Spiraling over sudden death fear and others. Trigger warning HA sufferers.

[Deepseathree]

So basically I’m in a downward spiral over fear of sudden death. Mainly from Qt prolongation. I’ve had a stress test, heart echo, and a holter monitor. Nothing was alarming from those. My problem those is that there is a variant of qt prolongation which mainly effects you when you’re sleeping or when at rest and that’s when I’ve been having my problems lately.

I have a low heart rate in the 40s at rest. And that’s one of the main causes of problems with that prolongation variant. Also in the past two weeks I’ve woke up three times to a racing heart. 165 sustained for around ten minutes or so the first time, 167 the second time about the same, and 131 last night. All that with my worries in general is not helping anything at all. I’m barely keeping it together.

[leanderson2012]

Hi there,

It sounds like stress or anxiety might be the culprit here. I'm going through a scare right now (not heart related at all), and I wake up with my heart racing often. Your mind is processing your thoughts and emotions at night, and it's not uncommon for anxiety to spike then. If you're very concerned, you could talk to your GP about it, but it might be worth seeing how meditation/calming breaths before going to sleep at night helps. I've been listening to a guided sleep meditation for anxiety lately, and it's really cut down on the panicked wake ups.

Remember, the sole purpose of the tests you did are to identify problems with your heart, and your doctor's job is to identify any concerns. You've got a lot on your side indicating that you're not in danger of sudden death. Your body has been built to survive, and there are so many other reasons why you could be experiencing what you're going through right now. My doctor when I was a child gave my mom the best advice when it comes to medical scares and all possible scary outcomes, however far fetched they may be: "When you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras." As much as you can, remind yourself of the most logical, reasonable possibility. Deep breaths, this too shall pass <3

[Deepseathree]

Various heart worries. Need help on how to move further and if I should pursue more tests.


Around last November I had an heart echocardiogram, stress test, and a 30 day event monitor. The tests were due to me having an increased amount of palpitations out of no where. Stress test showed PVCs near peak exercise. Event monitor showed a no sustained run of ventricular tachycardia for a total of 5 beats. Echocardiogram was normal.


About three weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with an excessive heart rate. Sustained beats of around 167 for maybe 5-10 minutes. Three nights after that same thing up to 165. The following night up to 131.


I was prescribed the Toporol xl. I haven’t had an episode, but I also started using my cpap. I was borderline though on the sleep study to where I could need one, or not.


My questions are could that much change with my heart to start causing problems? What could be the night issue? I’ve been having random left sided back pain and chest pain. Though I don’t think that’s related but could it be? The only big change I’ve had in my life is I quit my Prozac. Cold turkey. I was only on 10mg. I stopped that maybe one or two months ago.

I should also add that I was seen in the ER last Saturday for one of the fast HR episodes. Of course it wasn’t happening there. But they monitored me and did blood tests to which everything was fine.

[Flapj]

Various heart worries. Need help on how to move further and if I should pursue more tests.


Around last November I had an heart echocardiogram, stress test, and a 30 day event monitor. The tests were due to me having an increased amount of palpitations out of no where. Stress test showed PVCs near peak exercise. Event monitor showed a no sustained run of ventricular tachycardia for a total of 5 beats. Echocardiogram was normal.


About three weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with an excessive heart rate. Sustained beats of around 167 for maybe 5-10 minutes. Three nights after that same thing up to 165. The following night up to 131.


I was prescribed the Toporol xl. I haven’t had an episode, but I also started using my cpap. I was borderline though on the sleep study to where I could need one, or not.


My questions are could that much change with my heart to start causing problems? What could be the night issue? I’ve been having random left sided back pain and chest pain. Though I don’t think that’s related but could it be? The only big change I’ve had in my life is I quit my Prozac. Cold turkey. I was only on 10mg. I stopped that maybe one or two months ago.

I should also add that I was seen in the ER last Saturday for one of the fast HR episodes. Of course it wasn’t happening there. But they monitored me and did blood tests to which everything was fine.

With heart concerns my advice is to take comfort in the test results you received. Diagnosing heart troubles often involves eliminating possible culprits. Your testing has done that…

1. Echo: No structural heart issues; good ejection fraction; no valve issues;
2. Holter/ECG/Stress: no dangerous arrhythmia; no infarction; no angina
3. Labs (assuming troponin & lipids): no damage; low cvd risk

Palpitations are annoying but almost always benign. Yours are confirmed benign. Your nighttime high heart rate sounds like panic to me. I’ve been there. I’m no expert but stopping Prozac seems like something that could set off benign palpitations, especially if you had been on it for a while.

I liked taking low dose propranolol (another beta blocker) when I was having heart rate issues, but I found that I had more palpitations on them than off. Stress management helped the most.

[Deepseathree]

Thanks for the response. It’s hard for me to be rational. My problem is I used to want to go into medical so I know enough to rationalize, but also enough to create panic. From what I know my worry with my is there are different things that affect qt interval and from what I’ve gathered is the one I’m fearful of is from a genetic mutation. I even went as far to get a test done out of pocket which showed nothing alarming. That plus the other tests should be enough. Should.

I’ve never been awoken by a panic attack before. So it’s hard for me to accept that. That and my panic attacks now days usually aren’t associated with a fast heart rate. Nevertheless, I appreciate your rational response. Sometimes I just need a different perspective and to also write things out.

[Deepseathree]

Thanks for the response. It’s hard for me to be rational even when I have things on my side. I didn’t have the fast heart rate at night when I had the halter monitor. I just understand why I’m having the problem now. I’ve never had a panic attack in my sleep or been awoken by one.

To add to medical testing, my worry is LQTS3, and from what I gather it’s associated with a gene mutation. Well, I even had a genetic test done that showed no alarming cardiac mutations. I take a beta blocker right now. Got prescribed after this recent episode and I’m wearing a halter monitor again. Fortunately I suppose, I haven’t had a problem.

[venusbluejeans]

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your thread was merged with another of your threads.

Please when posting on similar topics add it onto your previous post rather than starting a new one.

It is nothing personal it is just to make it easier for people to follow your story and to give you advice as a whole.

Emmz

[Careful1]

If you had any form of long QT syndrome it would have been picked up on one of your EKGS or event monitor and you mention you had genetic testing so if it by some small chance wasn’t picked up on one of those it definitely would have been found in your genetic testing so you’re good.

I have PVCS, PACS, SVT and NSVT. My longest run of NSVT was last April, 8 seconds 28 beats, heart rate well over 200 beats per minute. I had my first SVT episode when I was 19 years old and I wasted a huge chunk of my life scared I was gonna drop dead at any moment. I do have a strong family history of sudden death at rather young ages on my fathers side and so they have given me every test you can think of many times over, I even had an EP study and a cardiac cath by the time I was 28 years old. I had genetic testing and I have a mutation in a gene that’s associated with wolf Parkinson’s white syndrome but none of my EKGS have ever shown it. They aren’t even sure what my particular mutation means as I am the only one documented so far that has it.

Anyways, you aren’t alone. At the end of the day all we can do is have the testing and if it proves normal try to find a way to live with the craziness. I look back at how much of my life I spent being afraid, good years and I have much regret. I do my best now to ignore it. I know I will have another episode at some point but until that happens I try not to think about it. I always get super anxious following a bad episode but now a days I snap out of it rather quickly. Anxiety, stress and worry can and will make palpitations of any kind worse.