Heart Palpitations

[cbishop1966]

I am having problems with what my doctor calls palpitations or skipped beats.  After having a holter monitor on for twenty-four hours, it was caught doing what ever it does.  My doctor says that my heart is strong and not to worry about the feeling in my chest and throat.  It is geting worse.  I have no other symptoms.  Its is consuming my life.  I am afraid to go places and do things because i am afraid that i might drop dead.  What should I do?

[sg056]

I am 40 years old and have been having skipped heartbeats for almost a year now. Went to cardiac doctor and wore a halter monitor, done a stress test, even a heart cath. all were normal. I do have a mitrovalve prolapse. My cardiac doctor says I have an anxiety disorder and prescribed me XanaX in the lowest milligram to take whenever I feel these wierd "spells" The more I worried about my skipped beats the worse they got. When I got my Anxiety under control the skipped beats were not as bad. This medicine is wonderful it works within 15 minutes and you feel normal again. i dont feel "high" just normal. I totally understand everyones fear of this problem, because my skipped beats sometimes lasted for 2 weeks at a time. I am much better now and have only occasionally skipped beats.  I am a high strung person with lots of energy, but as we get older our bodies cannot accomodate this as much as it use to. I love the fact that I am not on meds everyday. Good luck Get the anxiety under control and you will be fine

[marlinspike]

Many people over on the forum feel like you do - when I was diagnosed with skipped beats (hundreds a day) I too felt unable to leave the house and fully expected to drop dead, panic attacks, paralysed with anxiety. Three years later and my heart is still okay, and even got me through a major operation. I still have the skipped beats (which are much reduced now), but nothing has ever happened. Get a second opinion if you need reassurance and then start working on your anxiety - you maybe can't do much about the skipped beats but you can regain control over how you feel about them. Best wishes.

[kitcurious]

You may want to visit the patient forum as well. There are many people there with feelings similar to your own who may be able to help you feel better.
"Skipped beats" are extremely common and in a structurally normal heart are simply not dangerous. It's a fact really and truly and anxiety over the palps only make them worse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_ventricular_contraction

[Cleveland Clinic]

I don't know, but it sounds as if your doctor has reassured you and told you  that all the tests show that you are in good health and have no great risk of cardiac death.
Do you not trust him, and if so why not. This may be someting you should talk about with him.
I cannot interpret the test, as I didn't order them and don't have them to examine. So, I can't comment on whether he is correct or not. But you are welcome to seek out a second opinion, since it is clear that this issue still weighs heavily on your mind and is causing some lifestyle limitations.