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signifiance of heart palpitations
Could you please tell me if there is any signifance to the amount and hardness of heart palpitations.
I am a 38 year old female who suffers from heart palpitations almost daily. I usually have between 10 - 20 skips or strange sensations in my heart per day. Sometimes the skips are REALLY hard. I have no heart disease and a completely normal heart so I am told not to worry.
My question is 10 - 20 abnormal beats a lot during one day and is there any significance to how hard the skips are. I am told a lot of people just ignore the skips but I can't believe they can do that when they are so intense.
Thank you for your time.
I am a 38 year old female who suffers from heart palpitations almost daily. I usually have between 10 - 20 skips or strange sensations in my heart per day. Sometimes the skips are REALLY hard. I have no heart disease and a completely normal heart so I am told not to worry.
My question is 10 - 20 abnormal beats a lot during one day and is there any significance to how hard the skips are. I am told a lot of people just ignore the skips but I can't believe they can do that when they are so intense.
Thank you for your time.
Dear Samantha,
Thankyou for your reply. Did you have open heart for arrythmias? I thought catheter ablations were usually the solution. Did you have any blocked arteries? Also was your chest pain like mine; crushing and lasting only seconds? I'm trying to get a sense of your symptoms in relation to mine. I noticed an arrythmia this morning which was longer than the usual PVC, but had the chest pain later in the day. I'm a little hesitant to do the catheter because I don't have any evidence of angina yet and know their are risks involved with the catheter. I really appreciate the input as I desperately need to put my mind at rest.
My e-mail is: ***@**** if you or anyone else have any suggestions.
Thankyou for your reply. Did you have open heart for arrythmias? I thought catheter ablations were usually the solution. Did you have any blocked arteries? Also was your chest pain like mine; crushing and lasting only seconds? I'm trying to get a sense of your symptoms in relation to mine. I noticed an arrythmia this morning which was longer than the usual PVC, but had the chest pain later in the day. I'm a little hesitant to do the catheter because I don't have any evidence of angina yet and know their are risks involved with the catheter. I really appreciate the input as I desperately need to put my mind at rest.
My e-mail is: ***@**** if you or anyone else have any suggestions.
Chris....
Not sure what I can add to Samantha's comment. My PVCs have never resulted in any severe pain such as you have discribed. Mine are limited to what I believe would be similar to a hiatus hernia, pressure forming in the upper chest and throat. I do have runs of PVCs lasting 5-10 seconds at times, but the sensations are limited to breathlessness and dizziness. I think alot of people suffering from PVCs are frustrated with some of the medical advise and the seemingly apothetic response from the medical profession in general. I guess from the doctor's point of view, since PVCs by themselves are benign, the bedside manor is often tested by what the doctor's view as unwarranted concern by those experiencing them. As I have found, the only thing reasurring me of my otherwise excellent health was to have all the requisite tests and accept that the cummulative diagnoses of 3 cardiologists. Tough call on your part. Don't know of the risks involved in the cath procedure, but if that is what it takes to provide you peace of mind, it may be worth it! Good Luck!
Not sure what I can add to Samantha's comment. My PVCs have never resulted in any severe pain such as you have discribed. Mine are limited to what I believe would be similar to a hiatus hernia, pressure forming in the upper chest and throat. I do have runs of PVCs lasting 5-10 seconds at times, but the sensations are limited to breathlessness and dizziness. I think alot of people suffering from PVCs are frustrated with some of the medical advise and the seemingly apothetic response from the medical profession in general. I guess from the doctor's point of view, since PVCs by themselves are benign, the bedside manor is often tested by what the doctor's view as unwarranted concern by those experiencing them. As I have found, the only thing reasurring me of my otherwise excellent health was to have all the requisite tests and accept that the cummulative diagnoses of 3 cardiologists. Tough call on your part. Don't know of the risks involved in the cath procedure, but if that is what it takes to provide you peace of mind, it may be worth it! Good Luck!
To Robert - I get the same thing. My cardio also thinks I am having short periods of Afib. I had a EP study done in January and the only thing we found was PVC's and SVT. I don't believe the 10 to 30 seconds runs are SVT becuase the beats are very irregular and irratic. Just thought you might want to know that there are others in the same boat. Take care (I'm 31 to by the way).
I was diagnosed with idopathic atrial fibrillation 10 years ago.
I have been treated with a wide variety of drugs.. each sort of controlling the episodes, but not totally.
In Oct.1998 I was referred to a cardiac research program.. the drug they were researching/studying is called Azimilide. for 18 months i was on the drug.. completely free of side effects and episodes of atrial fib!!!
