View Full Version : Irregular pulse anyone?
mummyanxious
15-06-13, 22:37
So my heart symptoms continue.
Just got into bed to lie down (feeling a bit sickly and acidy I must admit) and I get an odd fluttering. Take my pulse and it is completely all over the place. Fast and slow beats and pauses and all sorts. Fly into a panic and heart starts going fast which I know is normal yes.
This has terrified me now. I know I'm going to be on high alert all night again now.
Had been feeling a lot better this afternoon as well. So upset.
---------- Post added at 22:37 ---------- Previous post was at 22:26 ----------
I worry what would have happened if I hadn't panicked and had a shot of adrenalin, would my heart have been all over the place much longer and put me in danger :(
Wish I could shake this.
I can relate to your symptoms i have what are called eptopic heart beats, they started a while ago and use to be all day and worse at night had an ecg and they showed up and doctor just said they are harmless, so i have tried to stay calm as stress, alcohol and caffeine can make them worse and i have found they have settled down i get the odd one but because i don`t focus on it they do settle down. I know this is easier said then done and i use to check my pulse all the time and with eptopics you can feel you pulse stop and go fast and slow it`s very scary, i would go to doc to put your mind at rest and he will prob send you for an ecg, hope this has helped take care x:hugs:
This has happened to me and my mom. Sounds like a short run of atrial fibrillation. This is a very common arrhythmia, and not normally dangerous in a healthy heart unless you have it in long stretches really frequently (increases stroke risk). I'd discuss it with your doc, but don't worry too much. It is really scary to feel it though. And no, your heart 99.9% would have been just fine without the adrenaline surge.
mummyanxious
15-06-13, 22:50
Now I am really panicking. A fib is dangerous. I can;t understand why this is happening to me all of a sudden. I had an ECG a few weeks back which showed normal. These symptoms are just getting worse and worse. I am sure I'm not going to make the end of the week at the moment.
No, short runs of a fib are not dangerous in a normal heart, afaik. Not from anything i've seen at least, and i've been researching heart stuff compulsively for the last few months. A fib is very common. Long term it increases stroke risk, and that's the main concern (and this is mainly in an elderly population). If the irregular pulse becomes more frequent, your doc will order you a holter monitor and put you on meds for it. Have you had a holter monitor yet?
mummyanxious
15-06-13, 23:10
Had one a few years ago which didn't show anything as wasn;'t having damn things at the time I had it.
---------- Post added at 23:10 ---------- Previous post was at 23:09 ----------
Everything I've seen when people mention Afib is that is is very dangerous and can kill you.
You sure you aren't thinking of v-fib? A-fib isn't normally very dangerous. Some people have it basically all the time. It's basically a long run of pacs. It's probably time to ask for another holter with all the skips going on. I had the same thing with mine; thinking of asking for an event monitor. Ever had an echo done?
mummyanxious
15-06-13, 23:25
How is vfib different? Maybe I don't know. I'm so on edge with all this that I can't think straight.
Yes I had an echo 3 years ago and it said structurally sound heart.
I should add that I am only mid 30s so shouldn't really be at risk of anything major but there's always the exception to the rule :(
---------- Post added at 23:25 ---------- Previous post was at 23:25 ----------
Can stress bring on Afib?
Ventricular fibrillation is VERY different. That's the thing they shock unconscious people for. Basically it means your heart isn't pumping, only vibrating. If not interrupted, it will kill the person. Atrial fibrillation on the other hand is just an irregular beat from the atria. Well at least you know the structure's okay. Skipped beats and stuff can be very worrying but some people have thousands and thousands a day and they're still okay. I know it's easier said than done, but being calm will probably help them to stop; it worked for you before.
Yeah stress brings on pacs and a-fib afaik. Not chronic a-fib, but short bursts like yours, if that's what it was. Me and my mom have both had them.
mummyanxious
15-06-13, 23:54
I don't understand how you would know the difference between vfib and afib. And everything I've read (which I know I shouldn't) suggests Afib is also dangerous. Agghhh. Go away palps!!!
chrisjose1913
16-06-13, 00:19
They are very common symptoms of anxiety, the more you panic and worry about it the worse it will get, try to relax. i have an ECG on Monday i am a little anxious about that my self and in turn i have the same symptoms from time to time, try and wind down with a nice relaxing drink or something, try and do a little but of running and short walks in the day this can really help also.
Atrial fibrillation is usually associated with long-term cardiac disease, such as CCF or various syncopy disorders. Any fibrillation could be dangerous, if it is related to underlying disease. AF simply means that the contraction of the atrial walls isn't coordinated by the SA node. There are various categories and not all causes or cases of AF will lead to significant problems.
mummyanxious
16-06-13, 14:35
So are you saying it would be unlikely to be this then given a clear recent ECG and normal echo three years back?
