Does this sound like a vagal nerve issue to you?

[Rosanna]

Hi everyone

Had a dreadful day today. Most of my ectopic heartbeats occur while waiting for a meal and while eating it. They usually calm down afterwards (not always). Sometimes, sorry for tmi but they can also occur before going to the loo. Like they know before I do about that, lol.

Do you think this sounds like vagal nerve overactivity?

I need to hold onto something today, it's been awful. I saw the doctor this morning and she was like 'you're on the waiting list for an echo so that's good, what else can we do?' Personally I don't know why the GP surgeries can't have an ecg machine there to use in the surgery. Are these things really that expensive that they have to be 'booked' so that when it's time to get one the arrythmia has long gone. Anyway, I think bedside manner must be a thing of the past.

Sorry for the rant.

Then I find out my landlady is coming (she just announces it on my answer machine) on friday, which means the flat will have to look like a show home (and I don't feel well enough to make it that way, I'm too stressed)....

Then my mum asked if I could look after the dog tomorrow, my day off, so she could go out (dog is not used to being alone, and I love him anyway, it's just on top of everything else and how I'm feeling).....and I flipped on the phone, saying for someone who's ill I'm still expected to do a lot by a lot of people and put the phone down. :-(

[KaylaR88]

It's possible that you have created an anxiety based on something that happened more than once. For example, I once had a run of ectopics while walking to my car in the cold. After that, it kept happening. There are plenty of other "habits" I created. It sounds silly, but sometimes our hearts are just irritable and sometimes we make them that way. unintentionally of course, nobody wants that to happen. I've had the same issue, though. Prior to eat or digestion issues. It's an occasional thing though. Either way, I think it's common amongst people who notice their ectopics.

[Catherine S]

Hi Rosanna, sorry you're having a stressful day, and as an ectopic /flutterer myself I agree with you about having an ecg machine in every local health centre, as well as an ultrasound machine. I've been lucky over here in Germany where I've been living for a few years with my husband's job, that my GP does his own ecg examinations with a machine on the premises, so it becomes part of all routine check ups.

Re the vagus nerve, or cranial nerve as it's also known... yes it can certainly cause problems with digestion, since it sends messages to different parts of the body including stomach and heart. If this nerve is irritated it won't send those signals out so clearly and digestion can be a little compromised. This can also irritate nerves in your heart...the parasympathetic nerves. Vagus irritation can be the result of stress and anxiety and fatigue as well as bad posture. Nothing too scary, but I know from my own experience how truly awful the erratic beats and flutters can be.

ISB ☺

---------- Post added at 18:43 ---------- Previous post was at 18:32 ----------

Re the ectopics in cold weather as Kayla mentioned. This isn't entirely anxiety based as cold weather makes you shiver and breathe in cold air which alters your breathing pattern, and an altered breathing pattern...for any reason such as exercise and having sex...can produce ectopics. A rapid pulse with rapid breathing can do this too, as in "her heart missed a beat when she saw the man of her dreams". I'd say that most of the time ectopics are physical in origin, so finding your own trigger and what works to ease them can really help, but anxiety and fear can obviously keep them going.

[Rosanna]

Thanks Kayla and I Still Believe :)

20 mins after dinner it all settled down, as soon as my stomach no longer felt like it was devouring everything I'd eaten. I'm not sure what creates such intense hunger as I do eat. It seems lately I need to eat more than everyone else, but someone said this too can be a symptom of peri menopause......I tell you, I've also been ratty, tearful, overwhelmed....and I went to the shops only to buy everything but what I originally went for. I am usually really organised with a good memory so this was a very odd thing, my first senior moment. If this is peri menopause it really is not fun.

---------- Post added at 20:59 ---------- Previous post was at 20:54 ----------

So, I Still Believe.....if the vagus nerve irritability is affected by stress...then that might explain why stress and anxiety brings about ectopics (or at least one explanation). I know stress directly doesn't give me ectopics. Under stress my heart will go faster but usually no skips.

[Catherine S]

Ahhh, the peri menopause and all it encompasses! I hit it at age 44 and had my last period at 49. The years of the peri menopause were horrendous to be frank. My periods were all over the place, sometimes so heavy I thought I was haemorrhaging. Dizzy spells, panic attacks, endless ectopics, migraines...and I was never a sufferer of these headaches before. Twitching nerves, breathing problems...the list of symptoms was fascinating really now that I can look back on it all. So I truly sympathise with you if you're going through similar symptoms. There is an end to it however, so try to hang in there.

ISB ☺ x

[Rosanna]

Thanks. I'm just hoping it is peri menopause. :-(

I've been blitzing the house, been quite active, been very tearful all day, irritable.......then I posted a while ago with my face burning....

My ectopics were awful around dinner, which i think is the vagus nerve....

But there's something going on even now....much less noticeable, but there's an odd feeling in me. Just odd. Like a pressure everywhere, stomach, chest (but it's hard to describe and changes and nothing suggestive of anything worrying), it's really disconcerting....

Did you get all that? Did you ever get a crawling feeling? As if something was moving through you? I had that yesterday. And it wasn't panic....I'm pretty certain it was a sensation.

Thanks :-)

---------- Post added at 23:23 ---------- Previous post was at 23:21 ----------

I'd be ok if I went for a walk or something, but sitting here trying to settle is uncomfortable. I've taken my beta blocker now anyway, so hopefully my body will relax soon and get ready for sleep.

It's reassuring to me that you were getting loads of ectopics, because in the last 8 weeks I've been getting loads (though they took leave of absence while I had the 17 day period!)

---------- Post added at 23:35 ---------- Previous post was at 23:23 ----------

I think the beta blocker is starting to kick in now, but it does make me wonder what on earth is wrong with me that I need that. It didn't feel like chest pain or anything like that....more like my body wouldn't 'settle.'

[Catherine S]

Yes I take a beta blocker called Bisoprolol, prescribed in 2015. Before that I took another beta blocker called propranolol since 2007, initially given for high blood pressure and the bonus of them is that they calm the heart down loads. Well they would because beta blockers stop too much adrenaline from irritating the heart. They control the rhythm so you don't get so many 'dropped' beats. I wouldn't be without them now, and my GP takes Bisoprolol too for his ectopics so i'm in good company!

I think the 'crawling' feeling is definately part of the bigger hormone picture, with adrenaline being the biggest culprit, but fluctuating female hormones are the devil when they misbehave. They create such turmoil inside of us. I wouldn't wish those years back for anything. Stay strong.

ISB ☺ x

[Rosanna]

I think the 'crawling' feeling is definately part of the bigger hormone picture, with adrenaline being the biggest culprit, but fluctuating female hormones are the devil when they misbehave. They create such turmoil inside of us. I wouldn't wish those years back for anything. Stay strong.

ISB ☺ x

Thanks. Hearing what you've had to say has given me hope because I've been feeling so rough for 8 weeks and I had no idea hormonal fluctuations could do all this! :scared15::lac::weep::yahoo: