Deep Skipped Heartbeat

[rock4god]

Growing up, I've had skipping heartbeats. I've had them for as long as I can remember. They peaked a few years ago, where I would literally have 15 or so skipped beats in a row if I didn't take a deep breath, but I've kind of grown out of them. I haven't had an episode of having them for hours and hours in about a year or so. I'm not really sure when they stopped. HOWEVER...

I still get the occasional skipping beat here and there. And they mean business. The ones I had when I was younger weren't "deep". That's the only way I can describe it. They were scary, but they just skipped and went on (unless it was a particularly bad night and they would skip several in a row). Now, the ones I get knock the breath out of me. It'll only be one most of the time. I think it's more of the shock factor because I never pass out and I catch my breath back immediately. They're deep. They actually worry me a little more than the ones I used to get. I had an episode a few days ago where I had like 3 of them pretty close together. I was about to run out and tell my dad to be ready to call 911 in case I do pass out. Luckily, I then commenced to a panic attack, which got my heart racing and no more occurred. Overreaction, but it was still scary.

Anyway, should I not worry since I don't get the frequent skips anymore? Or should I be since they seem more serious? I'm never lightheaded and I never have chest pains or anything. I'm thinking they might just be scaring me more than anything. There's nothing I can find that triggers them as they can happen while I'm exercising or when I'm laying down doing nothing.

Thanks.

[ChiLady38]

I also have had skipped heart beats for as long as I can remember. I just sat down and let it pass, then went about my business. I really didn’t pay much attention to them. But back in 2003 I had been so sick for so long. I thought it was just a bad flu bug going around, I was tired and never could really catch my breath. Felt like I had been running up and down the stairs a few million times. LOL Finally after this happening to me for over a month I went to see my doctor. I didn’t get to see my normal doctor but an intern which was really what saved my butt. He asked me if I had ever had an EKG done on me, I said no so he went and had one done on me. He then flipped out and wanted to call an ambulance for me because the EKG had shown my heart was in distress of some sort. I told him I felt no worse then when I came in and I had driven my self so I felt it was ok for me to drive myself to the hospital. Of course he didn’t let me do so, had my mom come pick me up, I couldn’t see spending around 500 dollars to be picked up by an ambulance when my Mom could bring me in just fine. Any ways to make a long story short they found I had an electrical short in my heart. So if you haven’t taken issomethingwrong;s advise I would do so and find a good heart doc. Some have no clue and your just a number, but there are those few out there that are really good. Good luck and God bless.

[is_something_wrong]

I understand completely your description of "deep" skipped heartbeats. I can explain why some premature beats are "deep" and some are not.

Sensation of a premature beat depends on lots of factors:

- Timing of the premature beat
- Origin of the premature beat
- Blood volume
- Adrenaline levels
- Awareness of your heart

My premature beats origin from the upper chambers of the heart, they are so-called PACs. Holter monitoring revealed 50 PACs through 24 hours. I noticed 10 of them. Some people notice so-called PVCs (from the lower chambers) better than PACs, because the pause after a PVC often is longer than after a PAC, especially at rest. On the other hand, some people notice PACs better because they often manifest with a "double" beat followed by a pause, rather than a "skipped" beat (like one of your heartbeats just is missing).

Again, depending on when in the normal heart beat cycle the premature beat occurs, it may be completely ignored, it may cause a "flip-flop" sensation, it may knock your breath out (caused by blood gathering up in the pulmonary circulation, or just the very hard following heartbeat) or it may feel like a fullness in the throat. The sensation that your heart stops, and then the next beat is violent like your chest is about to explode, is very common.

You should take some "reasonable steps" to make sure your heart is OK, which means see your primary care physician and ask him to listen to your heart and lungs, and register an EKG. If this is normal, you should try to ignore the symptoms and accept that premature beats occur in everyone and they are almost always not indicating heart disease. If you are really scared, your physician can refer you to a cardiologist. If you have runs of rapid heart rate that last for a long time, go to the emergency room. If you are severely bothered by skipped beats, go to the emergency room to "capture" the skipped beats on EKG. That way you  get a diagnosis.