PVCs/PACs and giftedness

[missalisa]

I have noticed that many of the people writing on the PVC/PAC topic are unusually literate and articulate. I noticed this in part because I am mom to a highly "gifted" child, and have had to learn a lot about giftedness. Among the many things I learned is that gifted people have higher rates of allergies. They also tend to "feel" things somewhat more than average - gifted kids might not be able to tolerate the seam of their socks in their shoes, or the feel of a shirt tag against their neck, things like that. As I have read the statistics about the general population having, but not feeling, PVCs or PACs, and as I noticed how clever and funny many of the people on these message boards were, I wondered if there was a connection between these arrythmias and giftedness. Incidentally, I do not like the term "gifted" because it implies a sort of happy specialness, when in truth gifted children and adults are at much greater risk for a number of problems, including social isolation, suicide, drug use and dropping out of school. Anyway, I wonder if this theory of mine makes sense to any of you. Are we feeling these more because our brains - not our hearts - are different?

[nervouslady]

This reminds me of that Woody Allen movie - he is the same anxious type child.  His mother takes him to a psychiatrist, and the psychiatrist asks him, 'what's wrong?'  He said, 'The universe is expanding'  And his mother gets upset and says, "What does that have to do with YOU?  Why are you upset about that?'

LOL!  That was so funny to me because I think the same way oftentimes.  I wonder about death and how people can worry about trivial things knowing that we're all going to DIE.  This is all going to end, and your figurine collection that you spend so much time on will end up being either thrown away or sold at a garage sale for 5$.  Who cares about the dang figurines.  But others don't see it that way.  They think I'm 'grim'.   I suppose so.  

The Woody Allen thing makes me laugh because on the news the other day they opened with a story about a car accident, an injured dog, etc etc and then toward the end of the news they briefly mentioned that scientists have discovered that a large meteor is going to come dangerously close to earth in the year 2029.  And then chuckled about it!  What?!?!  A)  That should be FIRST in the newscast.  That should be breaking news.  And B)  It's not funny - that could wipe out life on our entire planet.  Others don't see things that way though.  I've never been able to understand that.

I hope I'm not autistic.  That would suck.  LOL.

[nervouslady]

I think there is a correlation between overanalytical natures and anxiety.  And hypersensitivity and anxiety.  And then, of course, anxiety and palpitations.

I am extremely overanalytical.  Which is probably why I have both anxiety and palpitations, and is especially why my palpitations bother me so much - because I read into them and what catastrophic thing they might mean.

I don't know if there is a correlation between IQ and anxiety - I think there is a link between creativity and anxiety, however.  I read that someplace.

Then again, I started school at 4 years old and started college at 16.  I think the former was because my mom wanted me out of the house and the latter was because my high school wanted me out of their hair.  LOL.   Who wants the responsibility of an anxious kid?  Hot potato!

[Wisconsin2007]

I heard something on NPR a week ago about a study of gifted children and how they can feel many things more intensely, experience life more intensely, and subsequently can freak out more intensely.  They can extrapolate things much more than the average child which can have both positive and negative results.

Does one beget the other?  Not sure, but I would bet people could provide arguments for both sides.  I could do it within my own family - both of my parents have a-fib, and the one with the higher IQ had no clue until one night he was laying in bed and heard his heart fluttering like a hummingbird at 200-300bpm.  The doctors figure he had it for years.

I've always thought there was some kind of grey matter see-saw, where if you had some extraordinary mental ability it usually came with an extraordinary flaw as well.  To kind of balance things out.  So a brilliant blogger might also experience extraordinary levels of depression or anxiety.  Or maybe a fantastic painter might cut off his ear (Van Gogh).  Or drive his dead wife around in his car for awhile (Dali).  Or a mathematician might wear the same outfit (multiple pairs of identical pants, socks, shirts, etc) every day of his adult life (Einstein).

So maybe there's something to that.  Or maybe the more sensitive ones just freak out about it more (and find themselves at places like this) regardless of IQ.

[lagoya]

being more aware ,,sensitive ..in touch more with the inner going's on or just being gifted ,i am gifted at a lot of things and have been a great problem solver in a lot of jobs but i feel once a person is made very aware of their heartbeat on a continued basis it opens a new eye in the body .an eye that  does not like to sleep and is always watching for that beat to kick in or kick out ,we develop a new awareness ,a heightened control of every moving action that takes place in our bodies and the single most important control is our heart beat .it is amazing that something so beautiful ,so powerful ,and so important can scare us so quickley and drive us into the hands of fear ,,such is the power of the heart beat ,,,,,,,our hearts are gifts and i even though it runs ,skips ,hops,has tantrums ,,,,,,i really like mine ............................

[Zachs]

I find your observation quite similar to what I've experienced over the years since I can remember. My first memory at 15 months old when I fell off a set of bunk beds, got my legs stuck into the ladder, and hyper extended both of my knee ligaments.

My 8 year old son has the same annoyances with seams of clothing and tags.  I had the same annoyances growing up.  I guess the fact of the matter is some are just more 'in tune' to their environment? Do you think it is borderline autism?

I can relate to the heart skipping and flopping in times of emotional stimulation. I have often experienced with a overwhelming sense of passion for my wife, I get PVCs.  I'm wondering if there is a slew of emotions that cause the heart sensations during times when we least expect them to happen, and often obsess about them. I tend to let the 'what if's' take over my whole day causing even more emotional stress and chest discomfort.

I have, however, over the past months taken control of my health and life to surpass the overwhelming fears endured by anxiety worrying. No more caffeine and nicotine!  I've been caffeine free for over 90 days, and nicotine free for 40 days.  I has helped quite a bit.  I still get weird sensations in the chest, PVC's, NSVT, dizziness, fatigue, and depressed.  I know it's going to take time to recoup.

I have battled so many different heart sensations and emotional stress since I've been 19 years old that there came a time recently where I was at the end of fighting it, and was dead set of figuring out exactly WTF was wrong with me.  Luckily I found this community of people and have been getting better  ever since.   Zach