Thelegend27
19-06-17, 20:22
So I want to share a story with you, over the years I had a hard time finding reassurance for my heart palpitations, most of the forums and stories I read were lacking the important details which would have saved me a lot of worry.
My story begins around 8 years ago when I first started using Google to research symptoms, I searched "heart skipping beats" and I was greeted with a lot of information, that single search lead me to PVCs, PACs, SVT, Afib, VTach, Vfib, and so on and by the time I stopped reading I had already diagnosed myself with a dangerous arrhythmia. It didn't stop there, every day I would read more, reminding myself that I am doomed, I would stay in bed and cry, I knew death was around the corner, I couldn't walk up stairs without my heart pounding and skipping, I was literally waiting to die. I ended up losing my job, my friends, and everything I ever achieved in life seemed like it went up in smoke, I spent my days reading health sites and watching tv, and this went on for about 3 years until I finally got the guts to see a doctor who gave me a EKG and blood work and then he told me it was normal and not to worry, so I got a job again, met new friends, and moved out on my own, all was smooth sailing until December of 2014 when I went out with friends drinking, I drank so much that I vomited, because of the vomiting my heart went into afib, so I went to the er and got admitted, spent 3 days there, and during that time I was monitored on EKG the whole time, had chest xrays, blood work, and echo cardiogram which all turned out good, the doctor said my heart looked good, after this I slowly drifted back into my old ways of worrying, but I started to get better after a while and continued working, and then nearly 2 years later I vomited again, and once again I was in afib, back to the er, same tests, another 2 days spent in the hospital, and again I was told everything looked good. I later did some research of my own and came to the conclusion that maybe I have vagal af. Still to this day my heart skips, pounds, flutters, and I continue to worry myself at times, but I am 26 years old and this has been part of my life for 8 years or more so if it was going to kill me surely I'd be dead.
Now that I shared a brief version of my story, I can tell you somethings that helps me.
Staying busy
Get enough sleep
Reduce acid reflux if you have it
Avoid hot humid weather
Avoid msg, too much sodium, spicy foods, pastas or anything with too much tomato sauce
Exercise also helps me feel better and I don't get as many palpitations.
Irregular heart beats are rarely a concern, even in my case with afib is still not a concern to the doctors I've seen. If you're having skipping heart hearts it can be PVC or PAC depending on which area of the heart the irregular heartbeat is originating from, almost always these are harmless, unless you have known heart disease or other conditions then be more careful. If your heart races you could have SVT, Tachycardia, or VT and again these are mostly harmless as well as long as it doesn't stay this way for days or weeks, the heart can tolerate a racing heart up to 200 bpm and sometimes even higher for period of time. If you're getting flutter or the flip flops you may have afib, Atrial flutter, or runs of premature heart beats, and again the are mostly harmless as well, afib is really harmless unless it forms a blood clot in the heart but blood thinners can help prevent that. Any time your heart is beating 140+ bpm it's a good idea to see a doctor, because like any other muscle the heart can be over worked and give out (heart failure) or the muscles of the heart can become thickened which can also cause heart failure. Just keep in mind no matter what arrhythmia you have nearly all of them can be managed very well and you can still lead a happy life free of complications. If your heart palpitations are accompanied with light headed, dizziness, fainting, chest pains, then it's best to see a doctor. If you're experiencing any palpitations I would see a doctor for a peace in mind, don't be like me and wait years to do so.
I am no doctor, I am just giving you information based on what doctors have told me and my own personal experiences
I wanted to share this with you to show you that there's no need to worry yourself, it happens to a lot of us and it's rarely serious, I hope you can relate to my story and take something positive from it. Health anxiety is terrible, I went from worrying about my heart to worrying about cancer. So please try your best to get it under control before you end up like me someone who spends every hour worrying, losing friends, losing your job it really will consume your life, the thought of suicide has crossed my mind in the past so that shows you how bad it can get so please do something now and take control of your life, if I could go back I would have never worried myself, and now my brain is trained to over react and worry.
