Some Question about my heart.

[DC_Curious]

Hello,
This is my first time posting so bear with me. I am going to give a complete history of what has been happening so you can help me better.

About 2 years ago at work I popped a total of 4 Stacker 3's (Yea I know stupid). It was spread out, and later that night I felt like I was having a heart attack but chose not to go to the doctor. At this time in my life I was an avid marijuana user. After this experience, I couldnt smoke without my heart seemingly race away. I stopped using, and no problems persisted.

About a year ago, I was at work, and out of nowhere was started experiencing the same symptoms. I went to the local urgent care, they did an EKG etc, gave me a valium and sent me home. Im guessing they thought it was a panic attack. Symptoms persisted about a month and then died down.

****Now, starting in late december, I was drinking one night and I woke up to feel my heart racing away once again. These episdoes I will say are VERY scary to me, and I dont feel like its panic disorder (though it could be). A couple weeks later I had a similar experience (with alky), and now I have them semi regularly. This time, I have been to the ER twice. Test workups are as followed : 2 ekgs, 1 chest xray, 1 head CAT scan, 1 24 holter monitor. These all came back fine, besides the holter monitor that showed up some PAC's. My doctor said they were most likely benign. I have borderline high blood pressure last time i was at the doctor it was 183/83.

The symptoms when there is an "attack" feels like a racing pulse, fear, some chest pressure, sometimes tension headache. I know have a healthy fear of excersise.
Resting heartrate of around 80, however when i walk around it goes to 100 or above. Is that normal ?

My dr. also prescribed me propronlol, however my side affects are horrible and I am trying to make it without. She said a stress test at this point would be expensive and my insurance may not cover it, and she is "not sure" whether anxiety is causing it, or it is causing anxiety. Ive looked up several things, atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation, mitral valva prolapse...i just have no idea at this point.

Someone please help!!!!!!

[littlegreenman1]

Holy macarone -

I like is_something_wrong...
I was lucky in that I had all underlying issues under control: I'm not stressed, I'm not a panic person, I exercise, weight is good, BP is good...

You need a good base line and the way to get there is: take those points of advice above. Without being judgemental, just ovbjective: your life will be better (think zen overall) if you go on the wagon and get in shape.

When I had SVT (i am cured), I wished (half seriously), "I wish I had a bad habit that I could cut out and this would go AWAY."  You know, a cause and effect. You have cause and effect. So eliminate the cause and measure the effect. You may be back here in 6 months, saying, "Lost 20 pounds, running 5k races, haven't drank, smoked, popped and my heart is still bat-guano crazy." But I hope not.

[MichelleP_3811]

Your resting heart rate of 80 and 100 upon moving is normal and nothing to worry about.  Do you know what your rate is when you are feeling the fast beat?  Were you having the fast beat when you were in the ER?  When you have been awake at the start of one of the episodes does it start and stop all of a sudden or does the rate go up and down gradually?  What were you doing at the onset of the episodes?  You possibly have stress tachycardia, having an intense dream can cause one to wake with a rapid beat.  You could also have simple stimulant tachycardia.  Drinking raises my heart rate as it does a lot of people but you could also have some sort of svt as well.  This can partly be determined by how fast your heart is beating an svt being indicated at rates close or over 200bpm without provocation however the only way to know for sure is by having it captured and recorded on an ekg or through a monitor.  If you know this has happened and the doctors are not concerned then whatever your heart is doing is likely of no consequence or is simply due to stimulants or stress.  If you haven't had it captured regardless of how many tests you have had done so far you need to get it recorded to get properly diagnosed.  The good news is you have had a number of heart tests that seem to indicate your heart is generally healthy.  You may want to get an echo to be absoutely sure but it sounds like beyond the rapid beat you are in pretty good health.  This means that whatever is going on isn't putting you in any imminent danger of sudden death but it is something you will want to keep on top of.  So I would say keep a journal of when you have an episode, how long the episodes last, how fast your heart was beating, what you were doing right before it started, and any symptoms you are feeling during the episode.   This info will help the cardilogist better diagnose what is going on with you.   Take care and keep us posted on how you are doing.

[is_something_wrong]

It sounds what you experience is exactly what is expected, considering your previous very unhealthy lifestyle.

If your blood pressure is borderline high (183/83 is not borderline high by the way, that's seriously high if that's your normal blood pressure, which I assume it isn't, it's probably measured during a panic attack?), ALL stimulants are bad for you. The same if you suffer from panic, PACs, and/or rapid heart rhythm, which usually all have the same cause. This triple combination is classic in almost everyone suffering from anxiety.

What you need to do:
- Quit smoking (if you haven't already). Never smoke again. Anything. Seriously.
- Stop taking stimulants.
- Cut back on drinking. If you drink a lot, your blood vessels will dilate and your heart will race. This is not a medical issue, it happens in everyone, but if you are afraid of it, things will get worse.
- Quit reading cardiology topics.
- Talk to your doctor about an exercise plan.

If you do this, you will probably be just fine :)