should I be worried?

[andremw292]

Hi. I'm 21 years old. The past few years, I have been having something strange happen, about once a week. Without warning, it will feel as if my heart is beating very hard, and it feels as if it jumps up into my throat. I will have difficulty breathing, and begin coughing and feeling dizzy. It only lasts about 30 seconds, but when it happened today, I was driving and almost swerved off of the road. I can't seem to find any connections. It has never happened when I am working out, to the best of my knowledge. It often happens if I am just walking or sitting, but never during heavy excercise. I have mentioned it to the college doctor before, and they shrug it off as nothing. However, I almost passed out today, and I can't help but think something is wrong. But, it only happens about once a week...What could it be, and what should I do? I am starting to get worried..

[ireneo]

Sometimes an arrhythmia like fizzixgal mentioned, PSVT, can feel like some pressure in your throat and will make you cough. I get that occasionally. The good news is that coughing is one of the vagal maneuvers and often triggers the arrhythmia to kick back to a normal rhythm. So next time if your heart goes galloping off, don't wait 30 seconds. Try a good hard cough.

Another thing, if they're happening that often an event monitor could record the arrhythmia and you could get an answer to what's going on in there. Usually a cardiologist can get you set up with one if needed. You would wear the monitor for 1-4 weeks and when your heart acts up, you push a button to record the event. It stores the small EKG tracing and the doctor can review it. Handy little things.

[fizzixgal]

I would see a cardiologist not a college doc. What you're describing could be some kind of arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) such as PSVT that comes and goes. There are quite a few different types that can happen in structurally normal hearts and are basically harmless but can really affect quality of life or even make you pass out. Often they can be controlled with medication. (I used to have normal heart PVCs -- premature ventricular contractions -- that happened so often my life was unbearable, now I take medication that controls them very well.) In other cases they may be due to underlying heart disease that needs to be treated. But the only way to tell the difference is to have it checked out.

[Pum]

Well minus the coughing it sounds like a panic attack. Does the  coughing trigger the heart palpitation or does the heart palpitation come before the coughing? Sometimes coughing can trigger a rapid heart rate.

Don't worry about it but if you ever pass out then you must go to the doctor immediately.

It's good you have mentioned it to a doctor.

Good luck.