I'm a 24yo male, not overweight, but live a sedentary lifestyle and have poor eating/sleeping habits. However, I don't smoke, drink or use drugs and I don't drink hardly any caffeine, though I do have heartburn. I have suffered from the occasional "skip-beat" palpitation (usually only one at a time, but I've had three or more in quick succession before - not all in a row, but with only a few normal beats in between) for a few years now. I've had an echocardiogram done a year or so ago and I had a structurally normal heart. I also wore an event monitor for a around a week afterwards, but had to remove it early because the pads irritated my skin. The monitor wasn't able to pick up anything in the time I had it on and since the palpitations weren't too bad at the time, I let it go and went on with my life.
Recently, I've been getting the palpitations a lot more often than I have in the past and have been having runs of what seems to be rapid, pounding tachycardia. After a few particularly bad episodes a few months back, I had an EKG done which came up fine (I didn't have any events during the test, though) and I recently had a 24 hour Holter monitor and was told that I have PVCs and a mildly high heart rate (the person who called me to tell me my results was very vague and didn't give any specifics). I've also been having fairly frequent bouts of low blood sugar (I've had them occasionally for years with no issue, but I have them almost daily now).
After the recent bad episodes, I've began developing very severe anxiety problems and panic attacks. I've been a worrier since I was little, but the fear brought on by these recent palpitations have pushed me into full-blown panic attacks and now even minor stresses that used to not bother me give me anxiety. I have been researching PVCs and other heart related issues online lately and I've learned about tachycardias and the potentially dangerous complication's that develop from them. After learning the ins and outs of them, I realize now that I've been having tachycardias for a lot longer than I thought.
I've had the rapid, pounding heartbeats off and on for a long time without realizing they weren't normal. It seems that they are brought on by adrenaline from fear, stress, excitement and sexual activity. Just today during a masturbation session, I triggered a run of tachycardia before I was able to finish. I backed off and the pounding beats almost immediately stopped. I started again and when the adrenaline kicked in again, the pounding beats came right back. I back off again and the pounding subsided quickly. I decided to stop there without finishing because my body was shaking and I was afraid of what my heart was going to do. Since then, my chest has felt a little uncomfortable, but I haven't had any real palpitations.
I'm worried that the runs of tachycardia could be serious or lead to fibrillation or sudden cardiac death. All of my hobbies are capable of giving me these pounding beats in some form or another and I'm afraid to travel or be home alone for long periods of time. I'm afraid to do anything that may trigger the palpitations and I'm at my wits end. Are these tachycardias a bad sign? Can I get my adrenaline pumping or engage in sexual activity when they bring about these episode of racing, pounding beats and skip-beats? I'm afraid to do any strenuous exercise, masturbate or engage in any stressful activities - even ones I used to handle just fine. Any answers would help me greatly. I can't enjoy most of the things I used to love for fear of my heart giving out...