MFoot
06-09-12, 03:34
I am a 29 year old male suffering with arrhythmia problems. I've had a 24 hour monitor, ECG, blood test, scan and stress test and the cardiologist has told me I have nothing to worry about and to relax, however I am finding this difficult for the following reasons:
Just under a decade ago I had a couple of instances of (some kind of) tachycardia whilst exerting myself and having drank some alcohol (It felt like a flip-flopping in my chest, like a bird fluttering and lasted for a minute or two before slowly dropping). Around this time I experienced my first heart skips and am now used to these and understand they are a nuisance but benign. Doctors blamed the racing heart rate (180-200bpm) on alcohol, then a fever, then when it happened at the gym, on exertion. But after testing my heart told me it was fine and I shouldn't worry about it.
For 5 years I had no symptoms, then 2 years ago these problems started again, more frequently with no clear cause:
Skips/PVC's - I'm used to these, everyone gets them, though I sometimes get them in runs and unless I change position it doesn't feel like it will stop but I'm assured this is fine so try not to worry about it. I do find they're worse when I'm more tense and paying attention to them and happen more frequently when in stressful situations or if I have alcohol (rarely) but not exclusively.
Racing heart - This has only happened half a dozen times but it very scary. It occurs mainly during walking/exertion. I get a sudden pinching sensation in my chest, a bit like a skip but stronger, then my heart rate accelerates suddenly. This happened when walking following a run and I was wearing a heartrate sensor which reported a jump from 130-190 staying at 190 for 2-3 minutes before slowly falling. After these attacks my heartrate seems sensitive and rises easily. Occasionally however I have woken in the night with a racing heart around 130-150bpm though I believe this was due to alcohol in on instance and stress in the other.
Pinching - This is probably what worries me the most, this almost exclusively happens out of the blue when I'm walking. I get a sudden sensation like a punch or lasso yanked around my chest. It feels different to a skipped beat as I'm not aware of a pause or thump. It's almost painful but only lasts a split second but it stops me in my tracks. I think this is the sensation that sometimes precedes the tachycardia but not always. Doctors have never caught this on a monitor, nor the extremely high heart rate, they only perform ECG's afterwards. They caught a skip on it once and told me that was harmless. My heart is structurally fine, my heart rate is naturally high (around 85-90, 75 if I'm very relaxed), I apparently don't need beta blockers and am in no danger of dropping dead.
Flutters - occasionally I get a fluttering sensation and my heart rate jumps up for a few seconds. Then goes back to normal.
The effect on my life from these symptoms has been pretty devastating. I've analysed every aspect of my life from diet, sleep, stress levels, down to how fast I'm walking! I eat well, I get 6-7 hours sleep, I'm healthy! The result was that last year I lost all passion and energy in my life! I stopped exercising, I lost a relationship, I stopped visiting places anymore for fear of having one of these episodes.
Until recently I went 9 months without an episode. I have generally been less stressed and avoided stressful triggers so I appreciate that on some level anxiety was possibly contributing. However, recently these were unavoidable and instead of the pinches and inappropriate tachycardia I've been having panic attacks in some social situations (where my heart rate can shoot up to 160+ from 70 resting)
My GP informed me at this point I have 3 choices: Citalopram to stop me being anxious, Propranolol to control my heart rate, or CBT. I chose the latter because I feel those pills could make things worse and I'm not sure they're actually necessary for whatever's wrong with me. It seems like my GP isn't actually listening to what I'm telling him and is throwing drugs at the problem. What happened tonight is a good example of this:
I was doing some work this evening, which is similar to what I've been doing for the last 9 months with no symptoms, when I started getting lots and lots of skips. Now, I figured maybe I ate something that triggered it, or tiredness and stress could be responsible. I also had bad indigestion which I felt could be linked. So I decided to relax, go to bed and chill out. I was calm, but kept jolting awake as I was going to sleep which has happened a lot lately, and got lots of skips. I had a disrupted sleep for two hours, during which time I was aware I was still having lots of skips. I woke up with indigestion and a raised heart rate 90bpm and felt terrible, very hot and dehydrated and not well, but still completely calm. I stood up and went to the bathroom and then boom my heart rate rocketed up to 150bpm out of nowhere. It took ten minutes of drinking water and deep breathing for me to calm it down. I was reasonably composed throughout this episode.
I could chalk all that up to symptoms of anxiety and take the pills I've been offered but my issue is this: I do not feel any more anxious now, than I did when I was getting no symptoms. There is nothing that has changed about my lifestyle to cause this. The biggest anxiety for me is having these events come out of nowhere, and even now I know what they are and can successfully manage them. But they're rotten, they shouldn't be happening, if they don't cause you to avoid doing things then they ruin them while you're doing them. So it's incredibly frustrating to have a doctor turn around and say "You're just over anxious about it" - well, YES I WOULD BE, because they aren't solving the problem. They just say your heart is fine, this is in your head, take some serious medication. I'm the one experiencing these things, and I know the difference between a panic attack induced by my being stressed, and an inappropriate and excessive physiological response, PVC or tachycardia, which comes out of nowhere and is the biggest cause of any anxiety in my life. I feel like I'm in a chicken and egg battle with my doctor. Should I get a second opinion?
