very strange heart sensation followed by adrenaline rush and fast heartbeat - very worried about this

[Wundergecko]

Hi. I'm a 26 year old female, neither fat nor skinny, no smoking, only occasional alcohol use. Prior to what I'm about to describe, the only heart issues I had were: occasional flip-flopping feeling which knocked the wind out of me but only happened maybe a few times a year, and a sort of flip-flopping or difficulty beating when lying down on my left side (sometimes, not every time I lay this way - started around age 13).

Background: Three years ago something happened to me that I still haven't figured out - my heart started beating very fast and my BP went way up (so high that with every heartbeat I could see the tiny capillaries in my eyes as an overlay on my visual field). Paramedics couldn't bring them down so took me to "A&E" (aka the ER - I'm American but live in England). Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened (that I'm aware of) prior to this incident, except for insertion of Mirena IUD one week prior - I do still have it but now think I'll have it removed.

Thus began months of seemingly random 'attacks' during which I'd get varying combinations of tachycardia, high BP, tremors esp in left leg, lightheadedness, inability to fully inhale, feeling of not getting enough oxygen even if I could breathe properly, and the list goes on. I also had a terrible feeling of physical anxiety (churning stomach, agitation, etc) but with no mental anxiety as the apparent cause!!! Attacks could last minutes or hours and any combination of symptoms would happen. And in between attacks, my heart would regularly do many strange things - tachy, brady, irregular rhythm, extremely forceful beats, 'flip-flopping' feelings, etc.

I also sometimes experienced a sensation of the heart stopping and restarting - immediately after the restart I would feel a MASSIVE, uncomfortable surge of adrenaline and the heart would beat very fast for a little while. I could never figure out if I was getting an adrenaline surge that caused some odd heart behaviour that I felt before I actually felt the adrenaline, or what. Sometimes my heart would also start beating EXTREMELY fast from resting for no reason at all - it was literally immediate - this was also accompanied by an adrenaline rush but no preceding feeling of the heart stopping.

These incidents gradually decreased in frequency over time, along w/ the other symptoms, until after three years I was feeling mostly recovered from whatever got me. I viewed myself as not entirely back to normal, but almost there. UNTIL a couple of days ago, when I had another (random as always - I was just riding in the car reading, no stress) heart stoppage -> restart -> adrenaline event. This one was the second most severe one I've ever had and I thought I might die. Luckily the heart DID start pumping again so I'm still here. By now I'm pretty familiar with flip-floppings and extra-strong beats, etc, and this definitely feels very different and much more worrying. I am afraid that if it happens again, the heart might not start on its own.

I should also say that when I say it 'stops', I mean it seems to stop pumping blood...I get the impression there is still activity going on in the heart but that blood is not being circulated. Could it be ventricular fibrillation, or ...? Maybe adrenaline is not causing this, but rather my heart goes into an abnormal rhythm and my body releases adrenaline in an attempt to self-shock into proper rhythm?

During the most severe incident in '06 or '07, my colleagues said I turned "white as a sheet" while it was happening. That time, I was clawing at my chest (reflex reaction, I didn't actually think that would help) and thinking "please start please start please start", knowing I'd die if it didn't. That time, it felt like the heart was quivering/fluttering but not pumping. All other times including the one a couple of days ago, it has sort of felt like the heart is contracting in extreme slow motion, or having some sort of muscle cramp.  

I cannot figure this out and would welcome any insight anyone has to offer. After it all began in 06, I had a stress test (slightly above avg exercise tolerance), echo (normal), stress echo (normal) and many ECGs. The cardio said my heart was perfectly healthy. No evidence of MVP (which I thought I might have). He said the only thing to remark on was that the heart was smallish, but not abnormally so.

My GP diagnosed me w/ 'anxiety attacks' w/out finding it necessary to order any physical testing whatsoever. (The above cardio is a friend of my parents who saw me while I was on vacation in the US). GP put me on citalopram which I went along w/ just to be cooperative, and propranolol to help regulate what he viewed as anxiety-induced tachy. Did not seem to find it significant that symptoms did not occur during periods of actual mental anxiety. Said it might be pheochromocytoma, but that he wouldn't bother testing as that's so rare. Ashamed to say I didn't and still haven't actually demanded said testing.

All ECGs were normal except once at A&E when they caught random very hard beats interspersed w/ regular beats - v. hard beats could be seen as an extra-long downward spike on the readout. Of their own volition (as opposed to at my request), A&E sent this to a cardio (different one) who didn't bother to look at it and just told me not to worry. Thanks, buddy! So, not really knowing how to interpret these readouts, I still don't know if that was significant.

I'm currently seeing a neurologist for delayed sleep phase syndrome. After hearing all this, he very kindly volunteered to arrange for me to use the clinic's Holter monitor; he'll then send the tape to a cardiologist. Not sure when this will happen, though, as it's the NHS (meaning things do not tend to happen promptly).

At the time of the latest incident, I was on amoxicillin but no other meds continuously, although I have been taking lansoprazole at night only, for a week and a half to two weeks. A few days prior to the incident, I had taken myself off of the pramipexole that I'd been on for a week, as I was having trouble swallowing (for which the amoxicillin and lanso were prescribed - possible sinus/throat infection or gastric reflux - doc and I wanted to attack on both fronts in order to avoid the return of the laryngospams I'd had during recent respiratory infection).

Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to help...

[Wundergecko]

Hi Skipolot. Sorry to hear you've got all this going on. My heart acts up at night too, if I lie on my back. I wake up with it really pounding. Not fun at all. No idea what-all's going on there. Vagus nerve? I think some of just just have weird heart behavior that may never be definitively diagnosed. I don't know how to tell what either of ours is in terms of IST, SVT or other. Mine responds to vagal maneuvers, like yours. In my head I call it SVT because it seems to behave about like that. My little collection of weird heart activity is still with me but it's not too bad these days. I hope yours gets better and not worse. Try to see what correlations there are and see how much it improves if you can avoid triggers. For example, I know that I'm in for palps and maybe SVT/pseudo-SVT if I combine multiple triggers (caffeine, exhaustion, sugar, emotional distress, etc). When I have problems, I take propranolol and that helps a lot. I'm still here :). Sorry I can't be more helpful and best of luck to you. Update us if you find out more.

[skipolot]

Although my cardiologist cannot say for sure I have SVT I believe that is what it is. I have had echos, sleep apnea test, allergy and asthma test, 24 hour monitors, 30 day monitors, ekg's and most recently blood work, 24 hour monitor and a stress echo. All have showed normal sinus rhythm (athough tachycardia at times) except PAC's and PVC's. Although I was told I had mild Mitral Valve Prolapse in 2002 my most recent stress echo showed none, even though my doc says he hears a "click" or "slight murmur". Whatever this fast heart rate is it wakes me up out of my sleep ( it's always at night). I feel almost like I'm about to have a panic attack (just generally unwell weird feeling) even though my heart is not initially always racing upon waking. I feel nauseaous have to go to the bathroom and then my heart just takes off. Had an episode last night and I actually vomited. The highest mine has ever gotten is 161 but unfortunately it has never been caught. At this point thank God it only happens every couple months and I can get it to stop with vagal maneuvers pretty quickly. I take Atenolol only 12.5 a day because ironically it drops my heart rate in the 50's at rest. Sorry for the long post. I was actually pretty excited because I had attributed it to prilosec because each time I started it I had an episode. I have been taking zantac and I am currently having my monthly (sorry if that's TMI). Just feel so bad because I'm scared to go anywhere now for fear of it happening since I went from having no episodes to getting them now every couple of months. I feel like eventually they will start coming more frequently. My last episode when it was 150 my heart had gotten down to 120 when I was at ER and they said it was normal sinus rhythm. How do I know the difference if its IST, SVT or even something else?

[Moonbard]

I see there is an option here to "add to watch list" and "join this community" I check mark them but how do I "enter" it?

[Moonbard]

So I am going to tell a bit of my story now.  I am so grateful to have found this forum.  I hope you guys don't mind if I ramble on.

