Chest Thuds and thumps - they are driving me crazy!

[Guinnessman19744]

Hi there,

Wondered if others had the same symptoms?

Had three of these today...

Feels like a single thud / flutter in the left side of chest....

I panic sometimes...

Maybe it could be muscle spasm or trapped wind, not even heart palps?!

Thanks for any help!

[TooMuchToLiveFor]

From the left of the page under "Symptoms":

Heart palpitations, chest pain, irregular beats, flutters, skipped beats

What you feel:

One of the most worrying symptoms is chest pains or a tight feeling in your chest. The immediate thought is "heart attack" or "stroke" and this only worries you more. You may also notice that your heartbeat is incredibly fast or irregular at times having palpitations and again this leads to the worry that you will have a heart attack.
Often the chest muscles may feel very tight, and sometimes they can become painful if they are tight enough to spasm. Because the individual may become concerned that they may be having a heart attack, their fear will add to the stress biology which can not only worsen the pain, but can produce other symptoms similar to a heart attack such as profuse sweating, light-headedness and numbness in the arms, feet or face.
These increased symptoms can also cause more fear which then can turn into a panic attack
Your heart feels like it skips a beat or flops in your chest. It sometimes may feel like a tickle in your chest that makes you cough. If you take your pulse, you'll notice that sometimes the beats are unevenly spaced.
You may experience a tightness or pressure in the chest. Sometimes you may feel shooting pains, or muscle twitches, or just an uneasiness or fullness in the chest area which causes you concern
There is no evidence that panic and anxiety has any adverse effect on the heart and the pains are easily explained.
What causes this:

Stress biology causes the heart rate to increase. It does this so that the body is ready to take action. It's like in drag racing, drivers get their RPM's up prior to the green light so that they can hit the light with maximum torque. Since the stimulant hormone adrenaline, the body's super fuel, is produced when danger is perceived, the heart rate is naturally increased.
Once the stimulant is used and eliminated from the body, the heart rate will return to its normal range.
Moderate regular exercise helps to regulate this symptom.
When you start panicking the whole of your body becomes tense and this includes your muscles.
The chest pains you experience are due to the constricting of the chest wall muscles and the muscles between your ribs and not due to any actual muscles in your heart and the best cure is to start stretching these muscles gently to relieve the pain. Although you may not feel like doing any exercise whilst getting these pains, try stretching your arms above and behind your head, out to the sides and bending over gently to relieve the pain.
Naturally most people are dreadfully worried about their hearts but if your G.P. has given you the all clear cardiac wise - then do not be alarmed if the chest pains and palpitations come back and last for more than a day. If it is related to panic, although it is painful and worrying, the pains will subside if you try gentle exercise and ignore them.
Regular exercise and deep relaxation help to minimize this symptom. Also, staying away from artificial stimulants such as caffeine, chocolate, high doses of raw sugar (such as pastries, sweets, cookies, etc.) and smoking help to keep this symptom in check.

[saab]

Your heart beats 100,000 times a day so a few isolated palpitations probably aren't significant. Most people have them at times and they ate usually benign. Most people find stress or caffeine causes them. If they continue, see your gp who will prob arrange an ecg to put your mind at rest.

[Hellly]

Hi.

I am exactly the same. They come out of nowhere and can be pretty scary, in fact the last severe thump triggered my very first panic attack (which just made things worse).

Talk to your doctor, they can't ignore something like that. I went to mine and am currently strapped to a small monitor for 24hrs (but with that is the obligatory anxiety and panic while waiting for results).

Hopefully you get the answers/comfort you need.

:-)

P.s. I just signed up for this site tonight and am relieved that i am not the only one who is going through this.

[GingerFish]

I get these exact same symptoms too and I have at least 5 panics a day and you would think I would be used to the thumps by now but nope, they still scare me to death! I mainly feel them in my back rather than my chest now for some reason. I thought caffeine were the cause of mine at first but I get them any time I have a panic, not just when its one induced from energy drink.

[Round in circles]

Luckily mine aren't happening as often at the moment (famous last words) but yeah, palps are yuck. I can cope with the thuds and feeling of falling, but I really hate the times I can't breathe. I go to breathe in, but my lungs won't do anything. It probably only lasts a few seconds, but it's horrible when it happens.

[wabbit1]

I wish I had found this site a long time ago. I'm getting really annoyed by the 'ectopic beats'. I am finding that they are happening so much at night when I'm trying to sleep that they are keeping me awake. I have a slow HR (45 - 50 bpm) and they don't hurt so doc says they are nothing to be concerned about but they are unpleasant.

[violentheartbeat]

Hello everyone, I just registered on this site as a kind of "tried everything else" attempt to find an answer to this problem. I have had ectopic beats for about 8 years now and nothing really seems to help. They come on suddenly and they disappear suddenly. I would be prone to saying that stress makes them more likely but I have even had times of severe stress without them. Smoking may make them worse but again at times, I can smoke up a storm and not experience them for a while. So, there seems to be no rhyme and reason for their madness. One thing I am sure of is that my level of anxiety rises and subsequently, the energy left to do anything begins to wane. I guess the only thing left to do is to keep trying and try to appreciate even the slightest improvement. There are a few things I haven't tried that I have seen on the internet like electrolyte treatment or basically making sure you are not dehydrated, have enough salt and vitamin c. Exercise for me makes them worse. But that may have to do with having coctiochondritus and tendinitis to boot. There is definitely a link though with being stressed. When I play guitar, I don't notice them. The moment I put the guitar down there they are again. Well, I can't play guitar 24 hours a day so that's not really a solution. Anyway my 2 cents...good luck everyone. It does help to know that you are not the only one with a certain condition and that there is a collective resource to turn to. Thank you everyone for your posts!