Every third beat?

[Charlie1108]

Me again! I've been having ectopics all day again. Sometimes they're every third beat for a long time. Should I be worried and go to a and e? I've had an echo this week and ecg and all was ok

[Clydesdale Epona]

If you've had those tests this week and they haven't indicated anything then i'd say there's need to go to a and e x

All the best :hugs:

[Aaahhfreakout]

If you've been checked out and are okay, then it's not too concerning.

Something I learned from watching the York Cardiology videos on YouTube is beta-blockers can have a calming effect on the heart and give it time to recover when it's particularly irritable. Have they given you anything like that yet? Apparently they can just be kept for when you're having a bad day, and if some days you are having thousands or tens of thousands then that sounds like a bad day.

[Charlie1108]

I'm 31 weeks pregnant so don't really want to take anything if possible. They are putting it down to extra blood flow and anxiety (of course). I'm having a 24 hour monitor just to check frequency but it's unnerving when they're relentless as they are at the moment

---------- Post added at 11:41 ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 ----------

Also, I can virtually bring them on. Slightest bit of stress or if I decide to feel formy pulse then it'll go into that third beat skip

[Catherine S]

Also being anxious about them alters your breathing..as well as your growing womb, and you'll be breathing much more shallow than normal which make them happen more often. I take beta blockers for mine, so perhaps look into this if the palps continue after you've had your baby. Not long to go, hang in there xx

[Charlie1108]

Have you ever had them in runs of three or all day ISB? X

[Catherine S]

All the time Charlie, they used to bring me to my knees. I felt like I could hardly catch my breath with such long runs of them. The ones that happened every third or fourth beat could go on for days or weeks sometimes and terrified me. And much worse when I was pregnant. It was so bad that I was convinced my heart could give up in labour and giving birth. I kept telling the midwife in between contractions about the palpitations but she wasn't at all bothered.

After I had my daughter the palps eased of for a long time, but came back eventually so I bought some natural remedies called Kalms and took those for a while. But in the end after some years I was given beta blockers and haven't looked back, they are fab with stopping the adrenaline from irritating my heart. I've had palps most of my life, over 40 years and they've never damaged my heart ever.

ISB ☺ x

[Charlie1108]

That's so reassuring to read. I felt like I couldn't breath earlier, they were so bad. Always so much worse after eating. I'm very worried about childbirth and having these. I can't remember if you previously said, but did you have tests done? X

[Catherine S]

Lol so many tests you wouldn't believe. Truly. I live in Germany at the moment with my husband's job and we have moved back and forth between the UK and Germany alot over the last 9 years, so I've seen cardiologists in Germany about this too and they've always said the same thing, that they can see the missed beats on the tests but they're benign and nothing to worry about.

The thing is though, when you're in the middle of experiencing them you just want them to stop, you're not thinking about whether they're going to damage your heart in 20 years time, you just want them to bloody go away right now! Because they are really really uncomfortable and really scary.

The doctor I'm registered with here at the moment is also a sufferer of these palpitations and just having a doctor who knows exactly what it feels like makes a big difference, he even takes the same beta blockers as me. I've got a home bp monitor and it records your pulse and if my husband uses it you can see the missed beats happening yet he can't feel them. I hate him :lac:

ISB x

[Charlie1108]

They're so frightening. I feel so ill when they strike and almost dizzy sometimes. I can't understand how something benign is causing so many unpleasant symptoms. I hate the fact that I'm doubting the echo.

It must be reassuring that your dr suffers too x

[Catherine S]

It's more because it's your heart Charlie, I mean I'm not making less of any other health fear, but we think of our heart as the source of life...if it's beating steady we're ok, if it's playing up we're in big trouble, that's how we see it. So when we get an erratic heartbeat we panic. Thing is though, those people unfortunate enough to have true heart problems they are taken seriously and treated for it, and that's how it should be, but then people like us who are told we don't have true heart disease are more or less dismissed. It's like..." well we've done all the tests and your heart is fine so go away" !

Don't get me wrong, it's fab that we don't need treatment for a serious condition, but just to leave us hanging? Because it feels real to us and it's really hard to cope with. You can see why we anxies are described as not the weakest people, but the strongest. Who could get through all this crap like we have to do every single day? That takes a strong person.

Charlie..I'm here with you. I might only be somebody on a computer screen but i'm holding your hand ok? You're going to get through the rest of this pregnancy and you're going to be ok. Let the skipped beats do their worst, they are not going to harm you.

ISB x x

[Charlie1108]

Thank you so much for your kind words. Is made me cry. It's a lonely place, being anxious and it means so much to have reassurance and support. I truly hope I can conquer these ectopics as they are ruining my life. I just wish I could focus on the positives such as a structurally normal heart! X