I have been experiencing heart palpitations for a while now due to what I self-diagnosed myself as a symptom of black mould exposure.  Initially when I had the black mould poisoning, I felt as if my heart was going to explode, then I had dry heave vomiting, and I went out and curled up on the dock trying to breathe.  It hurt for me to breathe deeply in the middle of my body.  So I have become allergic to many things in the air but I haven't done any allergy tests because my doctor wouldn't let me.  

I went and got the standard tests done including an angiogram for the palpitations because one Nurse Practitioner said I had a possible infarct, but the cardiologist said I didn't have an infarct because I guess she doesn't believe in black mould, or that a healthy 40 year old man would have an infarct out of the blue for no reason.  All the test came back normal and they say I'm fine.

Recently, and this is new, starting maybe 4 months ago, I started slowly getting a pain in my left chest area, accompanied by radiating pain down my left arm, like a pressure on my left chest area and sort of like a stabbing jabbing type of pain.  Around three weeks ago I was lying down in a tent that I set up in a forest because I can't breathe in my current housing, and there were a lot of loud animals outside my tent so I sat up and held my breathe to hear more clearly if I was in danger.  Then my heart started racing uncontrollably like it was going to burst out of my chest.  I tried to relax but it wouldn't calm down.  I thought I was going to die right there.  A week later I was at my brothers place and there is good air there.  I slept like a baby the first night after drinking a bunch of alcohol, but the second night, again, totally relaxed in bed, my heart started racing uncontrollably accompanied my the gnawing chest pain.  I wrestled with my racing heart for most of the night, I couldn't sleep trying to relax the whole time.

2 days ago, I woke up to the most scariest "stoppage" and racing, dizzy, heavy breathing.  So I went to the hospital and they did a few tests and said everything was normal.  I forgot to mention, this phenomenon is accompanied with heavy breathing like no matter how much I breathe I can't get enough oxygen into me, also I am experiencing extreme fatigue, like I'm fighting an infection or something.

Tonight I'm staying at my sisters place trying to get some good sleep and last night I slept very well, tonight, I lay down and my heart is just pumping way to fast, I feel it vibrating and physically moving my body, my heart area hurts, and I can't relax for sleep because my heart is on high alert.   How I would describe the feeling is as if I had a whole bunch of coffee.  It's like my heart goes on anxious level, and won't settle down.  I try all sorts of mind over matter, even meditating or trying reiki on myself, and it still won't let me sleep and scares me incredibly.

I heard that dehydration can cause heart problems so I got up and drank two glasses of water.

I also have been experiences bowel trouble which may be an undiagnosed hernia which me be a contributing factor as someone else mentioned here earlier.  I am sitting up now, and I'm not noticing the heart very much as I am focused on writing this out, but I'm scared to try to go back to sleep.
I have been sleep deprived for over two years now due to not being able to breathe in the 6 places I have tried living at, I keep ending up in a bad air place.  So sleep is so important for me.  The air hear is good for my breathing but now my heart is keeping me up!!!!!!   I will have to move again and find a better place for breathing, but with this heart problem, I don't have the energy to do anything, and I feel like giving up.  I have been fighting to survive for so long now it seems, and this heart thing is like the last straw, I just don't know if I've got what it takes to advocate for myself or figure this out.  My friends and family don't understand and the doctors have been unhelpful so far.

Thank you for reading and if you want to add me as a friend please do.  I want to connect with people who aren't going to think I'm crazy or think that this is just anxiety or all in my head.

[Moonbard]

hello, I have been experiencing this "adrenaline rush" thingy too but I didn't know what to call it.  I was calling it a "Flush throughout my body afterwards".