---------- Post added at 14:35 ---------- Previous post was at 14:34 ----------
How do you find out you've got it? Does it need to be caught on a monitor?
Should I stop worrying?
Well the simplest way is a 12-lead ECG, it has a very distinctive pattern. You should also describe the exact pattern you feel in your pulse, although bear in mind that the pulse itself isn't always a great indicator of what the heart itself is doing. For instance, I have seen several people who complain of their pulse speeding and slowing something like this:
dumdumdum dum... dum..dum... dum dum dumdumdum dum dum... dum... dum...
Which is of course an entirely normal pulse, but does lead to some anxiety.
An ECG and 24-monitor should rule out any problems.
mummyanxious
16-06-13, 14:57
I've had the 12 lead ECG done which showed normal rhythm. Would it always pick it up though? What if it didn't happen on the ECG because they're really fast for a couple of seconds aren't they.
---------- Post added at 14:57 ---------- Previous post was at 14:56 ----------
The ECG is quick I mean
Well an ECG is really like a photograph yes. It shows the electrical conductivity of the heart, so you know what the normal heart rhythm of the patient is. Obviously it will only show you what it is like at that time.
However this is to be expected - much like you know you can breath through both nostirls, but during a cold you can't. What it will pick up is any underlying problems, such as interval elongations, difficulty with electrical conductivity, signs of heart diease, etc. This is to rule out certain causes of the symptoms. Stress ECG and 24-hour monitoring are also useful, and you should try to get your GP to refer you for these.
mummyanxious
16-06-13, 15:07
And all these things are easy to spot on the ECG, these underlying problems?
The dr said she wasn't going to send me for any tests as she was certain it was stress related and because I'd had testing a few years ago :(
Although I wouldn't recommend you read too much of this, this is a great online resource I used for exam revision, which shows you just how much can be ascertained from an ECG:
http://www.ecglibrary.com/norm.html
mummyanxious
16-06-13, 15:12
No probably best not to,don't want yet another sleepless night thinking I have an arrhythmia :(
Well unless you run an ECG on yourself, you certainly won't think it from reading this hehe. It's simply a guide to revising ECG traces.
It has no symptoms or signs listed, just the ECG information for medical students and paramedics.
Mummyanxious, you would (or wouldn't) know if you had v-fib because you would be unconscious with no pulse, so please don't worry it was that. If you're prone to pacs, you may have had a short run of a-fib as far as I understand it, but my cardiologist said i may have occasional a-fib and didn't seem at all concerned because tests have said my heart is structurally normal. Go back to your doc and discuss, or even the er if you have a long run of irregular beats or you're really freaked out, but try not to worry too much. Some people deal with much more persistent irregular heartbeat for half their lives.
mummyanxious
16-06-13, 17:09
This is true :)
The other thing I get sometimes which has just happened to me is a pain with a beat. Now I keep getting told true heart pain is not felt in the heart.
I was hoovering earlier and sat down and had one hard heartbeat with a pain at the same time which only lasted a second and I could liken To a muscle spasm or cramp. It goes as quick as it comes but scares the life out of me as I'm sure it must be a problem with one of the outlets at the top of the heart or a chamber or something. This is what kicked my heart anxiety off again this time.
---------- Post added at 17:09 ---------- Previous post was at 17:07 ----------
I must add that this comes with just a heavy heart no irregular beats etc I've noticed
True heart pain can be felt in the heart yes, but it is also referred to other nerves which are interlinked with those supplying the heart. The pain is generally caused by acidosis (i.e. by lactic acid, etc). However, you would expect this sort of pain with angina, aortic dissection and heart attack, where the cardiac muscle itself is being damaged, not with PVCs or ectopics. AF usually only causes pain where there is underlying heart disease. Depending on the type of pain you feel, this may be muscle spasm or pain from the costal cartilage at the sternum. For the pain to last so little time doesn't resemble cardiac pain.
mummyanxious
16-06-13, 18:17
I think I'm going to have to go see the dr again tomorrow. I hate going though as I know they're thinking here we go again she doesn't believe us... I don't know how something could have developed in such a short space of time though or whether its only now becoming synptomatic because of the stress.
I am so worried that I've damaged my heart from the stress I've been under the past year :(
In all honesty I don't thinkk there's anything to worry about. But don't be worried about pestering the doctor - that is what doctors are there for! :)
Your heart will be fine
Depending at what exact stage a PVC occurs regarding how much the ventricle has filled with blood - patients report feeling pain during these ectopics as the blood is pumped out of the chamber.
