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Rapid heartbeat
by chris630, Aug 13, 2008 11:29AM
Hi everyone,
I am 26, of a good height/weight ratio and have no existing health problems. I am prone to anxiety/panic disorder which I think is the culprit in my cardiac issues, but I'm hoping to find some clarification. Very rarely I will have an instance where it feels like I am inhaling and mid-way through my breath my heart sort of misses a beat and then is followed up with a VERY rapid heart beat. This first happened to me when I was maybe 17 and has happened infrequently since--sometimes years without this occuring to my knowledge, then sometimes it will happen every few months. I'd say I have had maybe a dozen occurrences since the first episode.
When this happens it will cause me to panic (breathing gets shallower, fear that I may have a serious health condition) so I will hold a few pressure points for easing anxiety and gradually breathe deeper. Over the course of a few minutes I can get my heart to slow and return to a normal pulse.
I've done some reading and I know supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is a rapid firing of the heart after one single beat, then it slows down on a single beat. I did some reading on sinus tachycardia as well and, to my understanding, that is a gradual increase in the heart rhythm and a gradual decrease. It sounds like a little bit of both with me since the rapid beat occurs instantly but the slowing occurs gradually as I calm down.
After my last episode I went to see a cardiologist a few hours after my "attack" and the EKG came back good. My blood work, blood pressure and his listening to my heart were all fine, too. Any ideas on what this might be? Is it just panic since I can gradually stop the beat while calming myself?
Any help is greatly appreciated as this has been causing a lot of anxiety for me (anticipating that it may happen again).
Thank you,
Chris
I am 26, of a good height/weight ratio and have no existing health problems. I am prone to anxiety/panic disorder which I think is the culprit in my cardiac issues, but I'm hoping to find some clarification. Very rarely I will have an instance where it feels like I am inhaling and mid-way through my breath my heart sort of misses a beat and then is followed up with a VERY rapid heart beat. This first happened to me when I was maybe 17 and has happened infrequently since--sometimes years without this occuring to my knowledge, then sometimes it will happen every few months. I'd say I have had maybe a dozen occurrences since the first episode.
When this happens it will cause me to panic (breathing gets shallower, fear that I may have a serious health condition) so I will hold a few pressure points for easing anxiety and gradually breathe deeper. Over the course of a few minutes I can get my heart to slow and return to a normal pulse.
I've done some reading and I know supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is a rapid firing of the heart after one single beat, then it slows down on a single beat. I did some reading on sinus tachycardia as well and, to my understanding, that is a gradual increase in the heart rhythm and a gradual decrease. It sounds like a little bit of both with me since the rapid beat occurs instantly but the slowing occurs gradually as I calm down.
After my last episode I went to see a cardiologist a few hours after my "attack" and the EKG came back good. My blood work, blood pressure and his listening to my heart were all fine, too. Any ideas on what this might be? Is it just panic since I can gradually stop the beat while calming myself?
Any help is greatly appreciated as this has been causing a lot of anxiety for me (anticipating that it may happen again).
Thank you,
Chris
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Really, the only way you're going to know it to get a Holter or an event monitor. It's tough to catch a sporadic arrhythmia on an EKG because they only record for like 10 seconds.
I believe I have had episodes of SVT even though they didn't occur while I was being monitored. It felt like a very sudden, rapid fluttering in my chest and my heart rate was super fast. Then it stopped suddenly.
I take a beta blocker for tachycardia now and have only had one minor incident since starting the BB (except for PVCs and PACs).