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HEART FEELS LIKE IT STOPS BEATING...

I JUST HAD THIS SENSATION... I WAS ALMOST SLEEPING WHEN IT FELT LIKE MY HEART STOPPED BEATING THEN THE ADRENALINE THAT WENT FROM MY STOMACH TO MY CHEST AND THEN MY HEAD... IT MAKES ME GASP THEN COUGH. WHAT A SCARY THING. I HAVE HAD MANY EKG'S AND STRESS TEST AND 24 HR HOLTER MONITOR AND ALL WHICH HAVE COME BACK AS TACHYCARDIA BUT DR'S SAID THAT IT IS NORMAL. ...
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
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Avatar universal
looks like we all have the same thing , and anxiety is common between us all , am going to rule out heart diseases and thyroid problems soon , i hope you share what you learn about this too , thanks .
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi,

Did you ever find out what was causing your problems?

I have identical problems. Had a bout of numbness down one side and spent a night in hospital. Now having adrenaline rushes and heart stopping similar to you've described.

What was your diagnosis? My doctors are not helping me.

Hope you can help!

G
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Okay, do you folks ever stop to think that maybe your palpitation problem could be something small and possibly even mental?! The fact that you are all on here looking at this forum stuff is a great indicator that you may suffer anxiety. 

Anxiety is a leading cause for PVC's and PAC's for me. I was born with two holes in my heart and a faulty pulmonary valve (fixed) but left me with left ventricular hypertrophy and a right bundle branch block. Both of these issues can cause palpitations. But for me they don't! Anxiety causes them. My palpitations scared the hell  out of me when they first came about. I cut out coffee, alcohol, exercise, sex and anything else that could spark a charge of adrenaline and bring about anxiety and palpitations.

When I first starting having palpitations-I will never forget the day- I got really freaked out. Being that I had the surgery I mentioned above I thought I was having heart problems again. But after seeing my cardiologist four times in six months and being told i was healthy I finally came to grips  with my problem.

-Anxiety- :(

 In my own opinion there were two different types of anxiety that affected me, slow paced and fast paced. The slow paced was more of a stress type. It would begin maybe after caffeine or just some scary or stressful thoughts. I would slowly begin to become panicked having symptoms like sweaty palms and emotional problems like irritability and bouts of depression. That would start to cause palpitations without a charged heart rate so they were low frequency soft beats. The second was fast paced, fight or flight mode. This would happen before going on stage to perform (as i am a singer) or during a workout session. I would feel that rush of adrenaline go to my heart causing chest pain and a charged heart rate i could feel in my throat. The palpitations would come hard and at very high frequencies. I would eventually calm down but this would set off a strand of the slow paced anxiety for fear of it happening again. 

I am no Dr. but only hope to be able to give some of you a piece of mind.
Cut anxiety from your life by reducing stress and whatever else may be causing it. Enjoy things like a nice cup of coffee, exercise and hobbies.  You owe it to yourself and your happiness, take charge of your life and stay out of the dumps about palpitations, heart conditions and etc. You only live once, and unless you physically have a reason to worry than just know it's all mental and your okay.

Remember that there is no study that proves people having palpitations are at risk for sudden cardiac arrest or heart disease.

One more thing..one drug I did try that worked without having to take stupid anti-axniety pills which seem to only make it worse by altering your mind, vision, and hearing was a beta blocker. It helped by blocking adrenaline and decreasing the intensity of the PVC's. It's called Atenelol. Ask your Dr. about it. It worked for me. Probably just mental but it pacified me until I could develop the strength and courage to fight anxiety down in the trenches. 

After all in order to defeat anxiety you have to have the courage to kick the door in and hit the japs with the flame-thrower! Hope I was helpful! God bless and have a great day!! :)
Helpful - 0
967168 tn?1477584489
sounds like we've had the same dr's :P  I don't understand why dr's use the term anxiety so freely; I've heard it way too often - if you read my journal about my journey you'll see I've had my share of dr's say that.  If anyone understands you, it will be the community here on MH - alot of us are going through similiar things =)

one example is when I was pregnant in 1997, I felt really horrible not normal pregnancy stuff; went to the dr and he said it pregnancy jitters and anxiety; I ended up in the ER with early labor at 21 or 22 weeks, I had Group Beta Streptococcus that turned septic (blood infection) and my son died and I almost died from the infection also - tons of antibiotics and treatment in the hospital saved me.

good luck on your tests and hopefully they'll find out what's wrong and be able to treat you; keep us posted on how things are going

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Avatar universal
hi, i would the doctors are sending you for the tests for be sure, ms can effect young healthy people.

was the numbness like you couldnt feel a thing the whole side went completely numb, that may not be anxiety and i hope they find the answer for you.
numbness can be caused by anxiety but only partially numb as blood is drawn from the surface and directed to the vital organs as the fight response a natural thing.
i cannot comment on the undiagnosed brain disease other then to say tell them to pull their finger out their ***.

sleep apnea is where we stop breathing in our sleep, it happens more if we lie on our back as our tongue n throat muscles relax we feel no air going in so we awaken panicking.

you could suffer from sleep anxiety what they call night anxiety this is where we wake up in total panic for no reason, ive been there i had my second baby last oct 09 and because i had a very bad birth experience n nearly died i had constant anxiety all day everyday, it was awful n i lived in fear everyday that something bad going to happen, so i understand, then i developed pvcs as my anxiety was really bad these pvcs caused more anxiety i couldnt enjoy anything at all, i was obssessed with checking my pulse to see if my heart was still beating then more anxiety arrived cuz of the worry.

a councillor will not work for you until you have the reason what is wrong with you. when you have the answer and the illness you can then tell yourself you're fine and enjoy your life
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. My dr is ordering the sleep apnea test now =)  yes I do have severe anxiety and panic also I have an undiagnosed brain disease. Back in 1997 I felt like I had a stroke the entire right side of my body went numb and spent the night in the hospital. They kept telling me it was anxiety.... but it kept happening along with speech disturbances, weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath oooh the list is far to long to list them all. First mri showed there was degeneration of the white and grey matter and they said that it could be ishemic white matter disease, inflammatory disease, or early ms... I had a baby oct 2009 and after having him I felt horrible the stuff just got worse. I go in for my mri tomorrow morning and then lumbar puncture on the 8th of nov. They think that it is ms but they need to make a clinical diagnosis and even though I feel all these things it seems like nobody ever sees them. Frustrates me to no end. Just knowing would likely reduce some of this stress... Even seeing a counselor now but I don't find it effective... how can someone tell me all is going to be alright when they don't know what they are even talking about. I feel like nobody understands me!!!!
Helpful - 0
704329 tn?1518523098
hello, i suffer from the same or similar thing too. it can happen up to 30 times before i finally fall asleep that i semi-concious stop breathing and sprint up with a shot of adrenaline too get the body breathing and flowing back to normal. weird enough, i did have a sleep study done for apnea and it came back normal. I find what caused this to happen more often 100% of the time is a more active day, with some stress, then some cardio work out in the evening with some medication near bedtime. this cause that to act up alot. But the feeling of the heart stopping could possibly be a pvc...? because when the pvc happens, there is a pause in the heart as it restarts to pump again and this sometimes can cause a longer pause then normal which could cause the adrenaline factor to kick in and you to wake up. This happens to me also...so i hope you find some luck into shedding some light to your problems. Take care!
Helpful - 0
967168 tn?1477584489
Sleep apnea only shows up on a sleep study test; your dr may have some clues that you have it, but can only be diagnosed with the test.  The ENT should have asked if you snore, had problems breathing etc.  The fact you have allergies could have something to do with it also; there's a forum here dealing with sleep disorders; Dr. Park is great although I don't know if he answers questions in the forum any longer; but you may want to post there and ask also =)

here's a quick test form: http://www.sleepapnea.org/resources/pubs/snorescoreform.pdf

There are three types of apnea: obstructive, central, and mixed; of the three, obstructive is the most common. People who have small airways in their noses, throats, or mouths also are more likely to have sleep apnea. Smaller airways may be due to the shape of these structures or allergies or other medical conditions that cause congestion in these areas. [NHLB Institute]

It may be something completely different, you should mention sleep apnea to your pcp or your cardiolgogist and tell them about the gasping/coughing and feeling like your heart stopped.... I'm just shooting in the dark guessing from symptoms you wrote.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Ask your doctor to test your iron levels. My Hb was fine but my iron was low for years!
Low iron makes you feel anxious and tired anyway. When I'm tired my heart skips a beat or two then I get palpitations.It can also happen after I have eaten a large meal. your iron (Ferritin) levels should be between 25 - 350. I still get some palpitations even with my iron levels up if I don't get enough sleep and do too much. Worth checking.
Helpful - 0
1182699 tn?1297574784
I have the same symptoms you are describing...my doctor has put me on a 21 day event monitor and then will do the sleep apnea test...I wake up gasping, irregular heart beat and then tachy...terrible feeling, sometimes feels like my brain is falling asleep...hopefully just stress.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I am 5'2 120lbs also I have asthma allergies... I just recently went to see a ears nose throat specialist and they stuck that scope up my nose ouch and also had me do the barium swallow test and she said that everything looked fine. even if i had something like sleep apnea wouldnt they see something wrong with those two tests?
Helpful - 0
967168 tn?1477584489
since you've had the other things done, just ask about a sleep apnea test - simple overnight test that may rule it out - the gasping/coughing is why I thought of it

my daughter who is 24 laughed when I told her I thought she has it  I watched her do about the same thing as you described (hers may be due to asthma/allergy problems) and she snores! she's 5'8 130 lbs so no way it's due to being overweight, but probably an obstruction in the nasal passage, sinus or throat

I have OSA and never thought I had it, even after they told me how severe mine was; I don't usually snore and can't remember waking up gasping/coughing until after I had an ablation - then gasping/coughing and tachy started alot at night
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Obviously none of us are Dr.s, but it sure sounds like stress related.

Mega stress to relaxation...bam

Try some stress release methods before you go to bed...see if that helps
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
no sleep apnea... well, at least that I know of haven't been tested yet. I do have anxiety but have had the anxiety for a long time and never felt this before. It is only when I am laying down and almost sleeping then it happens and wakes me right up and scares me to go back to sleep.
Helpful - 0
967168 tn?1477584489
do you have sleep apnea? may want to ask your dr about it if you haven't been tested for it
Helpful - 0
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