You have reported nothing else that isn't felt by millions of people around the world - have a look at other medical forums.
A really interesting study was carried out (if I remember correctly in South America) 2007 have a read of this to realise HOW TRULY COMMON ectopics/PACs/PVCs - whatever you want to call them - really are - what follows is typed by another person I have copied and pasted BUT i DID check out that the article is real and exists - It all checks out.
They put a 24 holter monitor on approximately 625 normal people. They did echos, stress tests etc. on all of them to ensure they had a normal heart and measured the incidence of PVC (http://www.skippinghearts.com/articles/pvc/)'s, bigeminy (http://www.skippinghearts.com/articles/bigeminy/), couplets and Vtach (http://www.skippinghearts.com/articles/ventricular-tachycardia/) in this healthy population.
The article is
Cardiac Arrhythmias and Atrioventricular Block in a Cohort of Asymptomatic
Individuals without Heart Disease
In "Cardiology" 2007;108:111–116
The results are in the form of a large table so I couldn't copy and paste it into any readible form. I have copied the data for the overall incidence of each ventricular arrhythmia. (This is further broken down by age in the original table)
Below is the number of subjects having each arrhythmia followed by the percentage of the total population.
Total subjects 625
ventritricular ectopic beats 398 (63.7%)
Isolated ventritricular ectopic beats 392 (62.7%)
Paired ventricular ectopic beats 55 (8.8%)
bigeminy (http://www.skippinghearts.com/articles/bigeminy/) ventricular ectopic beats 20 (3.2%)
Polymorphic ectopic beats 186 (29.8%)
Nonsustained ventricular tachycardia 21 (3.4%)
The average length of NSVT (http://www.skippinghearts.com/articles/nsvt/) was 13.8 beats.
"In individuals with nonsustained ventricular tachycardia the average of number of beats was 13.8 (SD 13.5) beats and longest number of ventricular beats recorded was 69; the mean rate of the tachycardia was 137 beats."
It doesn't give data regarding the average number of PVC (http://www.skippinghearts.com/articles/pvc/)'s etc. Just the percentage of people that had them. The only thing it mentions is the following:
"We detected in a 61-yearold nonsmoker woman 24,900 isolated ventricular ectopic beats. She denied symptoms and is asymptomatic after
a 4-year follow-up"
"Inclusion Criteria
Asymptomatic individuals older than 14 years with normal
clinical examination, electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, echoDopplercardiogram
and treadmill electrocardiographic exercise
stress test."
mummyanxious
16-06-13, 22:11
So sick of this. I have been mostly ok all evening, few single skips etc. Come to bed and it all starts again. Irregular spacings in pulse. Then my heart speeds up and my tongue starts tingling and my face goes all wierd and warm and prickly. Now scared to sleep yet again.
mummyanxious
17-06-13, 09:58
Had a night of little sleep yet again. Flutterings continuing and co start stop start. Every time I woke up it felt like I'd run a marathon and I couldn't breath properly :(
eastofeden
18-06-13, 01:37
hello there, i noticed you mentioned you were feeling 'acidy' when this happened.
i just want to ask if you suffer from acid reflux or stomach problems?
the reason i'm asking is because i suffer from acid reflux and it actually CAUSES my heart to skip.
one time i ate Indian food and my stomach was so irritated, and my reflux was so bad, I actually couldn't lie down because my stomach kept causing my heart to skip beats. I did not sleep for an entire week because my esophageal lining was so badly irritated and thus the ectopics came like a wave.
you might wonder how this is all connected but basically this big nerve called the vagus nerve, runs through both the esophagus/stomach and heart. when we get acid, this nerve is stimulated. and when the nerve is stimulated, it has the power to cause the heart to skip a beat.
i used to get 15 skips a minute. now i take acid suppressing medication and after a week the palpitations completely stopped.
so i would highly recommend you try proton pump inhibitors for your acid, and see if it makes any difference.
my doctor did not believe me but i swear this worked for me. i went through months of crying everyday thinking about these ectopic beats.
it was by chance i made this connection, and after googling, found forums filled with people who shared the same problem and solution, and none of their doctors listened either.
i only ever had one doctor who recognised this and was very very interested.
i hope it helps you. please try it!
mummyanxious
18-06-13, 09:25
Hi yes on occasion, especially at night, I can feel welling in my tummy and throat. I can sometimes get a gurgling noise. I'm not sure really as the dr always says this cannot possibly cause these problems with the heart but like you say it's pretty coincidental.
I woke in the night last night with burning in my chest again which cake and went. Got better when I sat up etc.
But it's when I get tingling in my mouth and tongue or my jaw goes funny that worries me. Maybe it's just panic when I feel a skipped beat I don't know.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.