Very irregular heartbeat, ectopic and racing

[beadbabe]

I feel ill. I get this quite a lot - very irregular heartbeat that is fast and slow and pounding. My pulse is all over the place. Sometimes it is racing,sometimes not, and sometimes with many many ectopic beats. It always calms down eventually but I am terrified that one day it won't and I will just collapse. I don't feel I am taken seriously because of my history of panic attacks. Is it possible to have panic attacks that are mainly heart based physical symptoms. Over the past year I have had anxiety and panic but my main symptoms have been sever dizziness and feeling out of it, combined with feelings of terror.
This is so horrible I am not sure how to go forward as I have tried so hard to combat this and want so desperately to feel normal again with no physical symptoms which are what bother me the most. Does anyone else have experience of this 'heart problem'

[baxwalker]

Hi Ali

So sorry to hear of your plight. I too have experienced the same as you. The first few times I couldn't relate it to anything specific so assumed it was my ticker having problems and I suffered all the worries that you and other forum members have mentioned..


However about two years ago, I had had a very relaxed weekend and was feeling quite good about everything in general. Still feeling good on the Monday morning while driving into work when I received a phone call from one of my staff reporting a major problem at my Oil Terminal which could have been caused by my oversight (I'm the manager and hold total responsibility). I immediately suffered the missed heartbeats, ectopics and all the rest and felt extremely ill. That proved to me it was stress related as I had felt in perfect health up until that phone call. To make matter worse, the reported major problem wasn't a problem at all but just one of my staff exagerating and not checking properly (idiot).

Unfortunately it had a dramatic effect on me for the rest of the day and I could get my ticker to settle down. That night I was joining a gym and they performed the usual health checks. I passed with flying colurs until they put me on the exercise bike and clipped the pulse monitor on me. My pulse was so all over the place that they couldn't get a reading and wouldn't sign me on.

I managed to get an appointment with my doctor next morning - he gave me an ECG and it was normal. As soon as he gave me the results, I returned to normal.

So.... This shows the effect that stress can do to ones body even when it is actually quite healthy.

Take care

John

[honeybee3939]

Hi Beadbabe,

This is a very common symptom of anxiety hun, so try not to worry,

Here are a few posts that may help:

Feel my heart beating (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3710)
Heart - Updated (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3861)
racing heartbeat (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4789)
Chest pulses to heart beat? (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=142)
Love

Andrea
xxxx

[looking4answers]

Hi,

Not to worry ..we all feel like you do ..want despertaly to be ok.. my prayer everyday and night.. But what you are experiencing is normal for people that are anxious..I have heard but not really proven it right but one time in my life is to ignore it and don't fight it and just remember its a feeling and it will go away. I did it one time and if I could just master it again I would be ok.. But try it.. Just remember it can't hurt you and its normal..The fear you feel when you feel it is what speeds it up and it becomes worse as you get scared..Try taking deep breaths and relaxing and try thinking about anything else something peaceful anything other than what you are feeling and maybe it will help.. Hope this helps a little ...

[PaladinX]

I feel your pain. Ive been in a simliar boat. The dizziness. feeling just out of it, like something is wrong. Ive worried that i have had diabetes, cancer. but the main one is the heart.

I know i have anxiety problems. But your right. sometimes its hard to differentiate the difference.. I mean just because we have anxiety, and know we do. we always think to ourselves, well ok so i have anxiety, but that doesnt mean i might not have a heart problem. etc.

My pulse is always generally fast. I get those ectopic beats i think. But they come very infrequently. What scared me is that th eother day i did excercise and at night i got 3 in a row while i was trying to sleep. I wasnt anxious i was calm. and still got them. Alot of times i think things can happen even when ur calm. im 26 years old. got an ekg and blood test done about a year ago and they said im healthy. so who knows.

My question to you .. when you get those ecotpic beats, or whatever they are called.. What do you feel ? I feel like a contraction sorty of feeling maybe like a gas pocket feeling or something. Not painful. Then there is a small pause and then a hard extra beat. Is that what u get?

[looking4answers]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">I feel your pain. Ive been in a simliar boat. The dizziness. feeling just out of it, like something is wrong. Ive worried that i have had diabetes, cancer. but the main one is the heart.

I know i have anxiety problems. But your right. sometimes its hard to differentiate the difference.. I mean just because we have anxiety, and know we do. we always think to ourselves, well ok so i have anxiety, but that doesnt mean i might not have a heart problem. etc.

My pulse is always generally fast. I get those ectopic beats i think. But they come very infrequently. What scared me is that th eother day i did excercise and at night i got 3 in a row while i was trying to sleep. I wasnt anxious i was calm. and still got them. Alot of times i think things can happen even when ur calm. im 26 years old. got an ekg and blood test done about a year ago and they said im healthy. so who knows.

