Can anyone help quick with this one?

[Rosanna]

Hi everyone

I've been plagued with ectopics all day, and I've hardly done anything as movement is triggering them. I've had countless reassurances but as yet I've not had an echocardiogram.

Anyway I was just sat looking out of the window and had a very brief, nanosecond of a weird feeling and then ectopics. I checked my pulse and.....you know the pause that happens during an ectopic? How long is safe?
Does anyone know? I can usually cope with that pause because I know it's just the heart refilling and then there'll be a beat....but this pause was definitely 3 seconds long at least. Then 3 quicker beats and then back to normal.

Does anyone know if that's safe? I'm doing my best to stay calm today but I've almost stopped all activity, I've seen no one as I didn't go out. Every symptom I've had I've talked myself through and I've even been doing some CBT on myself, looking at my thoughts, etc.....but this has worried me, and I don't have the energy left to go to the ER again, or call a doctor again....the whole cycle of that is upsetting too.

Thanks. I would appreciate it if anyone knows.

[Charlie1108]

If you're inactive then your heart rate would be slower so surely the pause would be longer I would think? Mine are relentless too today so I can fully empathise x

[Rosanna]

Thanks Charlie1108

I hope your's ease up asap. I went out for a walk at 5pm, really didn't want to, but ten minutes into the walk everything calmed down and I felt better for a while when I got home.

But everytime I get confident something happens to bring me down again, lol

It's always a dilemma whether to call a doctor. Especially as calling a doctor is also stressful to me.

Well I'm now watching Red Dwarf and trying to chill! lol

---------- Post added at 20:12 ---------- Previous post was at 19:59 ----------

Maybe there is something psychological going on because I've had dizzy spells for the last 3 days. Its probably a flare up of labyrinthitis that I've had before, but another part of me is saying it's my heart.

So I get a dizzy spell, nothing much, but I quickly check my pulse (while watching red dwarf, lol) and suddenly there's no pulse...! Probably my finger relaxed while watching tv, because after I pressed hard and it was still going but that panic in the moment.....something else going on with me perhaps? I know I've been trying to wean off zoplicone (sleeping pill) and had a bit less last night. That has caused panic before, but usually there's nothing to panic about so it fizzles out

[Mindprison]

A lot of this can be caused by anxiety, the self checking thing itself is bound to make your anxiety levels spike and it can cause ectopics. The problem with taking your pulse constantly is that it makes you hypersensitive to any changes in your heart, which causes anxiety and causes even more symptoms.

Your heart won't stop and the ectopics while disturbing won't do you any harm.

The dizziness can be chalked up to anxiety as well, but ectopics can cause it too I think.

I think what you're experiencing is health anxiety, it's a common trap to fall into and it can spiral out of control very quickly.

If your heart has been checked and given the ok, all that's left is anxiety.

[Charlie1108]

Virtually every time I check my pulse the pause is there immediately which kind of proves to me that I can bring them on with my anxiety. But then when the other symptoms come and especially out of the blue it becomes so frightening and impossible to believe that it's anything other than something deadly. I hate these things. I know what you mean about calling a doctor too. I have to really talk myself out of a trip to a and e several times a week x

[Rosanna]

Virtually every time I check my pulse the pause is there immediately which kind of proves to me that I can bring them on with my anxiety. But then when the other symptoms come and especially out of the blue it becomes so frightening and impossible to believe that it's anything other than something deadly. I hate these things. I know what you mean about calling a doctor too. I have to really talk myself out of a trip to a and e several times a week x

The A&E I went to the other night was really nice, home from home, lol. Ok I'm making light of it, I don't do it usually....but they had a tv, everyone was so kind and friendly....and the area we sat in didn't even feel like a hospital....plus there was a vending machine. I didn't want anything, but it just didn't feel like a hospital (although once I was taken in it was more like it, but at least then I was being seen)

We should do a night out together at A & E, lol. After you've had the baby of course :-)

Yep I hate ectopics, especially the out of the blue ones. Lets hope they resolve for both of us.

---------- Post added at 21:57 ---------- Previous post was at 21:32 ----------


A lot of this can be caused by anxiety, the self checking thing itself is bound to make your anxiety levels spike and it can cause ectopics. The problem with taking your pulse constantly is that it makes you hypersensitive to any changes in your heart, which causes anxiety and causes even more symptoms.

Your heart won't stop and the ectopics while disturbing won't do you any harm.

The dizziness can be chalked up to anxiety as well, but ectopics can cause it too I think.

I think what you're experiencing is health anxiety, it's a common trap to fall into and it can spiral out of control very quickly.

If your heart has been checked and given the ok, all that's left is anxiety.

Thanks Mindprison

Yes I know that taking the pulse constantly is a bad idea, and I shouldn't have been doing it, but it's drawing that fine line between treating this as anxiety and at the same time knowing I've got some real and unusual symptoms going on that any doctor would calmly check with the pulse.

My doctor did say it's ok to check my pulse and told me what to look out for, so I know the patterns of normal sinus rhythm, ectopics, and other little 'dances' that last a couple of seconds.

But I know I shouldn't really check very often.

