Heart problem?

Question

Hello, my name is Todd, im 24 years old, 6' 195lbs, moderately active for the most part (except for the past 2months due to palpatations)I'm in pretty not GREAT but decent shape. been playing sports since 2002 (football, Track. I play Football for a semi-pro football team and our season usually begins in mid July. Okay, so about a couple months ago (April 1st, 2012), when i was at football practice(A.M. practice), I was doing some light jogging just to warm up. All of a sudden my Heart started Palpatating uncontrollably for like 10-15seconds; It was a normal tachycardia like its supposed to happen when you exert, then THUMP it slows down (1-2 seconds in between beat type feeling). It caught me off guard which made me halt and voluntarily cough. No pain, no dizziness, no numbness, just pure FEAR of DYING! eventually i resumed practice and it happened again after practice/THUMP palpatations again, only this time it was for about a second.
    So later that night i was just laying on my couch just relaxing then FWOOM! palpatating again! felt like a ballon filling with air (3-5secs). I think it's fair to mention that I was thinking incessantly about the occurances from earlier that day in regards to those palpatations, right befeore the last one happened (anxiety?). I decided to go the the ER room and they ran an EKG and doctor perform a stethescope and both ended up completely normal. He wrote it off as possible anxiety and all is ok.
    Then sometime in May when i was playing basketball with my friends I started getting those palpatations again THUMP...I was getting worried so I went to see my PCP and He ran CBC Test, Magnesium, Cholesterol test, Thyroid test. ALL Normal. My cholestereol was: HDL-88, LDL-130, Triglycerides-54.. LDL little high but overall good nontheless. He he performed the stethescope though (june 1st) he did hear a SLIGHT heart murmur but quickly regarded it as my heart being strong (rated it as 1 out of 6). Ive never had a murmur problem so it scared me a little when he told me that, so he had orded me an echocardiogram for me which I just had finished on June 22nd. the results for that came back NORMAL. the Ejection fraction was 60%. and cardiologist told me that I had a SLIGHT thickening veryborderline thickening of my heart muscle but that was because Im an athlete, according to them,(but i havent worked out in 2 months). So I did a holter monitor recently and havent recieved the results back and i also have a stress test coming up aswell. Reason for these tests is because I believe im getting exercise induced palpatations and idk why this could be happening?...any Suggestions to why after all these"normal" tests im having palpataions during exercise? am I in danger? u hear about people dropping dead all the time and it can be alarming! Please, If anyone has any input it would be galdy appreciated!
                                                        THANKS!!



This discussion is related to Heart Palpitations While Sleeping.

Bamajoe · Answer

I was kind of having the same type of thing. I chased those thumps for years. Mine would last longer than yours. I was eventually diagnosed with a cardiac myxoma which is a benin tumor. I got it out and I now I am still getting the thumps (mine is a fib) If nothing else turns up and you keep having this you might want to think about having a TEE and also seeing an EP dr.

grendslori · Answer

A STRONG word of caution here: you should NOT be just taking Potassium for the sake of taking it!!! It can cause many different issues including CAUSING arrhythmias. If your potassium levels are in the normal range, leave it alone; it can also cause kidney issues!! Premature beats are a normal thing; they are the 'back-up' for the heart's normal electrical system and EVERYONE has them, most do not feel them and if they do and become focused on them, it will become more of an issue because the stress and fear will cause the body to become pumped up with adrenaline. This only compounds the issue. As far as hearing about people dropping dead while excersizing, most suffer from heart muscle diseases such as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy; because the heart muscle itself is diseased, it can become 'irritated' and cause sustained arrhythmias which can lead to a sudden death event. If your heart is healthy, and yours certainly appears to be, you really have nothing to worry about; go enjoy your youth and stop letting this problem rule your life!!

