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Ashman UK
07-01-07, 19:50
Thought id post about my story and how in short anxiety has affected me over the years..(10/11 years to be precise..).

Ive copy and pasted this from another site i have already posted on which pretty much sums up where i am at, at the minute...

Hi to everyone on here. Dunno where to start really with a similar problem i have had for over i think 10/11 years but hear goes.

I have suffered from anxiety since about the age of 22 and am now 33. It all started one night at a football match a couple of months after i had walked out of a job and during this football match had what i did not know at the time terrifyingly was an anxiety attack. The usual horrific symptoms like palpitations, short of breath etc and quite literally since that night to this day i still suffer from the effects of this problem randomly.

Over the years i have literally been through hell with this problem and my problem was more the actual symptoms frightenening me to death rather than depression or emotional etc. About this time last year i thought i had got it all literally under control and felt coming into 2006 i could really take my life forward more or less panic free. Or so i thought until about march 2006. Since then and ive had these kind of symptoms before all of a sudden i would/do still every so often get what feels like missed heartbeats/skipped heartbeats and i have had this symptom before over the years but for some reason since around last march/april they seem more pronounced than the ones i used to be able to deal with before and when i get a spell where i would get one missed/thump heartbeat id start to get a little nervous but could deal with it. I really start getting into a panic and really find it hard to deal with when it does it multiple times over say a 10/15 min period.

The odd missed heartbeat does not bother me too much but when it comes in batches as i have had one not only about an hour ago(actually was last monday) even though i have been to the doctor, been on and come off beta blockers, it still terrifies me to be honest.

At the moment though i do find that after i had one of these "episodes" i tend to get quite a bit of indigestion and usually pardon the word..when i burp..i can usually taste something i have probably eaten in the last hour or two and on just about every occasion when i have had one of these attacks..this is the case. Ive told this to my doctor who had done the usual test of the heart,blood pressure etc and i even suggested to him that maybe this is caused by indigestion of some kind which triggers these missed beats off or what feels like it.

So he put me on a course of Omperazole capsules which i think reduce stomach acid etc and have been on them for about 2/3 months but i still think its more to do with my digestion of certain foods. At least..thats what i try very hard to tell myself after having one of these..and ive had i think all the symptoms in the last 10/11 years..this is worst symptom/s i have ever experienced full stop.

One other thing aswell once ive had one of these attacks as i had today i usually take two rennies for indigestion and have found touch wood that it usually does not occur after that but the thing that still scares me about this is it can come on without warning and seems very random but again most of the time usually an hour or two after eating something that possibly that does not digest properly. Maybe i am clutching at straws but as u all know with these type of problems the mental battle is probably bigger than dealing with the symptoms themselves but i am hopefully convinced for me and you it can be done in the long run. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for reading.

...So there it is at the moment and i have been again to my doctors since last monday and he has given me more of the omperazole capsules for a month but to properly reassure me im booked in for an ecg a week on monday.

Since last monday ive only had the odd missed beat..typically in a way and hopefully though this trend will continue more and more with the next visit to docs..(th

julie1965
08-01-07, 11:34
Hi

I can totally feel for you on this one.I started having ectopic heartbeats in november after starting on citalopram which i hasten to add i stopped taking.I found it was worse after eating and i burped alot so i went to my docs and she put me on Pariet which is along the same lines as omeprazole.After 3 days my symptoms had improved and i felt so much better.I was thinking yes i have this sussed i can get on with my life now and then wham bam its back with avengeance.The last three days have been horrible especially today. I can deal with them when they come one at a time but when you get about three together it knocks you backwards you keep wondering if its gonna go back to normal.Went to the docs yet again this morning she felt my pulse said she could feel the ectopics but my baseline was ok.She wants to put me on beta blockers again but the last two times i have been on them they made me feel bad so we said we would see how i feel in a weeks time. A week seems an awful long time to feel like this.I know what causes these ectopics and its nothing to do with my heart but it seems awfully hard to believe when you feel like you do. Mine are coming every few minutes today and its really getting me down. And im burping like a trooper again after these ectopic beats. I wish i knew what the answer was but i do know i cant carry on feeling like this.

Take care if you wanna chat pm me

Love Julie xxxx

Ashman UK
08-01-07, 18:16
Hi julie thanks for the reply. Your problem sounds almost identical to mine but fortunately for me they really, strangely seem to have gone a.w.o.l again which i am hoping will be the case as ironically as i think i said above i am going for an ecg next mon at the docs.

One thing you could try is..maybe it wont work..but..try taking some rennies to see if it brings any wind up just after one of these horrific attacks to see at least if it decreases them. This is what i have resorted to in the past and each time..(i aint gonna say it twice because it will probably happen again after the next time i take rennies..) it seemed to stop/calm this missed/skipped heartbeats down.

