Hello - and ectopics!!

[Angelcake]

Hi everyone, i'm sarah and this is my first posting after 'watching' for a good few months now. This site is EXCELLENT!! A real life saver for a paranoid like me!

I have had GAD for as long as I can remember, started I think when I was around 11 years old and I'm now 33. I have had terrible panic attacks, bouts of social phobia, problems eating in public (from a fear of choking and a terrifying feeling of not being able to swallow), driving fears etc etc - anyway, spent most of my teenage years thinking I was dying on a regular basis until I heard a radio programme discussing panic attacks and realised they were describing me to a "T"! I have had some really good therapy and am coming to terms with my anxiety (in terms of acceptance, rather than it miraculously disappearing!).

My primary issue these days is health anxiety - which I know is worse or better depending on my state of mind... BUT - I am right in the middle of a really nasty episode of ectopic heartbeats (again something that has plagued me on and off since my teens, had several ecg's, one trip to a&e and a heart ultrasound in 2005 - nothing wrong - obviously!).

I guess I'm looking for a bit of reassurance from some clearly very experienced members...

My ectopics come out of the blue (often after a period of stress) and will most likely last for a month or so. I get them every 2,3,or 4 beats when they are bad - sometimes one after the other for a short time (which is when I REALLY think "this is it- definately dying this time"!!). Sometimes they will settle for 15 mins or so, then they're back. I get them during all of my waking hours- normally start half an hour after getting up, then last all day. Worse after meals and all of the other 'usual' things that people have reported. I take Propanolol 40mg three times a day and [think] that helps. I stop taking them when they settle.

I think I'm unsettled this time (for a change...) because i had them at the end of November for about 3 weeks, took the medication, stopped caffiene etc and they went away. But they're back!! Came back just before New Year and haven't gone away yet... I'm trying really really hard not to get uptight about them, but they keep tricking me into thinking they're getting better (having just 10 or so a day for a few days), and then they come flooding back again and now don't seem to be easing up- although the nasty throat feeling isn't quite so pronounced.

Tonight I'm feeling like I must be the only person in the world who has them so regularly for so long - so there must be something wrong?? Right??!! Will someone please tell me that I can have ectopics every minute of everyday for years and it won't do me any harm at all!!

Apologies for the extremely long posting - I've been building up courage to do this for days - so it's all coming out now!! Not even sure if I'm doing this right -[:I]

Thank you so much - I wish I'd seen a site like this 20 years ago! Sarah

Sarah

[manmoor]

Hi Sarah,

A big warm welcome to you. I too have health anxiety and know how it can make us feel. xxx

"When There Was Only One It Was Then That I Carried You."

[cazza]

Hi Sarah
I get them every day too have done for 8 months now[V]
Just been to a cardiologist for a 24 hour tape all they can say is that they wont kill you. I know it is so hard but keep telling yourself you will be ok They thrive of stress and anxiety exercise helps get rid of them hope this helps your not alone carol x[^]

[Angelcake]

Hi Carol and Manmoor,
Thanks so much for your replies, it does help to know that other people have some of the same physical feelings and worries. You made me feel better Carol - poor you having them for 8 months!! I know exercise is suposed to help, but I find it makes me more anxious plus I have a back problem, so my options are limited. Exercise often starts the blighters off again too!! I find that sleep helps quite a lot - I sometimes try and spend virtually a whole day in bed (doesn't happen very often tho!) and sleep as much as I can for a day and that seems to help. I don't have children yet though, so I appreciate a lot of people couldn't do this!

Anyway, thanks again... Sarahx

Sarah

[lin]

Hi Sarah

Welcome to the forum you will get lots of help and support.

I've had ectopics for 6yrs now so i know how you feel, mine mainly happen in the evening and when i go to bed they annoy me so much. Sometimes i think why have i still got them even though i am anxiety free at the moment.

I too had health anxiety it was so bad i thought i was going mad it made me feel really ill and i lost loads of weight because of it. Now thats gone and my weight has come back to.

I hope it gets better for you.

linda xx

[Angelcake]

HI Linda,
Thanks for your welcome! I get ectopics when I'm seemingly "anxiety free" too - but I think they can come weeks or even months after an anxious time! When I think there's no reason for them - I think back to what the last few months have been like and usually there's been a stressful or anxious time, sometimes just busy!

I already feel a lot more settled (ectopics not setteld tho!) after posting last night. It's amazing to see how many people share the same anxieties and worries!

