Hello from a small town in the USA

[Geff]

Hi everyone.

I'm from a small town in the middle of the United States. I thought I would go ahead and post on here, both to say "Thank You" and to be part of this community.

I'm grateful that I found this place.

About 7 months ago, my Dad passed away after a three year battle with cancer. I didn't realize just how much that affected me until a few months ago.

Three months ago, I was sick with influenza and started having a lot of really strong heart palpitations. The first night they were so strong that I was convinced I may not live through the night. I had a fever (that would last for 7 days... I was on day 6), I had chills and couldn't get warm, and I was exhausted but couldn't sleep.

I argued with myself all night on whether I should go to the Emergency Room or not. I didn't want to freak out my wife and young kids, so I stayed in bed and and tried to deal with the palpitations the best I could. They lasted all night long. I was terrified.

The next day, I was able to get in to the clinic here and the doctor said my heart sounded fine but would send me over for an EKG, a blood test to check my thyroid, and an X-ray to check for pneumonia since I still had a fever and she thought I may have it. She also gave me xanax... she thought I may be having anxiety.

Anxiety? I don't have anxiety. I've never had anxiety in the past.

I did have pneumonia but everything else was normal. I continued having a lot of palpitations.

A day later, the fever was gone but not the palpitations. The doctor had given me antibiotics on day 5 of the fever.

The next day, I went to work and near the end of the workday, I started having strong palpitations and then my fingers and toes were going numb. My arms started tingling and going numb. I had no idea what to do and was terrified that I was having a heart attack. I had someone take me to the Emergency Room.

I had never been an anxious person before, but sure enough, I was having a panic attack. My face was tingling and I was shaking... I had never experienced anything like this before. They did another EKG and blood tests. Everything looked good but my potassium was a tiny bit low. After I calmed down, they gave me a potassium pill and sent me on my way.

A couple days later, I was still having palpitations. A lot. I had an appointment with the doctor already set from the week before to check on the pneumonia. It was getting better and she wanted to put me on propranolol for the panic attack/anxiety. She also wanted me to wear a holter monitor to check my heart.

I didn't take the propranolol the first week after she gave it to me. A couple days after the appointment, I got the holter monitor. The entire time I wore that thing, I did felt pretty normal and didn't notice any palpitations. A couple days later, they started again and I started taking the propranolol.

I did NOT like taking the propranolol. It made me really tired. It made me so tired, I was worried about it. I was out of breath just walking up the stairs to my bedroom. That continued for the first week. I felt so tired that I was a little dizzy and light headed. After about 9 or 10 days, that got a little better each day.

I'm still taking the propranolol and I haven't been able to take the long walks for exercise that I used to. I get pretty tired after less than half the walking time I was doing before all this happened.

I might go a week and not really notice many palpitations or even think about it much at all and then they come back. This week the palpitions have been a little more often and stronger than the week before... but we have had a few stressful things happen this week. I'm guessing that stress is at least one of the triggers for me.

Now, here I am writing this as I'm having some palpitations.

I know this is really long and I don't expect people to read all this... but it does make me feel a little better to know there are a lot of us out there who have this same problem and I am not alone.

I'm glad I found this forum!

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya Geff and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[Catherine S]

Hi Geff and welcome. Im really sorry to hear about your dad. My dad passed away because of stomach cancer, then my stepfather passed away because of lung cancer...he died on my birthday actually so double whammy. You've probably read some of the threads and posts about these palpitations, including mine, and that these are normal, although extremely uncomfortable.

There are so many reasons for the palpitations happening as you will read also, but the main thing to remember is that you're not suffering true heart disease of any kind, only that your heart is sensitive is all. I first experienced these ectopic beats, skipped beats, flutters etc, in my 20s and i'm now in my early 60s and still do feel them at least once a day. They have never brought me any harm and they won't for you either, and there are meds you can take to lesson their impact, such as beta blockers which I take, and so does my doctor who feels them too. I hope this helps you a little. Take care.

ISB ☺

[Geff]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate it.

It does help to know there are lots of other people who have these. Feeling like you are the only one and alone has to be one of the worst feelings.

It's just weird for me because I've never been a worrier. I guess everything has to start somewhere though. My dad's passing was obviously a life altering moment for me... I was with him when he passed which was both a blessing and a curse. I'd never witnessed anyone pass away before.

My sister (my only sibling) was killed in a car crash at 21. She was a passenger in a car the hit an ice patch on the highway and slid off the road and hit a power pole. She was gone instantly. That's been 20 years ago now, but there was no way I could let my Mom have to watch my Dad pass away by herself. She has been through enough. I was going to be there for her.

It's amazing to me that anxiety can have this much of an affect on the physical body. It has been very hard for me to accept anxiety as the reason for the palpitations and skipped heartbeats... because anxiety is blaming heart disease or some major heart problem.

---------- Post added at 23:26 ---------- Previous post was at 23:18 ----------

And I'm sorry to hear about you dad and stepdad, ISB... cancer sucks.

My grandpa (my dad's father) passed away from liver cancer years ago, on my dad's birthday. After my dad was diagnosed, I had the feeling he might do the same. He passed away 2 days before my birthday.

[yassin3]

Hiya Geff and welcome to NMP

[Geff]

Now that's November 18, 2018... I decided I should check back in a leave an update. It might help someone, somewhere.

I didn't end up taking the propranolol for very long. I didn't like that I couldn't go on longer walk or play very long with my kids. I went back to the doc and talked to her about it and she put me on Lexapro instead since she was pretty sure anxiety was my biggest issue.

I took that for a few months and I think it may have helped some. The anxiety anyway. At some point though, I noticed that Lexapro made me feel weird. I can't quite put my finger on it, but sometimes I would feel like I wasn't present... if that means anything to anyone. Hard to describe.

I ended up tapering off of Lexapro and that was truly a horrible experience. The "brain zaps" I had when I stopped taking it were frightening, disorientating, and a lot of other big words. The closest thing I can describe it as is an electrical shock.

I haven't been taking any other anxiety meds or anything else for quite a few months and I thought I felt fine. Anxiety is weird that way. I am probably still having anxiety.

The palpitations have never stopped. There was a pretty good stretch of weeks were I didn't think about it much at all or notice many.

As I sit here and type this now though, I have had palpitations a lot for the past few weeks. By that, I mean I've had them everyday and throughout most of the day. Morning, afternoon, evening, night... pretty much all the time.

I'm wary of starting any other anxiety meds to see if they help. Starting and stopping those meds does worry me. The experience of starting and stopping Lexapro was not pleasant.

Anyway, that's where I'm at now. Deciding whether to try the Lexapro again or take a different anxiety medication... or just let things go like they have been without any meds.

I do have what you would call "whitecoat syndome" as well. Anytime I have to go to the doctor, my heart rate shoots up and they tell me I have high blood pressure. I can take my blood pressure at home though and it's not high when I'm here. They even had me check my BP every day for a week to see what the numbers were and they were fine. I just dread going in there and having them take my heart rate and blood pressure.

[Carnation]

Geoff, have you looked at foods that can help you and ease your anxiety? And meditation which can be as little as ten minutes a day?
I love to see people come back and update their situation. It also confirms that they were not on death row as we sometimes think we are.
I think as long as you know what is wrong with you, that is half the battle.