[butterflies1234]

I'm glad you have posted this.  I also have had a few bouts of palpitations and/tachycardia.  I don't think the doctors know what it is.  The first time it happened when I really thought I was dying, I was 37.  I was drinking a lot of wine from age 33-37, and having periodic bouts of bulimia.  I also drank a lot of coffee.  After the episode when I was 37, I was at work in a retail fashion store, and a customer said something that made me think of my children.  I went through a bitter divorce when I was 34, and my ex took my kids from me.  Ever since then, I would numb myself with alcohol to escape from the pain.  Sometimes I would drink a bottle and a half.  So, I had done that one night, had a bout of bulimia, woke up the next morning, drank 2 large cups of coffee and went to work.  At 3pm, I had not eaten all day, and a customer said something that made me think of how much I love my children.  And all of a sudden, my heart started pounding, and I felt like I was going to faint.  I got very weak.  I asked to go on break, and I went into Starbucks to get water and a scone.  I could barely chew and swallow.  I got kind of sweaty and clammy.  I looked around me and everyone seemed really far away.  I felt like I was in a bad movie, when I was having a crisis, and everyone around me seemed as peaceful as could be---reading books, on computers, talking with friends.  It seemed so surreal.  I started repeating to myself in my mind, "You're not going to die.  You're going to be fine."  My heart was still racing.  I walked back to work and told my boss I had to go.  I drove myself home, and it was still racing.  It had been going on for 2 hours.  I went to my Mom's, and she seemed rather annoyed that I was bothering her because she had to go to work.  I told her that I needed to go to the hospital.  They took my labs, and my Potassium was low.  I was diagnosed with palps.  When I got there, my BP was about 155/92 and then got to normal 120/80.   I went to the cardiologist, and my EKG was fine.  I had an Echo, and my heart was great!  Nothing abnormal.  They told me to cut out alcohol and caffeine.  I did.  Shortly thereafter, I got pregnant with my 4th child. :)  BP was great, I felt great.  No palps the entire pregnancy.  After my daughter was born, I wanted to have wine again.  One night, I drank a whole bottle, and went to work the next day.  I started to get that funny feeling again, like I had to eat.  I left work and went to the grocery store, and was FREEZING.  I could not get warm.  I looked at the thermometer and it was 80 degrees outside, and I had the heat on full blast in my car to get warm.  I saw this couple holding hands/kissing, and I thought I was going to vomit.  I drove myself to the hospital for rapid heartbeat.  My pulse was 120 bpm when I got there, BP was 155/95.  Some of my labs were a little skewed, but the doctor said it was nothing to worry about, because it wasn't too out of range.  My heart rate returned to normal, BP went to normal.  That was about a month and a half ago.  Since then, I've had no alcohol, and have decided that I just won't be able to have it again for the rest of my life.  I cut out all caffeine.  I also put on 20 pounds with the pregnancy (and I am a small 5'2" so 20 pounds is a lot), and I haven't been able to take it off.  I jog/walk 3 miles/5 days a week, and lift hand weights.  Still can't take off the weight.  That has never happened to me before.  I've always been able to lose the pounds if I gain weight.  I've also stopped with the bulimia episodes, since that was a trigger too.  However, I've been drinking caffeine free diet cokes, and Zero Cokes, and it happened again tonight!  This time it happened without alcohol or caffeine.  I have been doing a lot of work lately and am under a pretty tight deadline, so I am worried about finishing the work.  I also have two vacations coming up with me and my 4 children, which is going to be a lot of driving, and while I look forward to it, I worry about if my car is going to make it, if I'll be able to handle all their episodes of panic/fighting with each other, and if I'll have enough money to pay for it all.  I also have a big legal filing that is due at the end of July, a speeding ticket  that I am disputing, and another court date regarding a lawsuit at the beginning of August.  So, I have been stressed.  I started to have that feeling of butterflies in my stomach, as if something awesome was about to happen!  It reminded me when I was a child and that used to happen.  But it was not awesome, it was rapid heartbeat.  I had to tell myself again, "You're going to be fine.  It will go away."  And it did, but I found this site as I was going through it, and it was helpful to read about other people's experiences with it.  I think it might be anxiety attacks, too.  I don't know what it is, but it is really scary.  I am sensitive to it because my father died of a heart attack unexpectedly when he was 63.  My mom said he started to have palpitations when he was in his 30s.  He was military, and the military treated it with Valium.  I worry about it, but I know I am going to be fine.  The heart is made of electrical impulses, so I wonder what happens.  I also felt nauseated when I was going through it---dizzy and weak also.  I am feeling better now.  It could also be lack of sleep.