TOZ6 · Answer

Good to hear! Hey, quick question though. According to my blood test results, my Potassium levels were a 4.9..where normal level are between 4.0-6.0. My Magnesium levels were a 1.8 where normal levels would be between 1.6-2.8.. Even though they are in the "normal" range, do you think it's still possible that I'm still not getting enough of these nutrients that could possibly be causing my palpatations?...my stress test and holter monitor both came back normal yesterday. Holter caught 8 PACs, which doctor had no concern for those what-so-ever. My last holter back in January caught only 1 PAC. interesting. So far, out of ALL my tests: ECHO, EKG, 24 hr HOLTER , STRESS TEST, CBC, THYROID, MAGNESIUM, and CHOLESTEROL all came back normal. At this point it HAS to be anxiety induced. unless im missing something.

peppogas · Answer

Hi All, I commented back in 2009 about the those darn heart thumps.....anyway I think I'm finally rid of mine and found it accidentally. I went on a diet with HCG drops and was feeling a bit weak losing so much weight fast. I realized I needed to be taking some vitamins. I got on Potassium and I'll be darn all my palpitations went away. I can't believe I'm even drinking coffee and having chocolate and caffeine again. I'm only taking 1 potassium a day and it works!!! It is scary going thru this stuff with the heart but hang in there and hopefully you'll be able to find your way out too. Forget those beta blockers they made me worse!!! I am on Lisinopril high blood pressure meds for a few years now but if I lose some more weight I may not be....HOPE HOPE Good Luck!!

TOZ6 · Answer

Yeah, thanks for the input!...Man I'll tell ya..it freakin suckss. I honestly believe I have health anxiety. Ever since my first "episode" in 2010, I've really never been the same. There was a long Hiatus with the palpatations for about a year after that. best year of my life lol. Then they appeared again in the summer of 2011 with i would actually have quick "flutters" every hour for 2 weeks straight. After those went away, I had a big "episode" again (Tachycardia/Bradycardia at once kinda feeling that lasted for about 15 seconds. Thought it was a heart attack with no pains or dizziness) like the one i had in 2011. That's when my health anxiety REALLY kicked in up till now, which I still struggle with. Ever since those episodes, I always feel that there's SOMETHING wrong with my heart. why does this happen to me, ESPECIALLY when I exercise with scares me the most. but hopefully i'll finally find the solution soon.

CFS56 · Answer

It sounds like you are doing all the right things and the doctors have ordered tons of tests to make sure all is well with your heart.  Try not to worry overmuch right now...all your tests have come back fine so far.  And as I'm sure you know, the more you worry, the worse the palps get.  As to the Prevpac.  I believe that one of the antibiotics it contains is clarithromycin which is notorious for causing heart palpitations.  So that could have definitely contributed.

TOZ6 · Answer

gothic_beauty, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. To answer your first question: I've always had periodic minor flutters since i was about 13yrs old. but those weren't exercised induced. i could be sitting around or whatnot and experience a half-second palpatation (flutter) those would occur every couple months at the time. as i got older, they started occuring more closely in the last few years

gothic_beauty · Answer

Hello! Let me say that I'm sorry that you are having these problems. I know from firsthand experience how terrifying it can be when you feel that your heart might let you down. It turns ordinary life into an ordeal, and nobody enjoys that kind of feeling.

Reading your post, the first thing I am wondering is the nature of the link between your tachycardia episodes and exercise. You mention that you had an episode once when you were at rest. Has the same thing happened since then, or have you only experienced these problems when you are active? If they only happen during exercise, then I would suggest that you have a stress test done, to see how your body responds to exercise. Your heart may be doing something funny when you start to exert yourself that you are unaware of until you feel the palpitations. However, if your episodes happen at other times as well, you might have some sort of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), a condition in which the heart begins to beat very rapidly for a period of time without warning. Whatever your condition, it is most likely not life threatening: most people who drop dead from heart conditions suffer from problems that would have been detected on a Holter monitor or from the other tests that you have had. Please don't worry about that. However, it would be a good idea to start monitoring where and when these episodes occur. I'd also like to know exactly how extreme they are: have you tried to measure your heart rate when you feel it speeding up? We often tend to overestimate our heart rates when we feel that our hearts are acting up: your rate may not be as rapid as you think, and you may just be feeling an increased awareness of your heartbeat, which warrants investigation but is certainly not dangerous.

So, again, start keeping track of where and when these events occur in order to shed some more light on the problem. Until then, take care ...

TOZ6 · Answer

P.S. I have no history of any other diseases. no diabetes, STD, NOTHING....except ive been diagnosed a month ago with the H. Plyori bacteria inthe stomache. Just finished the 14day Prevpac with no problems...could thid be related to my palpataions?