My question to you .. when you get those ecotpic beats, or whatever they are called.. What do you feel ? I feel like a contraction sorty of feeling maybe like a gas pocket feeling or something. Not painful. Then there is a small pause and then a hard extra beat. Is that what u get?

<div align="right">Originally posted by PaladinX - 13 November 2006 : 19:01:21</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

When I get them the heart starts beating fast..its usally after im eating and also when im anxious..my heart will beating fast and it feels like there is a pressure on the heart and it feels like something just jumped in my stomach..Its definiely gas related but sometimes anxiety causes gas.. I get them sometime for no reason but usually after I burp so it must be something associated with gas..But what worries me is when i get a string of them together.. which isnt that unsual. I will get five out of six beats and then when i burp I usally don't get anymore..They come and go.usally when im hungry and have excess gas..Everywhere I read it talks about being harmless although they are scarry. I read where most people get them but don't notice them .But I would dare to bet they aren't as pronouced as ours. I don't know I haven't had them very much in years and now I get them pretty often but im more anxious than I have been in years.. so I suspect thats all there is..What I do is I try to always eat something light when im hungry .. something that wont produce gas..and then when I eat I always make sure that i have a soda and burp.. I don't even like soda but I always make sure that I drink on to get rid of the gas and if it happens when im not around soda I keep some rolaids or some other thing to make me burp around.Also when you eat..try not to exhert in anyway .. because it aggrivates the missed beats for some reason..Try to kind of take it easy for a couple hours before you exert..Also I worry about afib..God i have looked on the internet until I have scared myself to death..I shouldn't have done that and the doctors when I talk to them are amazed that I know what i do.. Anyway lately I have been worrying I had afib.. but i spoke with a cardiologist yesterday that told me that if my heart is beating at the rate that I mentioned its not going into afib..He told me just to get test for peace of mind but said that he pretty much knows its nothing.. so anyway hope this helps you . if you have any other questions please let me know its always nice to know that you have someone that knows exactly what you are talking about to ask.. I hate anxiety.. its miserable. .

[PaladinX]

Thanks for the response. yeah its all scary and annoying after awhile. Make me wish i was a little kid again with no worries or symptoms.

My worry is not my heart going crazy with irregular beats. Its just like a one time thing that feeling in my chest. it basically is like this

IM having a normal beat. boom...boom...boom...(weird feeling)...pause..(BOOM-harder heartbeat). Then goes to normal again boom...boom...boom.

[OverDark]

Hello All Irregular and fast heartbeat/panic attack sufferers,
I have suffered from fast heartbeats/panic attacks for many years now. I have eventually resolved all of my problems. I suffered from fast heart beats at night, every night, where I would wake up in the morning with heart stress problems, I suffered from panic attacks all day and all night, I suffered from irregular heart beats all day and all night. The difficulty I have is in communicating how I solved my problems in a way in which it is readily understood. I am going to be extremely economical with my words here on this forum. First of all, please appreciate that I have suffered with these problems for around 10 years continuously! Please consult with your doctor to make sure you do not have a known medical problem first. I am not giving advice. I am only expressing what worked for me.

This is how I solved all of my problems by trial and error.

1. I found by trial and error that there was a direct relationship between what I ate and drank and the severity and continuance of my panic attacks/fast/irregular heart beats. When I removed alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, sugar or any ingredient which I consumed which had sugar in it, like tomato ketchup.

Certain drinks also caused problems, these were pure Pineapple juice and pure orange juice, carbonated water.

I also discovered that vitamins such as vitamin B complex and vitamin D also caused severe problems.

Other items the forbidden foods list included, Wheat Grass, Honey, Maple Syrup, L-Arginine and Milk Thistle.

In my opinion, you will have to eliminate all these things together if you want to get control of your anxiety, panic attacks, irregular/fast heart beat problems.

If the above works for you, you may notice as I did that it takes 3 months for all the aforementioned forbidden list to work itself out of your system.

I noticed that I had extreme "Power surges" at night. These power surges led immediately to panic attacks. I found that these power surges were incontrovertibly linked to eating any of the above. Sometimes, they were so severe I had out of body experiences. When I stopped consuming the above, I found that the massive power surges no longer had any effect on provoking a panic attack, no matter how severe it was!

2. By accident I found that when I relaxed my stomach muscles, I could not only control my anxiety, panic attacks and feelings of dread immediately, but it gave me something tangible that I could do to see immediate results.

I found that by relaxing my stomach muscles my panic attacks and fast/racing heart beats would calm down immediately. If I woke up with a panic attack, I found that by relaxing my stomach muscles, it would dissipate very fast. I soon realised that there was a direct link between how I stressed my stomach muscles and my palpitations/panic attacks, irregular heart beats.

I practiced hard to relax my stomach muscles continuously throughout the day until I could do it all day. It is very, very hard to do, especially at all times. I still find myself unconsciously tightening my stomach muscles even though I am now well practiced with it. Learning to walk with my stomach muscles relaxed, with my belly hanging out all day and every where takes incredible amounts of concentration.


