heart about to explode when i breathe?

[thedora]

Hi! I'm a seemingly healthy 20yr old. I started having heart palpitations when I was about 14. It pretty much happens all the sudden my heart hurts and I get this huge rush and my heart starts beating so hard that when I'm sitting still my whole body moves. I've checked my bp and last time it was 180 bpm. I'll get shooting pain up my neck, my arms and my chest. I get extremely tired after the first five minutes. I forgot to mention, it lasts for HOURS at a time. I sit down, lay down, listen to quiet music, breathe very slowly, and most times it continues to beat the same rate. My last spell lasted about seven hours. When it ends, it'll be beating hard and fast then I have a two second pause of no beats, then a very soft, slow beat of probably 60 or so bpm, making me gasp for air. Every so often I get them. I read online that if you pinch your nose and breathe out into your nose at the same time, it tickles some nerve that regulates your heartbeat. I tried that my next spell and it worked almost instantly. The next spell I tried it again and nothing happened. I've tried to be more aware of what causes these spells. So far I've noticed breathing affects it the most, but mostly bending over does it. It depends on how I breathe when I squat down to get something. I also noticed if I like hold my breath when I take a big leap or do some big movement, I get a heavy, strong heart beat that feels like the onset of the spell, but my instinct I breathe really slow and softly and it seems to be keeping the spell from really hitting hard. I went to the dr and he first said I was being paranoid, then did some massage (?) saying it was because my "back was tense", then had me lay down where he did this crazy back cracking move. I have a crooked spine so I thought maybe he was on to something, but not even a week later I had another spell. The jerk also charged me $180 dollars for that not spectacular massage, mind you. I came back about two weeks later and he hooked up these little suction cup thingies on me to do a test. He said that he had to have someone else look at the paper because he couldn't find anything wrong with my heart beat, but the other doctor noticed something, saying I had a "slight sinus arrhythmia." He said it was nothing to worry about, but I get these rushes when ever I make big movements almost like everyday. I know it's not normal and I'm pretty worried about it because my family has history with heart problems. I also want to participate in contact sports (mostly roller derby) and I don't want my heart to seize during rigorous activities. Pretty much I guess what I'm saying is that this heart condition, whatever the heck it is, it's embarrassing and it's put my life on hold, limiting me to elderly activities and slow snail-like movements. Is there anything I can do? Or should I get my lazy butt off the computer chair and work out till my hearts too beefy to cough every once in a while?

[tom_h]

...I wanted to add something that may or may not have a bearing on you depending on what your diagnosis would be.  A lot of us here have had many years of SVT related symptoms but still have been able to function at very high levels of competitive sports; marathons, speed skating, track cycling among them.  The sooner you get to a physician, the sooner you can get on some course to either a control through medication or a perhaps a cure.

The path you take through the medical world may require some persistence.  As I touched on above, many doctors will take the easy "anxiety route" because your possible condition only appears occasionally, and rarely displays or leaves any markers.  An EKG outside of the events will show a perfectly normal wave form.  That's why documented evidence is so important.  The term "palpatations" is so broad that it covers a myriad of possiblities. (I wish people wouldn't use that term) . But describing an event of let's say..... 200 beats per minute, that started suddenly and vanished just as quickly, that occured during skating, etc,  is much more detailed and will help immensely in coming to an accurate diagnosis.  There are small devices that you can wear daily for up to a month or longer that will record your heart's activity and can catch these fleeting episodes.  Convincing the physician to prescribe one of these expensive long term tests is your job, and providing him with enough information to support the use of one is your key.

[merileegal]

I agree with Tom. From what you described it sounds like some kind of tachycardia and most likely some kind of SVT. The only way to find out is to catch an event on an event monitor or as stated above, when the event is happening get medical help so it can be recorded. I was passed off by many doctors for many years before I finally was diagnosed with SVT.

I guess it's possible that it is anxiety. My cardio told me that there are many people who are being diagnosed with anxiety when it is actually SVT. I've had both and they are very distinctively different. SVT starts and ends on a dime. Anxiety can start pretty quickly but doesn't stop abrubtly.
Only one way to find out and that is to see a good cardio who will really listen. Good luck.

[tom_h]

Then hardest part of getting to the root of your problem is covincing the physician to believe that it's something other than easy-to-diagnose anxiety.  The best way to do this is to provide clear evidence.  When you have an event, get to a local hospital ER and have them hook you up to an EKG to record your heart's electrical activity.  The next is to keep a log of each event; how it started, the rate, how it terminated.

I'm not a physician, merely a patient.  But from your description above, it doesn't sound like anxiety to me, but perhaps supra ventricular tachycardia., or SVT.  A possible clue to what's going on could be how your events start and end.  The "suddeness" of how it starts, and the way you describe how it abruptly ends are consistent with SVT.  With anxiety,the heart rate woild tend to ramp up and down.

Of course, only a physician can make an accurate diagnosis, so I urge you to get someone to see you when this is occurring.  Keep us in the loop as to how you make out.

[Intandem]

Go to the doctors right away next time you have a spell and request an EKG so they can pick it up.

[achillea]

If you have health insurance, it would not hurt to see a doc at your walk in clinic or whatever the next time you have one of these spells, just to get a baseline checkup.  However, that said, at your age the chances of anything serious--anything at all--are virtually nil.  

You sre not goinig to like this, but your symptoms are perfectly consistent with panic disorder, and in spite of how scary your feelings are, they are not dangerous if your heart is healthy.

I would suggest you buy a nice little paperback called "Hope and Help for Your Nerves," by Dr. Claire Weekes, in which she discusses problems like yours and offers mental exercises to help you deal with your anxiety over your symptoms.