Anyone else getting really sick of being told it is just anxiety??

[Jackie1980]

I am getting soo fed up with people telling me that my heart issue is just anxiety..or asking me if it i just anxiety. It is like they don't take me seriously!! Yes, this is REAL. It is not just anxiety. I am extremely anxious over my heart issue, yes. But it is very scary and they would be anxious too if they were getting PVC's and a racing heart all of the time too. Also, I feel a though people are getting sick of me talking about it, so  I try to keep it to myself.It is making me very depressed. Although, I cannot complain- I am getting the PVC's much less frequently now than I was before..but when I do get them I still freak out. It is hard not to. Does anyone else feel this way? Thanks for listening..

[mariop]

I agree 100% with RNRITA.  People use the notion of anxiety because it is the least understood concept.  That's why a lot of people accept anxiety as an explanation of arrhythmias.  And that's why doctors dish that out - because people are more receptive to it.  Nobody wants an electro-physiological explanation.

I finally had to tell my cardiologist that he was conceptually bankrupt, I called him a voodoo doctor.  He explained everything in terms of anxiety.

Also, people do not like hearing me talk about PVCs because we want to believe that it cannot happen.  That's why when the PVCs go away I want to believe they will not come back, even though I know better.

At the end of the day there's only 3 alternatives available forthose who suffer from  PVCs:

1.  You do nothing and just live with them
2. You try anti-arrhythmic drugs
3. You try to have them ablated.

Each alternative has its own plusses and minuses.

[Cole_Knox]

Nice forum,

It is great to find people with similar problems.

I'm only 24 year old male and have had some weird palpitations and other cardiovascular related symptoms which have totally ruined my sleep cycle, partially because all this business has raised my anxiety level. At first the doctor said nothing whatsoever about an isolated systolic high blood pressure reading of 157/60 and passed off my palpitations to anxiety. I didn't like his attitude so I went to another doctor and prescribed me medicine which I discovered were antidepressants when I got home. She did do an EKG and spotted a PVCs. I'm waiting to do some follow up tests, urine analysis and maybe a 24 hour EKG.

While I feel okay since getting better sleep I know that my heart function has changed. It pumps faster (possibly due also to cardio deconditioning ). I'm pretty confident that my PVCs are a recent addition to my life. They show up on my heart monitor which I've totally abandoned because it creeps me out now to see my heart rhythm. It is possible that if my hypertension doesn't have a secondary cause then it may be behind my PVCs, but I'm no doctor. I hope to God I don't have sleep apnea either.

I used to jog but have stopped because I'm worried about my heart and I fatigue easily now, get very mild headaches after exerting myself. Hopefully some blood pressure meds will  lower my systolic if I'm able to get a prescription.

Anxiety about this made my life hell for about a week.

[SassyLassie]

Funny you should say this RNRita, my PAC's don't usually act up either when I am worked up, they come AFTER I have calmed down, in fact, they will sometmes hit when I am at my calmest, such as reading a book enjoying the outdoors, THAT really upsets me, bang, there they are, no warning at all. I try not to talk about them either, except here, I have to have some folks to talk to, but otherwise, all I hear is "it is just nerves" Or another thing I am told, it is "gas" and the pressure is hitting my vagas nerve causing them. I don't know, all I know is when they happen, I am scared and it is difficult to calm down.

[RNRita]

It is NOT just anxiety.  Nope.  Sorry.  They can all kiss my butt, too.  Yes, I'm fed up.  Have been for years.  That is one of the biggest reasons I became a nurse.  It is a lot harder for people to look ME in the eye and tell me this is nothing, you're fine...you're working YOURSELF up.  hahahah.  They come when NOTHING is going on.  In fact, when I am really worked up, they usually do not come around.  I know there is an irritable part of my heart and lots of people have it, but it feels awful.  I truly did stop talking about it, though, to anyone but you guys and my hubby.  It's better that way.  I only talk about it if someone starts saying they are having problems.  Then I'll fess up.  They are usually glad to hear it.  I am resigned in that if it kills me, I won't know it. As long as I am afraid when it happens, I'm alive.  But my quality of life leaves a heck of a lot to be desired.  Just one instance:  I can't go on thrill rides. I used to love them, but the G-force can and WILL make my heart go nuts.  That isn't fright or anxiety.  It happens to me taking off on a plane, too....hence I drive everywhere.  I'm with ya, dear.

[nicolette1972]

been through it too hun,my svt was very separate from any kind of anxiety i ever had,it was so frustrating especially since my condition was only apparent when having an attack which was never at the gp surgery!it took a very severe and prolonged attack to finally get a diagnosis.......X

[stutterheart]

Hi Jackie,
I've been through what you are experiencing and it is not fun. The doctor is probably spot on though, it IS just anxiety. You probably have some tissue that can fire off sparks when the right situation presents itself (maybe in response to stress you have a vagal response that releases acelylcholine which causes other areas of the hear to fire or perhaps it's a chemical deficiency). I think doctors do get fed up with telling us that our PVC's are benign...they have so many patients with real heart problems and they don't have time to give you a lecture on electrophysiology. Put yourself in their shoes: you KNOW your patient is fine although they have some symptoms that make the patient anxious, and you try to boil it down to layman terms and explain that everything is fine. But your doc doesn't have time to go into a 4 hour lecture on why and how and to present slideshows of evidence. I can see how they get irritated. They study medicine for 10 years and then have some layperson keep asking "well, why? I don't trust you". I've litterally had doctors hang up on me ending with "you are fine. I don't know how else to say it. You are fine".
But then I got in with a good doc that is really concerned with my quality of life and not my mere staying alive. It made the world of difference. He did all the possible studies and found a few reasons why my heart acts up. They did an EP study and did an ablation of some of the tissue. It didn't work. And I get pretty worked up when things are going wrong but for the most part, I can think my way through the PVC's when they happen.
One solution is to take anxiety meds. Another is to fake symptoms: tell them you have passed out or something. But only go that route if you are comfortable with them saying some scary things: it may get you the tests and attention you want though.
Good luck