View Full Version : THOUGHT I HAD GOT OVER THIS!!!
I am really angry at myself and feeling really low. A couple of weeks ago I though I had finally accepted that my ectopic heartbeat wasn't dangerous and it was just something that I had to live with, but the last week or so they have been back with a vengeance and are really getting me down again. I don't want to spend every waking hour worrying about them and I have talked to my counsellor, who says they are being triggered by my anxiety etc., but they are still bothering me. I just picked my kids up from school and got into the car and felt a succession of them going off in my chest. I can't say they were palpitations but about 10 to 15 ectopic beats over a period of a few minutes, but there were strong and forceful and scared me. Why do we get them? I know there are a few of us on here that have the same symptons so surely we can't all have the same 'illness.' I just wish I could deal with it better because I feel like they are taking over my life again and controlling everything. My counsellor is talking through all of my past bereavements/losses/traumas etc., but I know that there isn't going to be a miracle cure and I am probably doing nothing else to help myself. My life is stressful, I run my own baby shop look after the kids and the house as well (my husband is at work till 9.30 at night) and I have no help with childcare with the kids to the extent that sometimes if there isn't school or something they have to come to work with me! My little boy is only in nursery and won't go to full-time school till next January, which will take a bit of pressure off, but I just feel I am missing out on so much when I let this stupid sympton take a grip. Apparently, according to my counsellor I have built up barriers since an early age and instead of grieving or facing a problem I just think, Oh well, just get on with it you can't do anything about it, and that has what has eventually resulted in my problems. I have always worried about different health issues since an early age, when I was little I was convinced I would get appendicitis, but not to the extent that these ectopic beats have taken me over.
I'd better go now, I think I have gone on long enough and I am not even sure if I have posted this in the right place!!
All advice will be greatly received.
Take care, all of you,
Linda.
Hi Linda
You have a very stressful life and little support by the sounds of it. Health worries are hard to deal with and with anxiety attached to it, they can become a bit obssessional.
You say a couple of weeks ago you finally accepted that your ectopic heartbeat wasnt dangerous, well you have foundations there hon that you can build on and really start to believe in them. You have put the wheels in motion by thinking it now you need to believe. It cant be easy and i am sure it will get you feeling down and angry with yourself when you let it get to you, but you are only human and worries sometimes however hard we try we cant distract ourselves from them.
Keep talking to your counsellor about it.
We are always here to offer you lots of support and help.
I think you are doing really well with what you achieve in your daily life routine.
Lots of Love Sal xxxxx
Linda
For starters you have a very stressful life. I do as well, at the moment until John comes back home (been away for seven months), i'm running a house, looking after two children and work as well. So to some extent your body will do silly things, i guess its natures way of saying hey slow down a bit. But with modern life nowadays thats easier said than done.
We've spoken about these ectopic beats before and I can only stress to you, try and relax and breathe through these beats. It does work i promise. I know how scarey they can be especially when you suffer with alot of them one after the other.
But you have to try and remember that would you really be sat here now if you had something really wrong with your heart? You'll be amazed at how many people do actually suffer with these beats and its not an illness just something that happens.
Hope you'll feel a bit better soon.
Take care
Tracy
x
Hi Linjane,
Maybe, if you are going through intensive counselling, it is causing a little more anxiety than normal.
Counselling can be quite tough on the old 'nerves'. Especially if you are talking about something that affects you in a big way at the moment.
Your counsellor may have told you that this could happen during the course of the therapy?
Could this be the reason you are feeling a little more anxious recently.
Just a thought???
Jude x
He there,
I suffer terribly as you with these beats. I seem to at work have them almost all day and then it takes me 2 hours at home and sometimes lorazapan to get them under control. I have had ecg's and now know where they come from. I can also tell you this, my life style is very busy and I raised 2 kids on my own and 2 jobs. I am now at a slower pace and I still suffer and I am in fact worst when I am not busy. A weeks holidays at home with my husband and girls gone is bad for me.
It is our way of thinking. But I do know when those beats start our mind instantly goes there and the anxiety covers us like a blanket.
Positive thinking is what we must do. I am still working on it for the record.
Hang tight, think positive,
TT:)
TT:)
Hi Linda, Sorry to hear you are feeling so low, I am the same at the moment too. I think we have talked about these ectopic beats before. I have had them for the last 5 years and even though I know they are not serious I still worry when i get them - it is only natural. I know it is a viscious circle, the more we worry the worse they get and I often wonder if I will ever be free of them and I know worrying about them will not make them any better but what else can we do? I have had a real run of them the last week or so but I know it is because I have been so stressed and I am pre-menstral which always seems to make them worse for some reason. Don't feel angry with yourself as it is not your fault and I think you are doing really well with such a stressful life to cope with.
Keep your chin up and if you ever want to email me or send me a Pm my email addresss is lisarosemoore@msn.com.
Take care and sorry i can't help you a bit more.
Love Lisaxx
Hi,
Thanks for the reassurance. I know I'm being silly continuing to worry about the extra beats but they sometimes just take over my life.
TT i would be so interested to know how you have coped with them for so long and what other things you know about them.
