing up in Philly my family didn't have insurance either, but my mom was always finding free clinics for us to get checked out when needed.