The study was such a success, that the company, Proctor & Gamble have now stopped it. period. No more drug for us that are so completely symptom free.
Today i started on Rhythmol.. but i am sure not happy.
We are hoping the drug will be approved very soon for retail use.. watch for this drug and ask your doctors when it comes out.. it just may be the drug for you! I sure improved my life!!
I have been treated with a wide variety of drugs.. each sort of controlling the episodes, but not totally.
In Oct.1998 I was referred to a cardiac research program.. the drug they were researching/studying is called Azimilide. for 18 months i was on the drug.. completely free of side effects and episodes of atrial fib!!!
The study was such a success, that the company, Proctor & Gamble have now stopped it. period. No more drug for us that are so completely symptom free.
Today i started on Rhythmol.. but i am sure not happy.
We are hoping the drug will be approved very soon for retail use.. watch for this drug and ask your doctors when it comes out.. it just may be the drug for you! I sure improved my life!!
Chris,
I had open heart in 1983. Radiofrequency ablations had not yet been discovered. Some ablations were being done with DC current but the risks were very high depending on what area needed to be ablated. The chances of blowing a hole in the wall of the heart were great, and also the accuracy of what area the current would actually destroy was not perfected at that time. It is amazing to see how far technology has actually come in 20 years. Most likely I would have avoided open heart today. Gee, how I wish I could have. The surgery did more harm than good in the long term. I had my SA node totally excised. It and all of the excitable tissue surrounding it was not gotten. I continued to have arrythmias and eventually developed 5 different pacemaker sites alternating my rhythms. Getting back to the chest pain, I only had 2 EKG's that were taken during 2 different episodes of pain that showed any changes. All other tests were negative. During the heart cath I did not show any EKG change which is not usually the norm. All of my major ateries were clear but when I was given the ergonovine to stimulate any types of spasms, I had one distal branch off of the main artery that totally closed up.
This is not "typical" coronary artery spasm but my cardiologist
said it was certainly enough to cause pain. Even though the distal branch was small, the oxygen supply was cut off which could cause pain. He said this was his first experience involving the total obliteration of a distal branch in relation to pain. Since this was not a case of classic coronary artery spasm it was difficult to diagnose, and as I said all of my other tests were negative except for arrhythmia. Pain during the arrhythmias differed from the other chest pain. My pain with spasm was crushing like an elephant standing on my chest. Sometimes it went through to my back and I became nauseated at times. However, mine usually lasted minutes or hours, not just seconds. I hope this helps in some way. Good luck!
I had open heart in 1983. Radiofrequency ablations had not yet been discovered. Some ablations were being done with DC current but the risks were very high depending on what area needed to be ablated. The chances of blowing a hole in the wall of the heart were great, and also the accuracy of what area the current would actually destroy was not perfected at that time. It is amazing to see how far technology has actually come in 20 years. Most likely I would have avoided open heart today. Gee, how I wish I could have. The surgery did more harm than good in the long term. I had my SA node totally excised. It and all of the excitable tissue surrounding it was not gotten. I continued to have arrythmias and eventually developed 5 different pacemaker sites alternating my rhythms. Getting back to the chest pain, I only had 2 EKG's that were taken during 2 different episodes of pain that showed any changes. All other tests were negative. During the heart cath I did not show any EKG change which is not usually the norm. All of my major ateries were clear but when I was given the ergonovine to stimulate any types of spasms, I had one distal branch off of the main artery that totally closed up.
This is not "typical" coronary artery spasm but my cardiologist
said it was certainly enough to cause pain. Even though the distal branch was small, the oxygen supply was cut off which could cause pain. He said this was his first experience involving the total obliteration of a distal branch in relation to pain. Since this was not a case of classic coronary artery spasm it was difficult to diagnose, and as I said all of my other tests were negative except for arrhythmia. Pain during the arrhythmias differed from the other chest pain. My pain with spasm was crushing like an elephant standing on my chest. Sometimes it went through to my back and I became nauseated at times. However, mine usually lasted minutes or hours, not just seconds. I hope this helps in some way. Good luck!
I am a 50 year old male with type 2 diabetes and asthma.Recently I developed heart palpitations after my doctor added a new diabetes med to my oral meds.About 15 years ago my doctor told me that I have the beginning of a hiates hernia.My doctor didn't seem concerned when I informed him of the palpitations. He just changed my med again.But the palpitations continue.They seem to be worse after a meal and don,t seem to be present when I sleep.Could these palpitations be due to the hiates hernia and have nothing to do with my heart? I have never had heart problems.Also will they go away after awhile? Should I be concerned?
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