Heart flutter

My name is Chris and i have been worried about my heart for over a year now.  I am 24 years old.  I get a horrible, painful flutter in my chest every once and a while.  I dont know if i would describe it as a flutter or a series of thuds.  It kinda feels like a hollow feeling or a fish floppin around. It  feels like when you have flem (phlegm) in your airway and need to cough it out, if that makes sence. You can feel the flem (phlegm) floppin around in there? This is the feeling i get in my heart. Many people on this website seem to have this but they say they dont get dizzy or faint. I do. These "flutters" only last a couple seconds but i almost pass out after about a second or two.  I feel like if the flutter lasts for one more second, i would pass out. Sometimes when i am working i am too busy moving to feel my heart thud, but i get that faint feeling and i know my heart messed up for a second again.  My heart rate stays the same before and after the thudding, but during the thudding i cannot get a pulse in my wrist for that second or two.  I know this because i felt my pulse for 10 minutes or so until it happened.  Felt like it skipped a beat? I get health insurance in one month and am planning to see a doctor.  I would have gone by now if i had insurance.  I guess i just want piece of mind its been bothering me for over a year.

[lyn_lyn_lyn]

Hi,  This is how mine started and I went to get it checked out, so should you. Ive had both a scan and 36hr ECG which picked up on the 'missed beats'. They are scarey, but once they have been checked out and explained to you this may help. I get them daily now.... and it feels like my hearts coming into my throat!!! My feeling of missed beats are actually two beats close together, bit like a drummer one drummer carries on drumming happily yet the other goes out of sync and catches up with the other one. it does feel like a right thud. Just get them checked out to ease your mind.

[Mom2four85]

you're not alone, some of us do have dizziness, which can be caused by a great multitude of things; infection, inner ear, ANS, heart, dehydration, colds, medicines etc etc dizziness caused by abnormal heart rhythm is not a common thing and normally proceeds to full fainting episodes

to learn more you can read here in the Dysautonomia forum  http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Neurological-Disorders/Autonomic-Dysfunction-FAQ/show/181?cid=196 or go to http://www.ndrf.org/LearnMore.html there's a great explanation of how this is all connected in the Patient Handbook

you should have a full cardiac workup to make sure everything's ok and find out what's going on; if the dizziness/faintness continues they can do a tilt table test to see how your system functions together...

[itdood]

Sounds like premature ventricular contractions (PVCs), or possibly pauses, or perhaps a run of PVCs called NSVT.  too hard to tell, these must be caught on an ECG to know.

The steps you will be taken through are to
1:  get an ECG.  If that's clear in the office, COOL!  you cleared some hurdles.
2:  Since you are symptomatic, regardless of if the ECG is clear, you should get a holter monitor.  This is something you wear to record ECG.  There are various types.  24 hours loops, 14 day events, 30 day events.  It depends on how frequent your episodes are.  If they are infrequent I would insist on at least a 14 day event type.

Other tests might be ordered based on these finds such as:  Stress test, Echo cardiogram.  If still more tests are needed you might get a nuclear stress, MRI, or CAT scan.  If et more are required you could be ordered to start getting invasive studies done such as an electrophysiology mapping of the heart or perhaps an angiogram.

Given you are symptomatic I wish you could get in sooner.  More than likely it's garden variety ectopic beats, but it’s shame people have to wait for insurance or not go at all due to lack of it.

[Chrisspar]

Thank you guys. I feel better knowing that i am not alone with the fainting feeling. That worried me. I havent had the thuds in a few days now so im glad. Happy 4th of July!