Just hard when we cannot rule out completely a heart problem and because I witnessed something traumatic.

I always think the heart, if it goes wrong, will go catastrophically wrong, but of course there are loads of people that have racing heart, A fib, etc and still have hours and hours to play with (some don't even go to hospital, or go late and then say they sat with it all day!)...............so I have to get it out of my head that it will be one second and too late. :-(

The dizziness I think is a flare up of my labyrinthitis, I've had it before and it doesn't make me anxious, it's only because I've had so many heart symptoms that I was worried it might be linked. It's eased off now though.

Come to think of it I'm getting it mainly during the morning and daytime and I'm also very depressed when I wake up in the mornings at the moment, as well as anxious. It's only because of the heart issues. Once I resolve them my mood will spring back to normal. But I am dreading the mornings at the moment, because there's a whole day to freak out in.

---------- Post added at 22:48 ---------- Previous post was at 21:57 ----------

Does anyone get pressure in their chest before an ectopic? I don't usually but lately I have. Like a big balloon is being slowly blown up in my chest, then it's rising, then an ectopic seems to 'clear' it.....I'm having some really weird stuff going on.

I had 3 normal ecgs recently, they must count for something surely? I know they can't tell us everything but are they remotely reassuring??

[Mindprison]

It's easily done, I'm guilty of pulse checking too, it's like a bad habit that is hard to break once you've started.

I think the act itself of checking is enough to raise heart rate and trigger ectopics so it's a weird one.

I know what you mean, it's hard sometimes to convince yourself it's just anxiety. I know when mine is at its worst I'd feel better getting the old ECG just to be sure, but I need to remind myself I can't just go for tests every day of my life.

If your anxiety is consistently high you might be suffering from a bit of derealisation, I've had it for the past week or so and it always kicks in halfway through the day.

You'll get there in the end, heart symptoms are very common and it won't last forever!

[Rosanna]

Thanks, what is derealisation? I've heard of it but no idea if I'm experiencing it. Certainly my mind 'jumps' to terrifying conclusions lately...but I still think these heart symptoms came first, I've always had them, it's just that they are chaotic lately. I can't predict them like I could before so my anxiety is climbing....

I should be feeling better. At the start of all this I was too afraid for an ecg or blood pressure check and wouldn't allow the bp check. Based on something traumatic that happened previously.

Now I've had 3 ecgs, and two bp checks and these have been normal. I've also seen a cardiologist and he's reassured me but suggested an echocardiogram to be absolutely sure. I have a GP who says it's not necessary.

I've also been to the ER, which I thought I'd always be too frightened to do. And it was a good experience (as good as it can be when you have to go there).

I should be calm now, but still not. Not while there's symptoms.

The only way to stop them or control them is to pretty much stay in bed most of the day and read books/watch tv. I don't want to do this though. Keeping still seems to be my best bet.

[Mindprison]

Derealisation is an unpleasant feeling, the best way I can describe it is it feels like your head is separate from the rest of your body and things don't feel real at times. You can feel very spaced out and I wouldn't call it dizziness, more brain fog.

I tend to get it later in the day for the past week or so, it's pretty unpleasant. It always goes away with time though so don't worry it won't last if it is that.

[Rosanna]

Thanks, I don't think I have that. I think I've had it in the past, quite a long time ago though.

[Panic sufferer]

Rosanna, I sympathise, I have had these on and off since Friday after a stressful Thurs. Had an ECG three months ago and it checked out fine, so i try to tell myself it's just anxiety but it is difficult. Do you get them at night? I find that's the toughest as there are so few sound distractions it's hard not to listen to the pulse

[Rosanna]

Hi Panic sufferer

I'm sorry you've been getting them also. I tend to stay up too late at night and am not lying in bed listening to them, I also seem to go straight to sleep when I'm in bed (not always, but pretty much).....but it wasn't always like that and yes, so easy to hear the pulse at night. I have to change position if that happens, lol

---------- Post added at 00:37 ---------- Previous post was at 00:29 ----------

I'm going to go back to my doctor tomorrow because a couple of months ago I got a red ring on my leg. This was after walking my dog through a different, grassy area. I'm wondering if it was a tick bite.

I remember feeling quite ill at the time, and kept looking at this thing on my leg, as if some part of me knew it was connected to how I was feeling. But by the time I showed it to the doctor, it was fading. But strangely this is also when my heart skips started being unpredictable and erratic. I was also getting strange 'wiggly' feelings in my legs.

And the last couple of days I've been getting weird headaches and sometimes they happen at the same time as a heart skip (not always though, could be coincidence). Also getting the oddest fluttering feeling in the chest even when my pulse feels normal.

My doctor had agreed to a blood test for Lymes disease but forgot to instruct the nurse to do it, so I just got a full blood count. The doctor apologised and asked if I wanted it done again and I asked what she thought. She said she wasn't 100% sure about lyme's from looking at the rash, so perhaps see how things go. Well, I'm getting some weird sensations, not just from the heart.

I'm not one to get odd sensations from anxiety, but having said that I will keep an open mind. The blood test won't make me anxious and I will be happy with the result if its clear, I won't want more tests.