Good luck everyone and I hope to hear some of your stories and maybe share some solutions to help others out.
My story begins around 8 years ago when I first started using Google to research symptoms, I searched "heart skipping beats" and I was greeted with a lot of information, that single search lead me to PVCs, PACs, SVT, Afib, VTach, Vfib, and so on and by the time I stopped reading I had already diagnosed myself with a dangerous arrhythmia. It didn't stop there, every day I would read more, reminding myself that I am doomed, I would stay in bed and cry, I knew death was around the corner, I couldn't walk up stairs without my heart pounding and skipping, I was literally waiting to die. I ended up losing my job, my friends, and everything I ever achieved in life seemed like it went up in smoke, I spent my days reading health sites and watching tv, and this went on for about 3 years until I finally got the guts to see a doctor who gave me a EKG and blood work and then he told me it was normal and not to worry, so I got a job again, met new friends, and moved out on my own, all was smooth sailing until December of 2014 when I went out with friends drinking, I drank so much that I vomited, because of the vomiting my heart went into afib, so I went to the er and got admitted, spent 3 days there, and during that time I was monitored on EKG the whole time, had chest xrays, blood work, and echo cardiogram which all turned out good, the doctor said my heart looked good, after this I slowly drifted back into my old ways of worrying, but I started to get better after a while and continued working, and then nearly 2 years later I vomited again, and once again I was in afib, back to the er, same tests, another 2 days spent in the hospital, and again I was told everything looked good. I later did some research of my own and came to the conclusion that maybe I have vagal af. Still to this day my heart skips, pounds, flutters, and I continue to worry myself at times, but I am 26 years old and this has been part of my life for 8 years or more so if it was going to kill me surely I'd be dead.
Now that I shared a brief version of my story, I can tell you somethings that helps me.
Staying busy
Get enough sleep
Reduce acid reflux if you have it
Avoid hot humid weather
Avoid msg, too much sodium, spicy foods, pastas or anything with too much tomato sauce
Exercise also helps me feel better and I don't get as many palpitations.
Irregular heart beats are rarely a concern, even in my case with afib is still not a concern to the doctors I've seen. If you're having skipping heart hearts it can be PVC or PAC depending on which area of the heart the irregular heartbeat is originating from, almost always these are harmless, unless you have known heart disease or other conditions then be more careful. If your heart races you could have SVT, Tachycardia, or VT and again these are mostly harmless as well as long as it doesn't stay this way for days or weeks, the heart can tolerate a racing heart up to 200 bpm and sometimes even higher for period of time. If you're getting flutter or the flip flops you may have afib, Atrial flutter, or runs of premature heart beats, and again the are mostly harmless as well, afib is really harmless unless it forms a blood clot in the heart but blood thinners can help prevent that. Any time your heart is beating 140+ bpm it's a good idea to see a doctor, because like any other muscle the heart can be over worked and give out (heart failure) or the muscles of the heart can become thickened which can also cause heart failure. Just keep in mind no matter what arrhythmia you have nearly all of them can be managed very well and you can still lead a happy life free of complications. If your heart palpitations are accompanied with light headed, dizziness, fainting, chest pains, then it's best to see a doctor. If you're experiencing any palpitations I would see a doctor for a peace in mind, don't be like me and wait years to do so.
I am no doctor, I am just giving you information based on what doctors have told me and my own personal experiences
I wanted to share this with you to show you that there's no need to worry yourself, it happens to a lot of us and it's rarely serious, I hope you can relate to my story and take something positive from it. Health anxiety is terrible, I went from worrying about my heart to worrying about cancer. So please try your best to get it under control before you end up like me someone who spends every hour worrying, losing friends, losing your job it really will consume your life, the thought of suicide has crossed my mind in the past so that shows you how bad it can get so please do something now and take control of your life, if I could go back I would have never worried myself, and now my brain is trained to over react and worry.
Good luck everyone and I hope to hear some of your stories and maybe share some solutions to help others out.