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Avatar universal

cause of chest/heart fluttering?

After finally hoping (and a years worth of full cardiac testing) that I could move on and feel like my heart was fine, the weirdness happened again last night.  I woke up (laying on my stomach/somewhat on my left side) with the left side of my chest fluttering, well more like vibrating.  I could feel it and see it.  I tried to check my pulse, it was racing but I couldn't tell if it was abnormal because I kept losing the pulse.  It got lighter and then I would try to move my fingers to find it and would end up starting over again.  The fluttery, vibrating, shaky thing happened three times.

For most of the day today I have felt nauseous, literally swallowing hard to keep from getting sick and a little weak. My left side of my chest feels tingly--a little like a burning too.  

My question is:  Does this sound like some kind of PVC thing or afib thing?  Any suggestions or similiarities in the description?

I had really hoped that I wouldn't be back on my heart issue again, but here I am and am very thankful for all the wonderful people who listen(well read!) and respond.
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Avatar universal
HI ALL.....AS I WRITE THIS MY HEART IS SKIPPING ABOUT 10-12 TIMES AN HOUR...IT HAS BEEN SOMETHING THAT I WOULD HAVE ON AND OFF BUT NEVER LASTED LIKE THIS...I AM 60 YEAR OLD FEMALE IN PRETTY GOOD HEALTH EXCEPT FOR HIGH CHOLESTEROL....NEEDLESS TO SAY IT HAS BEEN OVER 3 WEEKS WITH NO RELIEF I WENT TO MY REG DOC AND SAID IT WAS NOTHING...AM NOW SCHEDULED BY CARDIOLOGIST THIS WEDNESDAY FOR ECHO AND THALIUM STRESS.....THIS IS THE WORST I HAVE EVER BEEN...I SUFFER FROM ANXIETY DISORDER AND HAVE LIVED ON XANAX FOR YEARS....BUT THIS YEAR HAS BEEN HELL...MY MOTHER HAD A MASSIVE STROKE IN JANUARY AND IS PARALAZED, MY GRANDDAUGHTER HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED IN THE AUTISM SPECTRUM, MY HUSBAND LOST HIS JOB AND I HAVE BEEN GOING TO SCHOOL WHICH WAS MANDATORY FOR MY JOB......CAN THIS JUST BE STRESS?????? AND DID ANYONE EVER HAVE IT LAST AS LONG?....LIKE I SAID A MISSED BEAT HERE AND THERE BUT NEVER THIS WITHOUT RELIEF.....SCARED TO DEATH!!!! THANKS FOR LISTENING...........MAY ALL YOUR HEARTS BEAT REGULAR I PRAY FOR ALL OF US BECAUSE IT IS VERY UNCONFORTABLE...ALSO CAN IT BE RELATED TO STOMACH PROBLEMS CAUSE I NOTICE IT MORE AFTER I EAT.......
THANKS............
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
How do I get a answer from my question I ask about irregular heartbeats?....I  never received any comments after I told of my experience?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I had 4 way bypass heart surgery 4 years ago..prior to this I never had any pain and did a lot of psysical things around my farm. I ask for a stress test, after Doctor told me my heart sounded fine and took one....This is when the Stress test doctor said it looked as though I had some blockage in my arteries....Then when I went into hosptial and had that test they do for shooting dye in my arteries, they found 4 of them blocked 95 to 99%...then the next thing I remember was waking up after surgery the same day I went in for this....The Doctor told me I was lucky I did not have a massive heart attack and died...Anyway, I was lucky...Then later the Doctor said I irregular heart beats and put me on a blood thinner...Then he did a electric shock treatment which my heart went back to normal heart beat...Then about 6 months later it did the same thing...he did another shock treatment and ok again...He put me on 1 aspirin a day, because that blood thinner was making me feel bad and brused a lot...the last EKG I had the Doctor said everything was ok...now about 8 months later when I had some leg surgery done as outpatient in Hospital, the nurse noticed that my heart was having irregular heart beats...I told her the Doctor knew of this....I have a regular checkup appointment in two weeks....Whe I talked to the Doctors nurse and told them about the irregular heartbeats, she said they knew of this..I guess it was from the previous EKG I had before this recently one....Anyway, lately, I have been feeling tired and my heart feels like it is skipping beats...I am not having any pain, but wonder if knowing this is causing this to happen now..I did not notice before?...Also, it seems as though when I do some psysical exercise like labor type work around my yard, I feel better than if I dont....Could this be caused now from fear of going to Doctor and worried about my heart?...I recently had a full blood test of everthing done and all was normal...It just feels funny that my heart seems to flutter and skip beats sometimes and other times ok?....I am 70 years old and always have been a very active person...Also, I did not have a heart attack prior to have bypass surgery.....Is it common sometimes for people to have a irregular heart beat sometimes and then ok other times?  This has got me scared now....thanks....
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Avatar universal
Just yesterday I started having flip-flops, flutters, vibrations etc. and again today.  A couple came so noticeable I started crying and praying to God.  But while they were happening I felt my pulse in my neck and it felt normal seem like I just caught the end of a race but nothing felt to unusual.  I also find that when these things happen I feel the need to belch and my chest feels relieved sometimes I can't belch at all. Also a little swallowing issue like I have to attempt to swallow twice to actually ge the saliva down (no food in mouth).  This Thursday I am due to travel to Texas (live in Florida) and going by plane.  Put call in to Cardio to ask if it okay for me to travel.  They haven't called back as yet.  I am recent patient of Dilated Cardiomyopathy (Dr told me heart no longer showed any weakness and EF is up to 63%) should I be worried about a reoccurrence of the myopathy?
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61536 tn?1340698163
A fib would only show abnormal on an EKG if you were in the rhythm at the time the EKG was done - unless you had some structural abnormality causing or resulting from the a fib...but your other testing has ruled that out.

So that's why an event monitor would probably be your best bet.  That's 30 days worth of monitoring to catch those pesky rhythms that seem to know when a Holter is around ;)
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I know I sound really naive about this but...I am.  If I was in afib last night and just have felt really run down today.  Would an EKG show an abnormality in the reading (when I go to the doc tomorrow)?  Or does it have to be happening at the time of the EKG?  Because the times that it has happened it has been brief but the after effects have lasted, well, through today at least.  I'm not sure if it is panic and anxiety now or some post-effect of the incident.

Thanks for advising, all of you.  This forum is such a help.

t.
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Avatar universal
OK, another stupid question.  If I have PVC's noted from my holter in January and it's uncommon to have an atrial abnormality--is V-fib a possibility?

I am heading to the cardio tomorrow and I just want to go in telling him what I want done.  He's been great over the past year (he was the first of three, I went back to him) but he feels with 99 percent certainty that my symptoms are NOT my heart.  Even the heart spasm, vibration, shaky fluttery feeling, he doesn't seem concerned.  It has happened before but last night was scary to me.  

Thanks for your help.

t.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
AFIB can come and go.  I woke up with AFIB one morning and went to the doctor.  It went away after 24 hours.  If you have AFIB it doesn't have to be in AFIB all the time.  I definitely was not.  Indeed I went for months without an occurrence.  Then I might have two attacks in a week that would last from hours to a day or so.

When you are in AFIB there will be constant irregularity for more than just a few seconds  It will not just be a quick flutter in the chest.  Also when I was in AFIB I felt like the "light bulb dimmed".  I didn't have my same energy level.  I would strangely urinate a great deal.  I could function, but wasn't on top of it.

If your irregularities are not AFIB that will show up immediately, but you will probably need to be on an event monitor or if you are feeling the problem go in and get an ekg.  But if you are having heart irregularities do not ignore them until you get them checked out.  AFIB can be dangerous if not treated.
Helpful - 0
61536 tn?1340698163
I have heard of afib being described that way, but it's somewhat uncommon to have lots of PVCs then an atrial arrhythmia.  Could be a bunch of PVCs, a cluster of them.  I would request an event monitor to catch the rhythm, I think it's important to find out what's going on.

I share your frustration.  Just when I finally put my fears to rest I developed cardiomegaly and a recurrence of PSVT.  Though the cardiomegaly healed, the PSVT persists, and I find it extremely frustrating.  Just when I thought I could quit worrying!  ;)

Hang in there.
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Avatar universal
Ok, that's scary.  Another question.  If it is afib and I have had a full year of cardiac tests, including; 3 echos, 2 stress tests, ct scans, angiogram and other related tests, would any of these tests show the possibility of afib??  Is this something I need to do this evening, I mean go to the hospital?

A holter monitor in January showed above average PVC's but at that there were only 270 of them and I never felt them.  Didn't know I had them.  Now I think I do but I am still unsure of how they feel.

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
If I were you I would go and get it checked out.  It sounds like you could have AFIB.  I had AFIB (gone after ablation), and it typically felt like a flutter in my chest and also my heart rate was elevated and uneven.
Helpful - 0
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