extra heartbeat

[hannah0808]

My name is Hannah i am 20 years old and i have an extra heart beat. i have had 4 EKG, a 24 hour monitor, an echocardiogram and I'm about to take a stress test. i have heart problems in my family's medical history my grandmother died of heart disease, my grandfather a heart attack, my aunt has had 2 biopsy's and my cousin had her first stroke at 26. other than my extra heart beat i have asthma and have had panic attacks since i was a sophomore in high school. I have a slight overweight issue.i have  been drinking since i was 16, smoking since 17, and since i live in the south i drink A LOT of sweet tea. i guess my question is am i gonna be OK?  

[jenjen2020]

Extra beats is definately scary and I will tell you that sugar and caffeine can cause a lot of problems for me with extra / skipped beats & heart racing..  I too suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and that doesn't help things either..

[jpek]

Making lifestyle changes can be difficult.  I speak from personal experience.  You are wise enough to identify the list of changes you should make.  Now you need to be strong enough to address them.  To quit smoking it helps to stop drinking.  Suddenly you will have more energy, and can begin some health activities ie walking each day.  One good habit will follow another.  Surround yourself with supportive people.  Your true friends will know your health is more important that being their drinking buddy.  (Been there, done that).  
For anxiety, check the web for "reducing stress".  There are many many sites that offer great suggestions.  I have chosen meditation, yoga, and have recently learned to play guitar.
I wish you all the best.

[yarrow]

You're young and you're OK now, but with that heredity and your habits, I wouldn't put money on a long life unless you're willing to change your lifestyle, like, yesterday.

Booze and lots of sweet tea, plus a little tendency to overweight, will put an extra load on your heart and circulatory system in general, which of course you don't need.  But the deal breaker is the smoking.

Unless you live in a cave, you know that smoking causes constriction of the arteries all the way from your heart out to your skin (early wrinkling), it increases the formation of plaque in your arteries, it adversely affects your blood fats, and it screws up your heart rhythm (think of PVCs as the very mildest effect).

http://www.ionchannels.org/showabstract.php?pmid=2286853

You have a choice here, and--bearing that bad family history in mind--it's really a matter of smart vs seriously not-smart.

[MartineMoreau]

Chance are if your 6 ekgs came back normal your probably suffering from long term Anxiety. You should invest in stopping smoking as this can increase anxiety also reduce your drinking to 1-3 glasses a week. Not sure about sweet teas. But for me taking too much sugar, caffeen  made my PVC's worse.

I'd look into getting some counseling or books about ways to deal with Anxiety.