flutters in chest, cough

[katiep]

Have tried over last year or so to sort myself out and have been managing (shall we say).. my dear mum passed away very sudden in november and recently i have been struggling with HA and panic.. most of time i can talk myself out of an illness but for last week or so, at times i get a fluttery feeling in my chest which tickles my throat making me cough and im convinced its my heart going to pack in obv when i panic it gets worse.. havent had if for last few days its back tonight n im out of my mind with worry as dont know if im going to drop with heart probs or its anxiety...

[Blueeyed87]

I get this all the time, for some reason coughing makes it feel better, must be a muscular thing. It use to worry me a lot. As soon as a felt a twinge I would panic about my heart. But it has happened so often and after having my heart checked I have just accepted it.
Just breathe and remember the body does weird and wonderful things when it's pumped full of stress hormones.
Stay well :)

[RVP]

I get this quite often, especially when I try to go sleep..
It'll also feel as though my chest sinks a level, weird feeling but I've gotten used to it now

[countrygirl]

I get alot of ectopic heartbeats that are horrible but harmless and they feel exactly as you describe. You feel a flutter in either your chest or base of throat and have an instinctive need to cough which stops them. This is because the vagus nerve which runs down your throat and across yoru stomach is the cause of these ectopics ( it get irritated due to anxiety hormones or caffeine or alcohol etc etc) and puts in an extra hearbeat and your heart says " eh whats that" and pauses to reset itself and then gives a good thump to clear the blood out. This is the sensation of flutter and cough.

Remember horrible but harmless.

At their worst I got them every 3rd beat!!

[eastofeden]

Have tried over last year or so to sort myself out and have been managing (shall we say).. my dear mum passed away very sudden in november and recently i have been struggling with HA and panic.. most of time i can talk myself out of an illness but for last week or so, at times i get a fluttery feeling in my chest which tickles my throat making me cough and im convinced its my heart going to pack in obv when i panic it gets worse.. havent had if for last few days its back tonight n im out of my mind with worry as dont know if im going to drop with heart probs or its anxiety...

hi there, first off i'm so sorry about your mum. that must have been very hard on you. i hope you're okay. :hugs:

i found out my ectopics were caused by the vagus nerve being irritated.
to cut a long story short, the vagus nerve connects a lot of organs.

the heart, the stomach, the side of the neck, etc, are all innervated by this nerve. sometimes, something called vasovagal syncope occurs. this is fainting caused by stress on the vagus nerve. it causes the blood pressure to fall and thus you can get dizzy and rarely, faint. some people have very sensitive vagus nerves and this is why they can faint by something so simple as seeing blood etc. other people aren't bothered too much by it.

i am one of those people with a sensitive vagus nerve. when my stomach ulcers flare up, i get dizzy spells and palpitations. i know this because as soon as i take my ulcer meds, no more dizziness. why? because the vagus nerve goes through the stomach lining, and the esophagus, and the heart, and controls bp - so it is probably being irritated by the ulcer/inflammation, thus causing a drop in bp, and subsequent dizziness.

sometimes if you touch the inside of your ear, you might feel the need to cough or feel a tickle in your throat. sometimes you can halt a tickly cough by scratching inside your ear. again, this is because the inner ear AND the throat/cough reflex is connected to the vagus nerve. it is a very underrated nerve, yet it affects so many things. this is why some people faint after urinating or having a bowel movement - both of these things affect the vagus nerve. the reason doctors don't care too much about this nerve is because it is usually pretty harmless. even fainting due to the vagus nerve isn't seen as harmful - just the fall itself.

vagus nerve palpitations can also trigger this cough reflex! in fact, many people get this need to cough when they have a pvc - it's all connected to this nerve. i used to have 10 pvcs a minute and stopped them by eating bland food and taking ulcer medication. it was ruining my life. i just want to tell you that cough reflex is just a sign your vagus nerve is a little bit hypersensitive. that's all. it's very normal. please don't be alarmed :D

[countrygirl]

hi there, first off i'm so sorry about your mum. that must have been very hard on you. i hope you're okay. :hugs:

i found out my ectopics were caused by the vagus nerve being irritated.
to cut a long story short, the vagus nerve connects a lot of organs.

the heart, the stomach, the side of the neck, etc, are all innervated by this nerve. sometimes, something called vasovagal syncope occurs. this is fainting caused by stress on the vagus nerve. it causes the blood pressure to fall and thus you can get dizzy and rarely, faint. some people have very sensitive vagus nerves and this is why they can faint by something so simple as seeing blood etc. other people aren't bothered too much by it.

i am one of those people with a sensitive vagus nerve. when my stomach ulcers flare up, i get dizzy spells and palpitations. i know this because as soon as i take my ulcer meds, no more dizziness. why? because the vagus nerve goes through the stomach lining, and the esophagus, and the heart, and controls bp - so it is probably being irritated by the ulcer/inflammation, thus causing a drop in bp, and subsequent dizziness.

sometimes if you touch the inside of your ear, you might feel the need to cough or feel a tickle in your throat. sometimes you can halt a tickly cough by scratching inside your ear. again, this is because the inner ear AND the throat/cough reflex is connected to the vagus nerve. it is a very underrated nerve, yet it affects so many things. this is why some people faint after urinating or having a bowel movement - both of these things affect the vagus nerve. the reason doctors don't care too much about this nerve is because it is usually pretty harmless. even fainting due to the vagus nerve isn't seen as harmful - just the fall itself.

vagus nerve palpitations can also trigger this cough reflex! in fact, many people get this need to cough when they have a pvc - it's all connected to this nerve. i used to have 10 pvcs a minute and stopped them by eating bland food and taking ulcer medication. it was ruining my life. i just want to tell you that cough reflex is just a sign your vagus nerve is a little bit hypersensitive. that's all. it's very normal. please don't be alarmed :D

Brilliant explanation, much better than mine was!

[eastofeden]

Brilliant explanation, much better than mine was!

oh wow i just saw that you had this experience too! yet more proof of the mystery that is the pesky vagus nerve :winks:

[LittleMissSleepy]

Hi, I too have a hypersensitive VN and have most of the symptoms you've mentioned.
I don't go out much because of it these days. PVCs also seem to be worse once a month too.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

[manus88]

Brilliant explanation, much better than mine was!

Hi Country Girl and Eastofeden - many thanks for your excellent explanations. I am experiencing exactly this - flutter followed by a single cough / urge to cough, so as you say it may be due the Vagus nerve being irritated. I have never had this earlier - but noticed that it started a month or so ago around a more than normal stress and quite a lot of caffine intake (5 to 6 cups of tea a day). My ECG was quite ok, though to be honest it was only for a couple of minutes during which I did not experience the flutter.

I would be grateful for any advice on how to get rid of this please.

thanks,

Manus