my hearts skips beats while running

[thomascpd1919]

hi my name is brian and i am 23 yrs old.  i have no history of cardiac problems.  my brother had heart valave replacement when he was 16. ( dr said he was born with problem).  my grandfather is in his 70's had double bypass.  my dad had mini strokes at 62.  when i was sixteen i went to get checked by cardiologist cause of my brothers problem.  did holter monitor, stress and echo.  results normal and healthy.  when i was 19 i was diagnosed with gad ( generalized anxiety disorder)  i have a horrible fear of having a problem with my heart cause my brother did.  my anxiety dr told me my brothers surgery and my worry caused the anxiety attacks.  when i was 20 i went to a diff cardiologist cause i beleived i was dying cause of my heart.  again a echocardiogram and stress test.  dr said i had mitral valve prolapse and said dont worry about it.  age 21 one day got scared about my heart for no reason again went to my brothers cardiologist.  echo and stress test.  dr said everything was fine. no mitral valve prolapse nothing.  then in jan 08 had stress test for job.  ran the whole time never had a problem.  no to present times.  i am very active and lift weights four times a week.  i also run two miles three times a week sometimes on a treadmill sometimes not.  well a week ago i was running on the treadmill and i was up to about 160 bpm and my heart started skipping beats one after another.  kinda like a fluttering feeling.  no pain no shortness of breath just really scary.  my mouth also got really warm for some reason.  well i got freaked out and went next to the defibilator at the gym.  skipped beats seem to last forever but i think it was maybe less than 5 min.  two days later ran on the treadmill two miles and no skipped beats.  the following day i ran maybe a mile in a half and no skipped beats while running but when i was done and started walking to cool down i got several skipped beats in a row,  fluttering in the chest and warm mouth.  last less than 5 min.  just really freaky. it feels like my heart pauses for a sec or two then starts again.  or beats to soon or something.  im getting married in a week and expecting a child in january 09.  could it be just stress?? could my cardiac function debilitate that quickly for some odd reason??  i scheduled a app with another cardiologist diff than the previous three.  i just feel like im wasting my money on dr after dr.  but i dont want to not go and something serious happen.  can anyone help me please.  any advice would be greatly appreciated.  looking at posts ive noticed a correlation between skipped beats and anxiety.  is this a health risk or concern for future.  i use to notice little skipped beats every now and then but they varied like month to month.  maybe to much caffeine.    since the incidents i have ran again with no trouble and lifted weights.  what do i do????

[Robb S]

I see that you posted your comments 2 years ago, so probably won't be checking back, but I will post anyway.  I have had the same skipped beats while running.  This could be due to many reasons according to the cardiologists, but I believe that mine are coming from the stimulation of my vagus nerve.  The vagus nerve runs from the brain, past the heart, across the stomach and beyond.  It has branches into the heart electrical system and can slow the heart rate.  While running I would feel little pulsations on the top of my stomach which coincided with the skipped beats. I believe that the bouncing of my stomach when running was stimulating the vagus nerve, which effected the heart rythym.  That was about 8 years ago at age 45.  The condition has worsened to the point where many things can set off the arrythmia and it sometimes lasts for 24 hours.  I hope that your condition doesn't progress from a few skipped beats to the long arrythmia episodes that I have, but there are treatments of which I am now pursuing.  Since I may not check back to this forum if you (or anyone else) wants to contact me, my e-mail address is ***@****.

Robb

[foot33333]

I am sorry to hear about your troubles Brian,

Your symptoms sound very similar to mine.  I am very close to your age (I'm 22) and am relatively decent shape.  In October I noticed my heart skip a beat and saw a cardiologist.  I got an echo and a 48-hour holter and everything came back normal.  I still had a great deal of stress about the skipped beats even though I was told everything was normal.  I noticed that some days I would be walking a few blocks and I would feel my heart get into a strange rhythm.  I would feel a skipped beat ever 2 to 3 to 5 beats or so.  After sitting down and relaxing the rythm seemed to get back to normal.  This concerned me so I went back to the doctor and got an event monitor.  I captured these events on the monitor and the results came back to be normal.  For a long time I was very convinced that the doctors kept missing something that was wrong with me.  Now more and more I am convinced that these extra beats are almost completely due to me stressing out about my heart for no reason. I still notice them every day and I get concerned when I feel my heart flutter, but I have been getting a lot better at just ignoring them.  I hope it gives you comfort to at least know that someone else is going through the same stuff you are.  feel free to respond back if you have any other questions or to let me know what the doc said.  Have a good wedding!