Missed heartbeats!

[rosekay]

Hi everyone, I've only just found this site and it seems to be just what I need to keep me sane!
For more years than I can remember I've had runs of ectopic heartbeats which have scared the life out of me - I'm usually fine for several months then suddenly there they are again. I get 3 or 4 ectopics in a row, which feels like my heart is completely irregular - this can happen every few beats, or every few minutes, no real pattern. I've had some awful nights, convinced I'd wake up dead!! This goes on for a few months then fades away. No idea why. Had ECG's, 24 hour monitor, which on the third try actually caught some of the blighters, and the docs said "You ARE having ectopics ([Duh!]but they are nothing to worry about." That's ok then! Tried atenolol and propranolol (I think) and now on bisoprolol - but nothing stops them.
I'm really trying to ignore them, but it's very hard. I don't have any big anxieties - apart from these things! - and my husband is very supportive. It's great to know other people have the same problems, I feel very alone sometimes.
I'd like to tell you all about a fantastic book called Self Help for your Nerves, by Dr Claire Weekes. It's published by Thorsons (Harper/Collins) and is so helpful, really easy to read and makes such a lot of sense - I keep it handy for when I get too worried. It's far the best book I've seen.
I tried to download Meg's info on palpitations etc but can't make it all fit on my paper - all the right hand side misses off - not technically minded, anyone suggest anything?!
Sorry it's so long, hope I strike a chord with someone!
Rosekay

[Forrest]

mine speeds up right upon waking then goes back to normal but the skipped beats are really fast double beats thats what my doc has told me and its nothing ti worry about..

[Piglet]

Cor nearly a year after I posted about this, this funny thread is up again for the third time!!!! and just look how many have read it!!!

I have to say I have been having a run of them again this last few weeks but unlike this time last year seem to be dealing with them much better.

Love Piglet xx

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[april tones]

hiya! ah thats so good when you can see you have improved x

fibrochat) http://apriltones.proboards54.com

[ashley]

Dear all

I have only started getting these in the last 2 months ...from no-where they appeared and they are the boll***s i hate them so much...does anyone ever remember the very first time that they had them, gee that was the most scary time ever, i thought that was my lot,,,still do though.
Does anyone get dizzyness with them too, because when i get the pause i then get a slight dizzy spell and then its like the pause goes into play again with a great big thud... i cant ever get used to them and theyscare me and now i am so depressed by them.. without the other thousand things wrong ith me...but this are the scarest... my eptopics have never been shown on an ecg... oh because they hide when they see a monitor..so of course i think i really do have a heart problem... any advice more than welcome...oh going to start my clitrapramwill these help as beta-blockers didnt..


ashley x

[rosekay]

Dear Ashley
I know how scary these wretched things are, I've spent so long absolutely panic striken and convinced I'm about to drop dead - it really affected my whole life for years. I got so I was afraid to go out and do anything, and I pestered the doctors so much! (Still do, actually!!) Everything I've ever read about the things says they're harmless. Every doctor and two cardio specialists have told me the same. I had a heart scan which was completely normal. You have to allow yourself to believe the experts - and all your fellow sufferers! - though I know it's not easy, especially if like me you get bad attacks at night (everything seems worse then). My turning point was thinking to myself, I'm going to end up at the end of my life looking back and realising how much time I'd wasted being afraid, and I really didn't want that to happen. I keep a little collection of articles about ectopics handy for when I get a panic, which I still do sometimes, then I can re-read and calm myself. Also, the book by Claire Weekes I mentioned last time is so helpful, I'd really recommend it. Hope this helps a bit - you're really not alone, we all know what it's like.
Thinking of you
Rosekay

[ashley]

Thanx for that,when i read that last message from you rose i wanted to cry.because i am just so scared--im at a point where things just have to get better ..or i will end it...sorry


ash x

[rosekay]

Hey Ash,
Hang in there Kid! It WILL get better, honest. I'm not saying it'll be easy or quick, but you will learn to manage the panic. I've been having these things for about twenty years, and I'm still here! Don't give in, pester your doc to get checked out perhaps with a 24 hour monitor (I had 3 goes of that before they caught the things, so persevere!), that'sl going to help ease your mind. It will take time, don't expect miracles, but you'll get there. I know its terrifying - I remember lying in bed thinking I would die, and I just didn't care any more, I felt so bad.
Sites like this help, keep in touch.
All the best
Rose

[inberlin]

hey ashley,

just want to say as well that i have the same thing, have had the 24-hour monitor that never caught anything, my mom and my sister have them too...and they really are harmless! but it just feels so strange to have that skip and then thud, i think it could be the anxiety that causes the dizziness after you feel that. i have had them since i was about 15 (am 30 now) and they come on and off, and i have learned to sort of live with it...normally i only get them when i am stressed out...i am getting them now too.

the good news is, they won't stay! i hope you can do something to relax today, and just try to pamper yourself in some way if you can, have a bath or whatever it might be for you.

all the best,

kelly

[ashley]

Thanx kelly
I do appreicate the surport people have given me in regards to my eptopics... its so hard to get ya head around them as they are just so freaky..


ashley x