3. I found that my panic attacks subsided to nothing over three months. The problem was, I was still having fast, racing and uncontrollable heart beats every night. I found that I solved the problem by doing this:

I slept sitting upright as much as possible, with my back propped up with pillows! This always calmed my heart down near enough immediately. Unfortunately, the prospect of sleeping always upright was not a pleasant one.

Before I found the solution to this problem, I noticed I would always feel airey and light headed at night. Sometimes, this would be accompanied with feelings of euphoria or dread. I discovered that there was a direct link between what I ate and the experiences of "extreme changes in blood pressure".

"Whenever I tried to sleep lying down, my heart would immediately start racing fast again. "

Knowing that this was a blood pressure regulation problem, I realised and understood that I would have to continue sleeping this way until my body corrects itself. When I started sleeping upright, it was the first time I had real untroubled sleep at night.

After a few difficult weeks sleeping this way, my blood pressure regulation problems returned, with the self-same feelings of dread or aireyness. This also came with power surges and feigned panic attacks! I understood this to mean that my body was telling me that sleeping upright was not good anymore. I eased my sleeping position down one notch. Good sleep was restored, until it happened again a week later. I repeated the matter of reducing my sleeping position down gradually, by one notch. This gave me immediate relief. I continued repeating this until I was lying flat. This probably took me about a month to do. When I was eventually lying flat I then found that all negative feelings and experiences disappeared. I would sometimes wake at night to check that my heart was not racing without me being aware of it. I continued to check on myself in this way for 6 weeks. There were no problems again. I still have not had any problems.

Other factors which contributed to my full recovery from all of the above:
a. Drinking plenty of still mineral water, especially at night(very important).
b. Eating only fresh and raw foods during the day, but eating cooked meals in the evening, maintaining my due diligence.
c. Avoiding the aforementioned stimulants, caffeine, sugar, alcohol and nicotine.
d. Going to bed early and making sure that I was in bed by 9.30pm. This part is the whole pillar or foundation on ensuring my full recovery. I found that there was a direct link between my sleeping habits, stress, anxiety, panic attacks, irregular heart beats and racing palpitations.

In other words, I found that all the problems I had, were caused by one simple thing, regular, late and abusively consistent late nights. All the other things mentioned above just aggravated the problems. In other words, my body needed rest.

I have found that after a huge trials, tribulations and struggles with all the aforementioned matters, I am a much better, rested and content person.
I find that I have more energy now than what I did before. In fact, I found that I am much stronger physically and fitter than many people half my age - I am 48 - who are in the gym every week.

I have written a self help PDF file on how to recover from all the above. If any of you want to read it just make a request and I will send it to you by email. I hope what I have written helps all who reads.

[saab]

Thanks for posting. After a couple of years of suffering very badly with pvc's and being almost paralysed with anxiety about them, I started reading CBT books and looking at what triggered them for me. I haven't managed to narrow it down as much as you have but I know they are worse when I am tired, after a heavy meal, when it really cold, and so on.

It's very hard when doctors say, "You are fine.. forget about them", so the best thing we can do is help ourselves and try to work on what triggers them and work on the anxiety as well. I wasted too long sitting on the sofa paralysed with fear, afraid to sleep because I thought I would die, feeling 'out of it' - I only started feeling better when I started challenging my own negative thoughts.

The trouble is that when we are anxious or dpressed we actually revert to the behaviours that are more unhealthy - like eating junk, drinking, smoking, not exercising. I would urge anyone who is struggling at the moment to try the suggestions above to work out if there are any food triggers, and to try Claire Weekes books and CBT books to manage the anxiety.

Palps are often worse at night because they are more frequent when the heart beats slowly and because lying down, especially on your left, allows the heart to touch the chest wall. Also, you notice them more when you are in bed and it's quiet, which will often cause stress and trigger more.

[OverDark]

I agree with you wholly saab, about this. Your answer is also very apt, because it still declares to use that we must address the underlying circumstancial issues which have caused us to be anxious in the first place. This could be due to the loss of someone or something, an expectation or a fear. -It has to be acknowledged that sometimes, the underlying problem which caused us to be anxious in the first place, may not be something which will easily go away. For example, homelessness or debt, unemployment or divorce. Whichever it is, in these circumstances it may be necessary us to be able to master and surmount the effects our anxiety has upon us, so that we can get control over our distresses -helping us to concentrate on those things which are positive, and on those things which may eventually improve our circumstances or lot.

As you rightly pointed out, learning to cope with our anxiety may mean us changing the way we live. Disciplining ourselves, eating healthier diets, avoiding negative influences, shedding unhealthy habits, making new friends, facing ourselves in brutal honesty, addressing our fears, or helping others in similar circumstances etc.

These things are not easy in themselves, but neither is an anxiety which is left untouched!