Heart Thuds

[Pigeon]

I've been having heart thuds for a few months. Never had them before but find it quite scary. It's just one hard thud and then everything's back to normal but I might get them sever al times a day (like now) or none at all for days.

I don't want to see my GP again having been earlier this year with depression/anxiety - afraid he will think I'm mad. But on a routine visit to practice nurse I asked her to check my cholesterol, BP and blood sugar as there's a history of problems in my family. All were normal and from this, she calculated my risk of a heart attack in the next 10 years as 3%. I didn't tell her about the thuds as I felt stupid.

At the moment I also have quite bad muscle tension in my neck which I know is the cause of various aches and pains in my neck, arms but somehow I am associating all this with the heart thuds.

Please someone tell me that it's the health anxiety again - before I really do go mad.

[B-Brain]

Hi Pigeon,

There's absolutely no shame in talking to your GP about whatever is troubling you. They are there to help and besides... They have heard it all before. If you speak to your doc, they will be able to examine you and put your mind at ease. Also, they will be able to help you with your troubles, possibly by putting you forward for CBT or a few sessions with a counsellor.

Also, having difficulty with anxiety or depression doesn't make you crazy. I'm sure many of us here have thought at some point that we're about to lose our marbles... But we haven't :)

Wish you all the best.

[Speranza]

Make sure you are eating well too. The first time I had that, I had been on the Atkins Diet, before it was disclosed that the low-carb diet wasn't very good for heart rhythms. So make sure to have a few carbs!

It is all normal, and it is also normal to be terrified about it. You will be fine, but talk to somebody for reassurance. :hugs:

[imissnotworrying]

I get these from time to time, they unsettle me, but they are just anxiety :)

[joelhall]

Premature contractions are pretty common in the population, and unless they are constant are not a sign of anything serious.

[mummyanxious]

How constant does constant have to be though?

[joelhall]

Pretty much constant, or associated with a specific trigger such as positional change, mild activity, etc, and associated with other symptoms, such as cardiac pain, cyanosis, etc.
Palpitations are premature contractions on their own are pretty much always benign. To put it into statistical terms, patients with premature contractions without cardiac ischaemia, myopathy or have suffered a previous heart attack have virtually no risk at all.

---------- Post added at 16:00 ---------- Previous post was at 15:39 ----------

Here's a brief explanation, as simply as I can put it:

The ventricular contraction expels blood from the heart into the major blood vessels. Certain muscle cells in the ventricles called Perkinje fibres cause the surrounding muscle cells to contract. Usually these are under the contol of the SA node. Occaisionally, these fibres initiate the contraction themselves, which is earlier than should occur. This means there is a pause afterwards as it is out of time from the SA node's normal rhythm. Due to the extra time, you can think of the heart cells storing more 'charge', and so the next beat is slightly more powerful than the others, and is felt as a sudden thump. This is basically the SA node resetting the normal pace.

These are often mistaken for a 'skipped beat', but of course it is simply that the beat before the delay occurred too early. This happens in practically everyone, as as the entire ventricle contracts normal and in a coordinated manner, it poses no risk. Although they are known as abnormal beats, 'abdnormal' does not mean 'disease or risky', simply that it strays from the regular pattern.

There are numbered versions of these events, which occur in a pattern, such as bigeminy, which occurs every second beat, trigeminy every third beat, etc.

The danger is when these happen consistently - i.e. several in a row which are not initiated by the SA node at a rate over 100 bpm. This will be felt of course as a sudden rapid heart rate, not as forceful beats which normal ones between. This last point is important as it will not resemble normal premature contractions, the ventricles themselves simply start contracting at a very rapid rate.

[Pigeon]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's such a relief to come on here and not feel as though people will think I'm bonkers

I still don't know what is meant by constant. I have been having thuds on and off all day. I must have had dozens but there is a gap between each one. Sometimes minutes, sometimes hours. Some days I don't have any at all.
I don't get flutters or any chest pain etc . Only breathlessness I get is because I am unfit (and probably due to stress).

Do you think it can be anxiety related when it's happening so often? I suppose I am a little bit reassured by the BP/cholesterol results but ......

[joelhall]

Constant as in there are no normal beats between them or sudden thumps. The ventricles simply start contracting by themselves very rapidly.

[Pigeon]

Oh that sounds quite reassuring thanks so much.. Everything's normal between the thuds. It's just that I thought palpitations were fluttery things and therefore what I've been having were different and harmful.
Daft thing is that I feel fine - apart from the anxiety!

It's nice of you to take the trouble to reply :)

[joelhall]

Generally you'll know when something is wrong as the symptoms will be very alarming, nothing like anxiety or vague feelings generally.

[mummyanxious]

You see I can have them by changing positions :( and sometimes with exertion. That happened to me today.
Your explanation is really good :)

[Pinktel]

I have them in a row - no gaps - it is called NSVT, my cardiologist is unconcerned, in a structurally normal heart if it is causing no symptoms such as syncope, you can still be okay with this.

Also I have not heard of positional ectopics being a cause for concern, that is really common too.

[Alex2121]

I’m 13 and I been having I think “heart thuds “ everyday but each day one big boom and the rest of the day is like soft thuds & I have anxiety please help is this anxiety or heart danger ? I’m really scared that I’m gonna die because I’m 13 I can’t control it I feel Ima die at a young age :( am I fine ? Or I’m in danger.?