AlphFord
04-08-13, 13:50
First of all, hey there. This is my first post here.
I guess I'll give a brief summary of my situation. For a few years I've been aware of palpitations, which I used to get after physical exertion, say walking up five flights of stairs at pace or playing sports. As a teenager I smoked about five cigarettes a day and my only exercise was walking everywhere every day. So I always sort of assumed that I was just unfit.
I became more aware of my heart about two years ago after mentioning my fast heart rate in passing to a friend. At this point I'd only notice it in the afore mentioned situations. In January 2012 I was relaxing watching TV in the morning when my heart rate suddenly went through the roof and hit by a feeling of doom I panicked. I called the NHS who sent out paramedics. They said nothing was wrong after an ECG. That episode led to a GP referral to a cardiologist, which included a 24 hour monitor and an ultrasound etc. No heart problem found.
Since then I have been largely ok. A handful of similar incidents but nothing I couldn't handle. I was prescribed propranolol this year because I occasionally get a bit anxious on trains which I take every so often. Since then I've been to the doctor twice, within the last six weeks. The first time to inform the doctor I was getting pins and needles in my left hand and arm. I told him I was concerned about it being cardiac related. He read me the positive response from the cardiologist regarding all of my tests and tried to reassure me. The second time I was having chest pains and what was definitely a panic attack (I think triggered by the pains) and I was given information about anxiety. I've also had another ECG after an attack, but the pain and my pulse were back to normal.
In this last six week period I've had symptoms almost everyday. I get momentary sharp pains over my heart, aches in my back, pain in my left hand, dizziness and fluttering palpitations. What's worrying me is that a lot of these are happening when I'm not having an attack. Is this just a vicious cycle? Should I ask to be referred to the cardiologist again?
I should mention that I'm male, 23 and as far as I know healthy in other areas. My brother suffers from much worse panic attacks but he doesn't generally have symptoms other than intense fear. He certainly doesn't seem to be able to relate to my symptoms.
Sorry for dragging on a bit but I thought I should outline my situation properly.
---------- Post added at 12:50 ---------- Previous post was at 12:48 ----------
Oh, also I feel it's probably prudent to mention that I take Omemprazole for GERD. Although since taking these (the last couple of months) I haven't really had noticeable heartburn.
I guess I'll give a brief summary of my situation. For a few years I've been aware of palpitations, which I used to get after physical exertion, say walking up five flights of stairs at pace or playing sports. As a teenager I smoked about five cigarettes a day and my only exercise was walking everywhere every day. So I always sort of assumed that I was just unfit.
I became more aware of my heart about two years ago after mentioning my fast heart rate in passing to a friend. At this point I'd only notice it in the afore mentioned situations. In January 2012 I was relaxing watching TV in the morning when my heart rate suddenly went through the roof and hit by a feeling of doom I panicked. I called the NHS who sent out paramedics. They said nothing was wrong after an ECG. That episode led to a GP referral to a cardiologist, which included a 24 hour monitor and an ultrasound etc. No heart problem found.
Since then I have been largely ok. A handful of similar incidents but nothing I couldn't handle. I was prescribed propranolol this year because I occasionally get a bit anxious on trains which I take every so often. Since then I've been to the doctor twice, within the last six weeks. The first time to inform the doctor I was getting pins and needles in my left hand and arm. I told him I was concerned about it being cardiac related. He read me the positive response from the cardiologist regarding all of my tests and tried to reassure me. The second time I was having chest pains and what was definitely a panic attack (I think triggered by the pains) and I was given information about anxiety. I've also had another ECG after an attack, but the pain and my pulse were back to normal.
In this last six week period I've had symptoms almost everyday. I get momentary sharp pains over my heart, aches in my back, pain in my left hand, dizziness and fluttering palpitations. What's worrying me is that a lot of these are happening when I'm not having an attack. Is this just a vicious cycle? Should I ask to be referred to the cardiologist again?
I should mention that I'm male, 23 and as far as I know healthy in other areas. My brother suffers from much worse panic attacks but he doesn't generally have symptoms other than intense fear. He certainly doesn't seem to be able to relate to my symptoms.
Sorry for dragging on a bit but I thought I should outline my situation properly.
---------- Post added at 12:50 ---------- Previous post was at 12:48 ----------
Oh, also I feel it's probably prudent to mention that I take Omemprazole for GERD. Although since taking these (the last couple of months) I haven't really had noticeable heartburn.