***heart skips in chest and throat??***

[seansavage17]

Hi All

I've had a slowly increasing anxiety/heart neurosis problem for past 2 years. I get all sorts of strange feelings and the only test I'm yet to have is a 24 hour tape to catch the palps/ectopics, every other test has come back fine.

My question is, can anyone distinguish between the different feelings I experience? One will be a definite ectopic beat which is felt as a skip then thud in the chest, however the other wil be more of a weird throat flutter sensation. It still feels like something 'odd' is going on but I just don't know if it's even linked to my heart at all?

Getting fairly depressed now with my quality of life.. hardly leave the house due to anxiety issues and the fact I don't want my heart to 'play up' in public. I have a constant need to be within close proximity to a hospital too... rediculous I know!! I'm due to start NHS CBT in a couple of weeks, and hopefully soon get a 24 hour tape too... I'm hoping these will both sort my head out and let me become more care free about my heart/anxiety. What do you guys think?

Ps. I was prescribed 25mg beta blockers around 3 months ago too but these don't seem to do much as I have a fairly low heart rate anyway and they certainly haven't curbed the amount of ectopics. (1-10) on a good day and around (20-40) on a bad day... Is this alarming?:unsure:

[trus75]

20-40 in a day? You are so lucky! When I have PVC / PAC, I can feel up to 40 in an hour, which is something like 1,000 a day. Some people have 5,000 / 10,000 or even much more without any consequence.

About the other feelings, you're not alone. I'm heart-obsessed too. I feel every kind of weird symptoms and I link them all to my heart.

My mind works like this:

Dizziness -> heart problem
Fast Heart Rate -> heart problem
Slow Heart Rate -> heart problem
PVC / PAC -> heart problem
numbness / tingling -> heart problem
Headache -> heart problem

and so on!

I know, it's totally crazy, sometimes I laugh at myself because of this, and I understand you so well! The flutter is a very common feeling, actually I feel all my PVCs on my throat and not on chest. Apart from that, I have some episodes of fluttering too.. I have no idea what is that, but i'm not going to add one more symptom to my list :D

And I had stress test, echo and blood tests 2 months ago, cardiologist said my heart is strong like a rock, but I don't believe it :roflmao:

So, you're not alone. I really understand what you feel. And if you don't have strong panic attacks with heart rate near 200, consider yourself one of the "lucky" guys here :D

Take care and good luck

[Aaahhfreakout]

I read that brief fluttering might be that the ectopic beat has occurred at a time when the heart is in the middle of opening and shutting valves, and the flutter is from the sudden surge when everything is the wrong position.

I have had throat feelings I was sure were ectopics -- but the monitor showed they weren't -- and throat sensations which I doubted were ectopics but were. It'll be hard to say for sure what's going on until you have a typical throat sensation while being monitored. There's certainly some variety in what we can feel from ectopics.

[seansavage17]

Thanks for the info guys...
I couldn't even imagine having 5-10,000 a day, it really gets me down and depressed even getting 20 odd a day! Just because the feeling is so odd and scary.. but can it actually harm you??

I guess my worry is that one day it will just do it's own thing and not stop fluttering then I'll pass out.. etc etc!!

Does anyone know what the prognosis is, do they get better or worse with time? I've heard both really. I've joined a gym and I'm going to start some light exercise because apparently that can help abolish them?

[Aaahhfreakout]

One problem with ectopics is that they're unpredictable.

You might get them for a week and then they never happen again. Or they happen most days for a month, then nothing next month but they're back the following month.

Some people have had success in supressing them using medicines, supplements, meditation, exercise, etc. and some haven't found that helped.

They're not usually harmful, though, but it's best to get checked out by a doctor.

[trus75]

Does anyone know what the prognosis is, do they get better or worse with time? I've heard both really. I've joined a gym and I'm going to start some light exercise because apparently that can help abolish them?


I think it's unpredictable, but there are a few things that you can do to help it:

try exercising (walking fast 3-4 times a week for half hour is enough), quit caffeine (or cut it to the lowest possible), avoid alcohol. I used to drink a lot of coffee, now I don't drink for a while and my PVCs / PACs almost disappeared. I don't feel a single one since 2 weeks ago or so. I'm not saying caffeine was causing it, but I think it can surely contribute to make it worse when you are already anxious.

P.S. If you're not anxious, you will probably have PVCs during the day and don't even notice them ;) I think more than 70% of people aged 40+ have at least one PVC in a day, but 99% of them can't feel anything.