Just under a decade ago I had a couple of instances of (some kind of) tachycardia whilst exerting myself and having drank some alcohol (It felt like a flip-flopping in my chest, like a bird fluttering and lasted for a minute or two before slowly dropping). Around this time I experienced my first heart skips and am now used to these and understand they are a nuisance but benign. Doctors blamed the racing heart rate (180-200bpm) on alcohol, then a fever, then when it happened at the gym, on exertion. But after testing my heart told me it was fine and I shouldn't worry about it.
For 5 years I had no symptoms, then 2 years ago these problems started again, more frequently with no clear cause:
Skips/PVC's - I'm used to these, everyone gets them, though I sometimes get them in runs and unless I change position it doesn't feel like it will stop but I'm assured this is fine so try not to worry about it. I do find they're worse when I'm more tense and paying attention to them and happen more frequently when in stressful situations or if I have alcohol (rarely) but not exclusively.
Racing heart - This has only happened half a dozen times but it very scary. It occurs mainly during walking/exertion. I get a sudden pinching sensation in my chest, a bit like a skip but stronger, then my heart rate accelerates suddenly. This happened when walking following a run and I was wearing a heartrate sensor which reported a jump from 130-190 staying at 190 for 2-3 minutes before slowly falling. After these attacks my heartrate seems sensitive and rises easily. Occasionally however I have woken in the night with a racing heart around 130-150bpm though I believe this was due to alcohol in on instance and stress in the other.
Pinching - This is probably what worries me the most, this almost exclusively happens out of the blue when I'm walking. I get a sudden sensation like a punch or lasso yanked around my chest. It feels different to a skipped beat as I'm not aware of a pause or thump. It's almost painful but only lasts a split second but it stops me in my tracks. I think this is the sensation that sometimes precedes the tachycardia but not always. Doctors have never caught this on a monitor, nor the extremely high heart rate, they only perform ECG's afterwards. They caught a skip on it once and told me that was harmless. My heart is structurally fine, my heart rate is naturally high (around 85-90, 75 if I'm very relaxed), I apparently don't need beta blockers and am in no danger of dropping dead.
Flutters - occasionally I get a fluttering sensation and my heart rate jumps up for a few seconds. Then goes back to normal.
The effect on my life from these symptoms has been pretty devastating. I've analysed every aspect of my life from diet, sleep, stress levels, down to how fast I'm walking! I eat well, I get 6-7 hours sleep, I'm healthy! The result was that last year I lost all passion and energy in my life! I stopped exercising, I lost a relationship, I stopped visiting places anymore for fear of having one of these episodes.
Until recently I went 9 months without an episode. I have generally been less stressed and avoided stressful triggers so I appreciate that on some level anxiety was possibly contributing. However, recently these were unavoidable and instead of the pinches and inappropriate tachycardia I've been having panic attacks in some social situations (where my heart rate can shoot up to 160+ from 70 resting)
My GP informed me at this point I have 3 choices: Citalopram to stop me being anxious, Propranolol to control my heart rate, or CBT. I chose the latter because I feel those pills could make things worse and I'm not sure they're actually necessary for whatever's wrong with me. It seems like my GP isn't actually listening to what I'm telling him and is throwing drugs at the problem. What happened tonight is a good example of this:
I was doing some work this evening, which is similar to what I've been doing for the last 9 months with no symptoms, when I started getting lots and lots of skips. Now, I figured maybe I ate something that triggered it, or tiredness and stress could be responsible. I also had bad indigestion which I felt could be linked. So I decided to relax, go to bed and chill out. I was calm, but kept jolting awake as I was going to sleep which has happened a lot lately, and got lots of skips. I had a disrupted sleep for two hours, during which time I was aware I was still having lots of skips. I woke up with indigestion and a raised heart rate 90bpm and felt terrible, very hot and dehydrated and not well, but still completely calm. I stood up and went to the bathroom and then boom my heart rate rocketed up to 150bpm out of nowhere. It took ten minutes of drinking water and deep breathing for me to calm it down. I was reasonably composed throughout this episode.
I could chalk all that up to symptoms of anxiety and take the pills I've been offered but my issue is this: I do not feel any more anxious now, than I did when I was getting no symptoms. There is nothing that has changed about my lifestyle to cause this. The biggest anxiety for me is having these events come out of nowhere, and even now I know what they are and can successfully manage them. But they're rotten, they shouldn't be happening, if they don't cause you to avoid doing things then they ruin them while you're doing them. So it's incredibly frustrating to have a doctor turn around and say "You're just over anxious about it" - well, YES I WOULD BE, because they aren't solving the problem. They just say your heart is fine, this is in your head, take some serious medication. I'm the one experiencing these things, and I know the difference between a panic attack induced by my being stressed, and an inappropriate and excessive physiological response, PVC or tachycardia, which comes out of nowhere and is the biggest cause of any anxiety in my life. I feel like I'm in a chicken and egg battle with my doctor. Should I get a second opinion?