My story of Sudden Onset Palpitations

[TorontoGene]

It all started a year ago in May 2017, a little rush of adrenaline that felt like I had a conscious need to take a breath came along and later developed into palpitations (sometime around october).

Just as a background I almost never drank alcohol, 30 years old, switched to vaping in oct 2016. Very fit and went to the gym almost every day before the palps started.

I would get 10 to 20 missed beats a day; naturally I freaked out and went to the doc who listened to my heart, heard a murmur and sent me to the cardio doc for EKG and echo. EKG revealed I had incomplete right bundle branch block and the echo revealed I had a bicuspid aortic valve (a congenital heart defect that was a purely incidental finding which does not yet affect me). Upon learning of these problems the palpitations got worse. I didn't know it could have been anxiety because I honestly felt like something was wrong with my heart. The cardio said none of my problems could be causing the palps but just to be safe he scheduled a stress echo and a holter.

I was freaking out and the doctors were not able to calm me down because on paper I actually had a heart issue . I had this one moment of clarity at night where I just accepted all my heart issues and suddenly I could feel the palpitations with less and less intensity - it was shortlived though as they came back the next day. I went to the walk in doctor the next day and asked her for anti anxiety meds describing what I felt last night. She gave me 15 x 0.5mg Ativan as a trial and asked me to follow up in 2 weeks - this was right before christmas.

The pills worked and in the short term got rid of the palps or at least made them feel less intense. I did my holter and stress echo - on learning that the doc said my heart was perfect (even though I had 10 PVCS on my holter) I asked him for a refill of Ativan. He gave me 90 x 0.5mg and told me to find a CBT practitioner (which are not covered by gov health insurance in Canada and have limited coverage by work insurers).

This Saturday, I fought with my girlfriend (not sure how this helped); drank 2 beers and watched tv with my friends. Didn't take any anti-anxiety meds and my palps are GONE! It's like they faded into nothingness over the course of 3 days. No idea how it works but now I'm spending time thinking where they went. Not that I could complain.

As everyone on this forum says palpitations cause anxiety which causes more palpitations; there were 2 things I had a lot of trouble with when I had the palps -

(1) I couldn't take a hot bath or shower because the increased heat and drop in blood pressure made the palps more intense which triggered a panic attack almost every time before I took the ativan.
(2) workouts - again because of feeling the palp
taking ativan before these activities helped me realize it's all in my head.
(3) air "hunger" - the feeling of not being able to take a satisfactory breath - whenever I got this feeling I did my breathing exercises (breath in through nose - breathe out through pursed lips slowly 5-10 times slowly)

Just wanted to share my story to anyone feeling similar problems because I could not find any help online.

Here's what I think helped me
- Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night
- Realize that it's anxiety and not your heart. (I knew that if the Ativan (Lorazepam) reduced or got rid of my palpitations; then they must have been from anxiety and not an issue of the heart)
- Take the supplements that you think help you (It might sound crazy but I think I had less palps while taking creatine)
- Recognize anxiety (What I thought were episodes of near-fainting were actually panic attacks) and recreate feelings like it to desensitize you from the fear (google: CBT hyperventilation exercises)
- Do the activities that gave you the most anxiety (with the help of the drugs)
- Recognize feeling normal (In my case the onset of my anxiety was gradual (over a year) so I had no idea that I was actually anxious even though I had more symptoms like tremors and the panic attacks)

if anyone knows what CBT exercises could be done for palpitations; I'd love to know because I couldn't find anything online. The ones that I mentioned above are really for breathing problems caused by anxiety.

[Belge du sud]

Thanks a lot for your post ! Very interesting. Stories from people having happily managed their HR disorders are great help for those trying to get rid of theirs.

[Apple86]

Great post! This sounds very much like my situ apart from I’m not getting skipped beats but instead I get a racing heart. This is especially pronounced in the shower/bath and I’m almost too scared to even walk around my flat. I’ve been a very active person for 31 years of life and today I plan to take a beta blocker to slow my heart and then go swimming.

Best of luck with your ongoing recovery.

[TorontoGene]

Great post! This sounds very much like my situ apart from I’m not getting skipped beats but instead I get a racing heart. This is especially pronounced in the shower/bath and I’m almost too scared to even walk around my flat. I’ve been a very active person for 31 years of life and today I plan to take a beta blocker to slow my heart and then go swimming.

Best of luck with your ongoing recovery.

I read your post and saw that you're holding off on taking the antidepressants which is good because you never know how you might react to them. For me - I found immediate & long term relief (not a cure but it really decreased frequency and intensity of palpitations) when I took the benzos. If you think your issues are anxiety I'm not sure if the beta blockers will be of much help to you because you will still be anxious about having another tachy episode and as far as I read people that take antidepressants for panic disorder still take benzos in compliment with them for the first 2 weeks.

I'd suggest you talk to your doc and mention what I said - it's pretty safe relative to antidepressants and the effects are immediate which will help your frame of mind going into the future.

[Belge du sud]

I read your post and saw that you're holding off on taking the antidepressants which is good because you never know how you might react to them. For me - I found immediate & long term relief (not a cure but it really decreased frequency and intensity of palpitations) when I took the benzos. If you think your issues are anxiety I'm not sure if the beta blockers will be of much help to you because you will still be anxious about having another tachy episode and as far as I read people that take antidepressants for panic disorder still take benzos in compliment with them for the first 2 weeks.

I'd suggest you talk to your doc and mention what I said - it's pretty safe relative to antidepressants and the effects are immediate which will help your frame of mind going into the future.

This is interesting (again) !
Beta blockers don't work for me. They lower my HR and BP, and none of them are usually too high. They don't affect my palpitations.
My rythmologist gave me some prazepam last year, just one little bottle. I only took some drops when I was feeling very bad, and it helped me having a better sleep. It took me ten months to drain the bottle (I feared an addiction).
Your experience makes me think I'm really more anxious than diseased.

[TorontoGene]

This is interesting (again) !
Beta blockers don't work for me. They lower my HR and BP, and none of them are usually too high. They don't affect my palpitations.
My rythmologist gave me some prazepam last year, just one little bottle. I only took some drops when I was feeling very bad, and it helped me having a better sleep. It took me ten months to drain the bottle (I feared an addiction).
Your experience makes me think I'm really more anxious than diseased.

When I asked my doctor for the drugs I felt like I would rather be addicted to the pills than keep having the palpitations and if you're anything like me it would be the same for you.

With that said - even though I was given a 3 months supply I do not believe that I got hooked on them, some days I did not take them at all just to see if I am getting better. I was.

First day I had the pills I took a 1.5mg dose and finally took a hot bath in peace - obviously still worried I would get the palpitations - I knew right there that it was already getting better and it was all in my head.

[Apple86]

You’re right in that my anxiety is very much still there with the beta blockers but at least I get out and things. In the UK docs are a bit hesitant to prescribe benzodiazepines as they’re so addictive. I know my sister was prescribed them to take for the first few weeks with her anx meds though. At the moment I’m taking each day at a time and if I feel the need I’ll start taking the anx meds, but I’d rather not.