Take care,
Linda.x
Hi LinJane,
I am sorry to hear your problems with ectopic heartbeat. Firstly you are not being silly to worry about your health and you are correct in seeking medical opinion as to why these occur. The problem becomes, as with me, when we are told by doctors that we are OK but we don't accept this thinking somehow they have missed something. I experience ectopic heartbeat also and a cardiology consultant I recently saw says they are nothing to worry about and benign given my medical history.
This of course doesn't mean they are not frightening and uncomfortable and a nightmare to live with because they certainly are.
Mine have improved by taking a really determined approach and ensuring I work on stress free exercise(walking) diet (fresh fruit, vegetables and 2 litres of water a day) and relaxation techniques. I do these religiously every day now and my symptons are very slowly improving. I dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to slowing down my breathing and listening to a relaxation CD or gentle music. I also have reflexology and massage therapy once a week and have started reading about NLP and keeping a diary of my thoughts throughout the day.
I am shifting my thought process as much as possible into the current moment and reducing the level of time my mind spends in the future or the past. I am not ignoring these but I am spending a disproportionate amount of time mentally not in the present and I finding in the record keeping of my thoughts that up to 80% of my day can be made up of thoughts relating to future worries or past concerns.
I hope this does not trivialise what your experiencing LinJane, I of course have no way of knowing how deep your personal pain is but I share with you these symptons and the same burning desire to be free of them and to just get on with our lives and this is a method I am using to cope as best I can at the moment.
Hey David ,
That sound like you've taken soime very positive steps recently and are seeing the benefit of them..
I'm really pleased to hear that .
Meg
www.overcominganxiety.co.uk
You cannot conquer fear until you have learned what it is you're afraid of. The enemy is ignorance. Vivian Vance
Lisa and Linda,
I don't know what you're taking supplement wise but there is a lot of evidence that a low Magnesium can precipitate palpitations. Also if you're not drinking enough water it can exacerbate them.
Please don't go and load up suddenly as its a delicate balance but you could see if a gentle supplement might help, plus these foods are high in Mg - not a very thrilling assortment really except my beloved nuts which seem to contain lots of anxiety helpful minerals and vitamins.
Just a thought that I realize on reading back that I haven't mentioned recently.
http://www.marinurology.com/articles/calculi/foods/magnesium.htm
Meg
www.overcominganxiety.co.uk
You cannot conquer fear until you have learned what it is you're afraid of. The enemy is ignorance. Vivian Vance
Hi Meg,
I have been taking Magnesium (400mg a day is the dosage) for months now and to be honest have not really seen an improvement. I have now switched to Osteocare which combines Magnesium and Calcium. I also take Vitamin B Complex from Holland and Barrett, which should help my anxiety and again have been taking this for months too, but I am still plagued by these missing beats. As I have said previously, for me at least they seem to be worse when my hormones are at work, from day 25-26 of a cycle until day 15-19 of the next cycle. I don't know if this is just coincidence.
Also, in a previous post you asked me about how long I had tried yoga for. (I did reply to you with a private message, but I don't think you have received it) I tried it for a few sessions, but found I couldn't 'do the breathing' properly i.e. as you are raising your arm breathe in deeply :- if I had already taken a breath I was doing a double breath! Don't know if that makes sense to you a bit hard to describe but I couldn't combine the two. I know I do not take enough time out for relaxation methods and I know my lifestyle is busy and stressful, but I do let the missed beats cause me unnecessary anxiety because they do, for some stupid reason, terrify me! It does not seem logical that I can have them for days/weeks on end and they are not doing my heart any harm. From what I can gather from everyone else who has them, they appear to be less dangerous than palpitations, which thankfully, I don't get so often. When I have had episodes of these I could literally feel that my heart was out of rhythm but I panicked and made it much worse. Touch wood, this hasn't happened for months now but I still have to put up with the ectopic heartbeat. I have given up on my doctor, but my nurse is sympathetic but adamant that I do not need any medication.
Sorry to have gone - Again! I would just be grateful for any advice.
Take care,
Linda.
I hope you are keeping a ectopic diary then and if you can show clearly via this that your cycle is the cause then do ask your GP for a hormone screen and referral onwards to a specialist.
Sounds like your yoga teacher hadn't got her breath control teaching correct. It does all syncronize correctly if she counts it in properly.
Meg
www.overcominganxiety.co.uk
You cannot conquer fear until you have learned what it is you're afraid of. The enemy is ignorance. Vivian Vance
Hi Meg
Nobody has ever asked me to keep an ectopic diary, least of all my doctor. I am just waiting to see what the next few days bring, but I had quite a bad day yesterday - not for me, my daughter was having problems at school and it got quite intense and was left unresolved and then a coach driver hit my car - luckily we weren't in it at the time, but he denied it until a witness came forward, it was basically just a really stressful day - during most of it I had missed beats which I could quite understand because I was so worked up! I am now worrying how my daughter will cope because what has happened at school is not going to have a good effect on her.
What help could I get if they were due to my hormones and also, could there be a any chance that they are just an early sign of the menopause. I am 38 now (something else that depresses me!!!!!!joking (sort of!!!)
Be grateful of your advice,
Linda.
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