Thanks again, Sarahx

Sarahx

[beadbabe]

Oh yes - I get them too. Have had them for over six months now. Ectopic beats canbe very frequent every few beats for hours - and sometimes I can get a run of a very fast heartbeat that can last a few seconds or sometime s up to 20 mins. It terrifies me. I have had normal ecg and am waiting on results froma 24 hour monitor but I know that's not going to show up anything either as I was unusually symptom free for that day. Now they are going to think I am making it up. I have been to A&E four times at least but they just put it down to stress. Can't say I feel that stressed in fact I feel better than I have,
I don't understand thsi illness at all. Fed up with it but just want to extend a hand of sympathy and say I know how you feel and I have the same as you exactly and my heart is still beating! :)

[claireypoo]

Hi there! javascript:insertsmilie(':D')
Big Smile :D
I used to get these a lot too... particularly in bed or in the bath. It used to feel like i was lurching or falling when the big beat finally came and caught up! (my stomach does this horrible turn over like i'm on a rollercoaster sometimes... and I hate rollercoasters too!) These are one of the classic symptoms of anxiety/ stress and sometimes people get them for no reason too! They are called extrasystoles and do not harm your heart.

Try coughing really deeply when you get them - it settles your heart rhythm (my friend who is a cardiac nurse told me this trick and it's working for me at least! She also said it's nothing to worry about)

At the time i thought easy for HER to say! But from what i have found out since - it really isn't - although it is horrid!

This is an exert from a website i found " The problem with extrasystoles is that they can be uncomfortable and they can be a cause of anxiety. The first thing to realise is that they are not dangerous and that the vast majority of people have extrasystoles without realising it at all. Some people only appreciate extrasystoles when they are lying very still in bed, although we know from ambulatory ECG recording that they do in fact occur throughout the 24 hours. Avoidance of alcohol and caffeine can sometimes completely abolish the extrasystoles."

I still went to my GP though - it's so much easier to disregard them if you know your heart has been checked out and is OK!

Hope you feel better soon
Claireypoo:D:D

[claireypoo]

P.S. A big warm welcome to the site - it's really lovely here and you will get lots of good advice!:D

[shoegal]

Hi. You are definatley not alone. I have suffered a racing heart, palapatations and missed beats for years. Like yours, they seem to come and go. I have had various tests which have come back normal, which I find hard to believe. I have been told by my Doctor that it is quite common for women to get palpatations without there being anything wrong with the heart. She thinks it may be that I am sensitive to chemicals in my body, which does make sense. It can also be caused by menstruation.
Please trust your Doctors, if they have done tests, your heart will be fine. Anxiety can cause some awful symptoms.

Hope this helps to reassure you a little bit. :)

Love shoegal xxx

[lass]

Hi, and well done for joining in on here! There are some really well informed people on here and it is so reassuring to know other people feel the same way or have similar symptoms.

I've been having the ectopics too. Mine went away for about a month, I completely forgot about them. My anxiety has been under control too and I've been feeling great. Then suddenly they have started back up again and I don't understand why! I mainly get them at night when I go to bed, but I've started getting them in the gym (this is really odd, as when things were really bad a while back it was just about the only place I didn't get them!). I've had no stress, no caffeine, no alcohol - aboslutely nothing I can think of that has triggered them.

I plan to ask one of the doctors at work next week, so if I get any useful information I shall let you know! Luckily for me, I've never actually been too worried about them and I've accepted reassurance that they are normal - I'm more questioning than concerned really (lol, I spend too long worrying about my bowels instead!!!).

[Angelcake]

Thanks so much everyone for replying to me! It makes such a difference...

Well, this is my sixth week of the blighters and I admit I have been back to the GP who has changed my medication to Sotalol - Has anyone had this?? I haven't actually taken any yet, I always have to pluck up courage to take new medication as I get scared of the side effects (not that I actually get many!!! I read that this is very common for us 'health anxiety' sufferers!).

I had an ecg today, which I'm sure is fine, and have been referred to a cardiologist week after next. It will be Sod's Law that they will probably have calmed right down by then! My GP was not really overly concerned but I haven't had them properly checked out since 2004 - so...

I wondered if anyone else got a strange feeling in the throat with the ectopics - not the flippy feeling as this is REALLY common - but more of a brief choking/strangly feeling, as if all the air is being blocked off for a split second??

Cheers again, Sarah[8)]