Oh no, my heart is going crazy!!!

[gothic_beauty]

Hello again, I just wrote a post about a racing heart, but last night and this morning something even scarier happened to me, and I feel like I need more help than ever!

I totally freaked out at the time, and I'm freaking out now because I feel like it's going to happen again. What happened was that my heart started skipping beats, and my heartbeat became so irregular that I'm surprised I'm still alive now. I was totally relaxed this morning, watching a film, and then all of a sudden I felt like my heart dropped about three inches in my chest, and started a really hard, pounding beat. Then it weakened but raced for a few seconds, then it stopped for a second or two, then it fluttered and pounded some more. I can't even describe the exact rhythm because it was so irregular, but it felt like my heart was shifting around in my chest, starting and stopping and pounding and fluttering. I didn't know what to do, and I felt that if I got up to call 911 or something I'd die. I also felt an intense hunger, which was weird. After about ten minutes it settled down, and although I felt the odd skipped beat after that every once in awhile, it wasn't as bad. And a similar thing happened to me when I lay in bed last night. I have read about skipped beats, and I know that they are normal every once in awhile, but this was not just one skipped beat, this was like a heart attack!!!! I don't know if anyone knows what I mean. My family certainly didn't believe me. It feels good just to write about it actually, like I can sort out what happened. It was just so scary, and I feel alone and terrified.

Help???

[is_something_wrong]

1. If you read my post again, can you find one thing there supposed to offend you?

2. I'd say 90% of those questions (concerning PACs, PVCs, tachycardia, palpitations) are anxiety related. My point is (that you refers to as disgusting regurgitation from unreferenced internet sites and sugar coating) that someone experiencing those symptoms should get to a doctor, let him decide, and either get a holter test (and reassurance) or get reassured this is just anxiety. What you do, however, is to pull out a dangerous arrhythmia from the book and suggest it.

3. What I'm writing, is either based on my own experience or scientific articles. I don't understand why you refer to this as "unreferenced internet sites".

4. How am I hiding any truth? I remember you wrote to me "all PVCs are abnormal" - it seems to me I'm not hiding any truth, it seems you cannot handle the truth.

5. I'm sorry you seem to suffer from thousands of PVCs and anxiety. I will leave you alone as you ask for.

I think your reply was indeed uncalled for, nothing in what I wrote was supposed to harm you and I wrote that you're doing a wonderful job. I don't understand why you got so angry.

[jondsam]

What was wrong with my post is something wrong?  I just speculated and made the comment that all is usually safe with normal EKG and ECHO.  People come here for answers, not sugar coated replies that hide from the truth, which by the way is how you write the majority of your posts.  Im not a doctor and neither are you, so isnt all what we say speculation??  Is not all that you post , disgusting regurgitation from un referenced internet sites?  I think you should worry about your own posts and leave me alone.

[gothic_beauty]

I certainly did read your response to my previous post, is_something_wrong, and I was going to reply and thank you for your good and detailed answer when you also responded to this one, so I'll just thank you here. With such specific evidence as the experiments you did while exercising, I get a much better idea of how drastically the mind affects the body, and it shocks me to no end. While it makes sense that anxiety could cause the heart to speed up, though, I certainly didn't expect that my mental problems could have anything to do with a skipped heartbeat. That shocks me even more. I would expect such an occurrence to be a sign of a heart condition rather than a psychological one. However, I believe what you say, and I stand corrected. I'm going to pay much closer attention to my mental state, and talk about it with my doctor too. Because of you, I feel more confident that I'll be alive to do so!

A big thank you to all my repliers. I hope that I continue to feel better. I'll keep you posted ...

[is_something_wrong]

If this should be an arrhythmia, the only thing I think you should rule out is atrial fibrillation. This can present with the symptoms you mention - anyway it's very unlikely in young people like yourself - and it's not life threatening. Short events of atrial fib is not dangerous - but if it's sustained (for hours, days) you should see a doctor and get an EKG done.

Again, good luck.

[is_something_wrong]

Hello,

Have you read my reply on your previous post?

To this problem, I'm actually not surprised about your symptoms. They are ectopic beats, and they are sinus tachycardia, and they are caused by your adrenaline levels. You probably had several PACs, they tend to appear in episodes like you describe and it's common. I've had this problem myself and it really scares me.

The "funny" part is, that this often happens when you already have worried about your heart for a while. My problems started with sinus tachycardia (like you described in your previous post) and then, an incident like this can happen once in a while. I actually got one on the way in to doctors office, and I was screaming "get me to a hospital, I'm dying here!!!" The doctor checked my pulse, smiled and told me not to worry. Afterwards I captured this on Holter, just PACs and sinus tachycardia. Completely benign.

Your heart is completely fine. Your problem is anxiety. It's possibly an idea to ask your doctor for a couple of consultations just to tell you how anxiety affects your heart, possibly to ask a psychiatrist, who knows those relations, from working both on the physical and mental side.

By the way: I don't want to start a "fight" on this forum, but Jondsam, I know you're trying to calm people, and you do a wonderful job answering questions, but I think you should be a little careful bringing up subjects like ventricular tachycardia to anxious people, or people with cardiac neurosis. It's usually a really unlikely diagnosis Things can get worse. Just my personal opinion, though. Keep up the good work :)

[gothic_beauty]

Thanks for being there :)

See that's the weird thing ... I've had a 24 hour Holter monitor, numerous EKGs and an ultrasound, and nothing strange showed up. I've been having heart troubles for awhile, just never this bad, so I've been through the whole repertoire of tests! I feel like it's some sort of electrolyte imbalance, like low potassium or something, as I've heard that in structurally healthy hearts that can cause problems. I just don't know what I'm lacking in. I've had a blood test too and everything was fine. I just don't know why this happens!!!

[cindy707]

Hi i read your post and am sorry that you are going thru so much scariness.  Obviously you are experiencing something and your body is trying to tell you something so i think you should definately get it checked out.  It could be absolutely anything,,,something natural, something you are putting into your body that is setting it off, habits...we would all be reaching for straws to help you try to figure this out but the bottom line is the bottom line...you need to make an appt. w. a heart doc so that they can run a couple of simple non invasive tests and you and take a listen to your heart so rule anything else and if you come away with nothing that would be great. It cold be something that is just isolated and you are experiencing it now due to stress or anxiety or even just having it in the back of your mind that its going to start at any moment like we all did and do.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemy when it comes to our own bodies and scare the heck out of ourselves.  You have age on your side and the chances of you dropping dead from a heart attack...well you have a better chance of winning the lottery believe me because that is a whole nother can of worms and you don't have any of the symtoms.  Get yourself checked out if for nothing else then to get a little reassurance.....good luck we are here for you.....

[jondsam]

Well it could be a bunch of different things, and without a EKG while it was happening this all all pure speculation.  My guess is that it sounds like either you had a short run of NSVT, or maybe some couplet PVC's , or maybe you went into bigeminy for a short while.  Either way, the chances of it being something serious is slim with a normal EKG and ECHO.  If your heart is structurally sound, the vast majority of the time rhythm problems really pose no threat.  I have had similar episodes like you had and thought it was lights out for sure.  I know the terrible anxiety that heart problems cause.  I hope you can get a grasp on what is going on with you.  Keep us informed.