Heart Is Skipping Beats

[roland]

This past fall I first noticed my heart skipping beats while checking my pulse. Its very annoying. When I check my pulse I'll get a series of normal beats and then a skip. This repeats itself throughout the day. I've noticed it more as the day goes on as opposed to when I awake from sleep in the morning. If I'm busy with work, etc. then I really don't notice them. When I think about it, I can also feel the sensation of my heart beating. I can feel it. What caused me to suddenly develop this heart skipping? Will it ever correct itself? On this site I read about PVC's, PAC's, etc. What are these? What do you think causes my heart to skip beats? Can an arrhythmia cause a slight cough. When I feel the sensation of my heart skipping beats then I tend to cough. Any information will be very helpful. Thank You!

[justakid]

hey im a 17 year old male who has been expierencing this kind of stuff for a year now. I started smoking pot last year which brought up panic attacks and anxiety with a surreal loss of reality which continued after the drug wore off. I quit smoking and my mom took me to see a psychologist who diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder and prescribed me to .5 klonopin 2x a day and 12.5 paxil cr 1x a day. My anxiety was stopped with the medication but I started having skipped beats while exercising and just out of nowhere while I was sitting just watching T.V. or something. My panic attacks came back when I started having these but went away after I realized they werent life threatning. I had an EKG, stress test, ECHO, and was fitted with a heart monitor for a 24 hour period and the doctor said I had a slight atrial fibrillation which was nothing to worry about. That was last December of 02 and lately my chest has felt really tight, i feel dizzy, tired, and nauseous throughout the day, and my medication gives me side effects too extreme for take them anymore. Im depressed and feeling hopeless like I'm never going to get better. My parents keep telling me its anxiety, but im a hypochondriac and think im having a heart attack when i have chest pain or a stroke when im lightheaded. I just wanted to see if anyone else has these type of symptoms and what to do, I'm totally hopeless.

[Ianna]

Yes, many people suffer from the same.
Try lying on your right side.
Or take some pillows (2 or 3)and try sleeping half sitting half lying; many people sleep that way.
-
Good luck - *Ianna* -

[mathesar]

Does anyone know what might cause PVCs to be much more frequent lying down versus sitting up? I only notice maybe 10 PVC's during the day but when I lay down to goto sleep I can get up to 6-10+ PVC's per minute and its very difficult to fall asleep,If I just lay there and try to relax rather than freak out they usualy reduce in frequency enough for me to fall asleep.. and If I sit up in bed they stop happening completly,anyone else experiance this?

[winebev]

My heart beats strangely and irregularly when I lie down and if I stand still in one place.  If I'm sitting then everything is ok.  If I'm lying it beats very slowly, sometimes 45 beats per minute but if I'm standing it beats out of control, 90-100 beats.  I have anxiety disorder but I don't think this has anything to do w/ it.  If I'm sitting at my desk at work my heart is fine, normally beats 64 bpm.  Anyone else have similar experiences?  This is all so frustrating!

[Veepster]

Dear All:

For my experiences and knowledge base on heart murmurs and PVC's?PAC's, please refer to my comments under "PVC's and Murmurs".  Thanks.  Veepster

[Enders]

About 4 years ago I realized that I was skiping a beat. In panic I was taken the hospital were I was diagnosed as having Ventricular Ectopy. The cardiologist assured me that this kind of arrithmias was normal in a lot of people and it could be due to stress, excess of cafeine and many other reasons.

I stoped taking anything containing cafeine and after 6 or 7 months the symptoms practically disappeared. By sheer coincidence yesterday I felt again the unconfortable feeling in my gut. Checking my pulse I verified the ectopy was back. I presume it is because of the stress I am having in my life now adays or perhaps some Dristan I started taking for a cold.

I have been told that the ectopy makes feel like there is a skip beat because there is an electrical malfunction that tries to trigger a new beat prematuraly, before the heart is ready for the new beat and as a consequence the next beat is skipped.

To make things worse I just read an article published in February of this year in the New England Journal by doctors of the Cleveland Clinic about early indication of death on those people showing ectopy after excersing.

All this makes me feel confused and escared. I wish a member of the staff would take some time to post an explanation on this matter. It certainly would be reassuring.