Let us know how it goes.

Ash..:-)

Ashman UK
17-01-07, 11:28
Hi all again.

Just to let ya know i did goto the doctors on monday and had the ecg test with the nurse and while i was bricking it a little bit while having to lay down and have all those wires attached to me..( i counted about 8 of them!!..) after i had the test and she consulted my doc she came back and told me there was nothing abnormal that the test had brought up so i am massively relieved on that front.

I have to say i have been feeling alot better over the last two or three weeks with this problem to the point touch wood where i am barely getting any missed beats at all. Again i feel i am much happier and more like my old self again and ultimately, well for now anyway i think once again all this was brought on and made more pronounced by feeling down,depressed,stressed etc with work etc.

Hopefully this may continue for along time and hopefully may point other fellow sufferers in the right direction..:-)

ro44
17-01-07, 15:37
Ashman,

I have dealt with ectopic beats (premature ventricular contractions) which I call pvcs for over 16 years. If you've had them checked out like it sounds like you have they are harmless. Scary and a big nuisance, but harmless. Everyone is different but for me there are two things that trigger them. Stress and the main culprit for me is INDIGESTION!!! I started taking digestive enzymes which helped a lot. The best thing for me to do is to eat small meals. I try to never eat late in the evening and then go to bed. If I do I pay for it BIG time. I burp constantly, have tons of "missed" beats. A lot of time I burp so much that it turns into hiccups. I have no doubt in my mind that indigestion causes these. I know how scary they can be. Sometimes, I have them every 3 or 4 beats for hours. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that burping and indigestion also goes along with mine. Do you notice them worse after big heavy meals?

Angelcake
17-01-07, 19:55
Hello, I get ectopic heartbeats too - I'm in my fifth week of daily, missed beats every 2,3 or 4 beats- all day and all night!! I agree that I do find them worse after eating, altho they're so horrible it often puts me off big meals. I find it hard to breath and eat at the same time when I have ectopics - i think thats the anxiety kicking in. I take propanolol which normally calms them right down within about two or three weeks, but this episode isn't shifting yet. I absolutely HATE them and I'm struggling today with whether or not to go back to the docs and ask for a 24hr monitor! I've been having them on and off for over 10 years, but nothing quite reassures... It is reassuring to hear that some of you also get them every couple of beats - thought I must be the only one!!!

Any other advice or reassurances would be most welcome!!
Good luck all, Sarahx

Ashman UK
18-01-07, 13:00
Yes ro44 i have found in my experience with this awful problem that indeed literally 10 times out of 10 every time i have had a few skipped beats missed beats and even the dreaded multiple batch of them over a 10 or 15 minute period, that i always usually bring up wind and "burp" and can usually taste something i ate earlier on. So yes after big meals if you are not careful they do become more prominent.

Id try taking some rennies as i have found these to be very effective at "relieving" this problem temporarily just after an attack.

Since my ecg on monday i have felt great but was not surprised yesterday to typically get one or two missed beats in quick succession to sort of like nastily remind you that a clear ecg dosent simply get rid of it.

Again i wiil say im pretty sure aswell that being abit happier in myself these last few weeks has helped reduce them aswell and at the minute as ive stated somewhere else im on omperazole capsules for acid indigestion of the doctors.

Sarah, at the minute how are you feeling with things in general etc?. I ask this simply because from what i have been through with this, this last year, is that because i have been happier this last few weeks i have found them to have reduced by quite alot whereas most of last year from about march onwards i started to get these attacks out of the blue and randomly pretty nastily as at the time i was pretty down,depressed,stressed etc.

Hope you can find a light through that seemingly never ending dark tunnel i know you are wading through at the minute.

Any of you plz feel free to pm me for any advice that i could give about how i managed to cope with this horrid affliction or simply if it makes you feel better. I am not saying i have got over it but as you know talking to someone who HAS been through this not someone who says yeah,yeah whatever get over it like most of the rest of the world seem too, makes a huge difference to how you feel with the problem.

Take care for now.

Ash.

palps
26-05-09, 15:01
Hi, everyone, although I do not have missed heart beats, I do have frightenly
rapid palpitations, for no apparent reason. It makes you feel very ill and faint. Had all the tests and docs. wanted to put in on meds. to slow down heart beat, but as these attacks only happen about l overy 6 months, I didn't think that a good idea. When not happening my heart rate is quite slow. Why slow it down abnormally. Anyhow, the point being that I seem to have these attacks, after certain foods, wheat being one. I also suffer from serious indigestion problems, which can bring them on also. The same reasons - it seems but different resulting symptoms ! I think my body does go into panic for no apparent reason, but also after some meals. VERY SCARY. No answers as yet, anyone any ideas please? :shrug: