Skipped beats

[bashley]

Hi I'm having awful skipped beats I had my blood pressure done recently and it was fine, does this mean that my heart is functioning ok. Only I'm petrified that this skipped beats are to o with my heart. I've had extreme health anxiety for years, I also have had a lot going on recently. Been to a counsellor yesterday and he said I have high anxiety and depression is going to do cbt. Doctor won't give me ny medication and every day is a battle, I'm so scared of dying of a heart attack. Since last Sunday ectopics have been bad, sometimes one after another for a few hours is this something serious. I've seen cardiologist before and he said everyone gets ectopics but that hasn't helped much. As I'm in sheer panic.

[honeyb]

Hi bashley
Along with my head symptoms i also get heart and chest symptoms too. I get racing heart, missed beats, tightness in chest, feeling out of breath and flutters, i'm conviced it's my heart too. I have had ecg's & bloods all come back fine, my blood pressure is always up in the Drs, but usually ok at home. I've been told too that it's not uncommon in your 30s to get ectopics.

[countrygirl]

I have had ectopics every single day for past 30 years. I have had numerous 24hr ecgs and ultrasound and always told that they are horrible but harmless.

One cardio who is sometimes on here describes them as follows and once you accept this they are easier to handle.

Think of when you have a twitching eyelid or muscle anywhere in your body ( very common with anxiety) this is exactly what an ectopic heartbeat is. The vagus nerve runs througout your body ending at your heart and it particularly runs across the top of your stomach so digestion plays a big part in them as well. This vagus nerve can twitch just like your eyelid does but when it does this sends a extra signal to the heart and you get the extra beat, your heart is working perfectly if it rectifies this by pausing and then giving a harder beat to empty the heart of blood. This extra beat is nothing to do with your heart itself as it is coming from this nerve in your body, your heart is doing what it should do in giving your the pause and thump to reset itself. Cardiologist say that ectopics are just a normal variation of a heartbeat.

Hope this helps you to see they are harmless but I of everyone know just how horrible and scary they can be. I get multiple ectopics up to 5 in a row and I feel as if I might faint but don't.

I find taking a big deep breath and coughing hard stops the vagus nerve from twitching hence stopping the ectopic. Try this next time you feel some.

[bashley]

Thank you so much for taking the ime to reply, it's nice to know I'm not alone