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Cathy V
04-05-08, 12:57
Hi to everyone. I can't tell you how happy I am to discover this forum, well I can tell you obviously...:yahoo: I'm this much happy!! Ive been an 'ectopic' sufferer since my mid 20's and now at age 54 I feel ive wasted so much time and energy over the years on something that is meant to be nothing to worry about. I don't get them constantly, they come and go throughout the year. Tried to see a pattern, such as when the hayfever seasons start in spring and late summer (and i do seem to get them more at these times too) but really the can come on at random. I try to get on with my life as best i can even during a particularl lengthy spell of them but after yet another day or week of them you just want to scream "pleeeeeeeese stop now i'm so tired".

My grown up children all know about mums heart probs, and how much it stopped me from joining in with things in the past (scared to make them worse so avoided certain situations and i have claustraphobia too which doesnt help!). These wonky beats still have the power to absolutely floor me when return after maybe months without them, and i always have to start again with the little chats i have with myself about the fact that i'm still here after many years of living with them.

Like alot of you, my probs include missed beats and sometimes flutters when I catch my breath waiting for my heart to beat again. The worst has to be the missed beats though coz they can go on and on. This time ive had them for about 3 weeks, but i think its because my doc over here put me onto a beta-blocker for migraine and when i came off the meds a few weeks ago the ectopics started up. To be honest i could feel them very slightly when i was taking the meds, but now they are much stronger and maybe thats because beta-blockers slow your heart down, so now my heart is all over the place...bit like withdrawing from a tranquilizer i guess. I have to hang in and try to cope as best i can and hope they don't go on for too much longer:weep: ...this time.

Like you all, my past tests and 24hr tapes have been negative. The ectopics have shown up but nobody seemed worried...crazy that we all are when theyre not, yes? I think its because its our hearts and we know the heart is the force of life isn't it.

Just before i came on here i read about a doctors idea that we should imagine 2 drummers inside our hearts marking the beats. One drummer beats the blood pumping in and the other pumping out, except this drummer gets a bit bored sometimes with the same old beat, but as he's not the important drummer, whatever he does he will never induce a heart attack or any kind of heart disease because the important drummer will ALWAYS be there and will ALWAYS keep up his own beat. Ok this sounds daft now but that doc says it really well!

chalky
04-05-08, 12:58
Hi Cathy,

Welcome to the Forum.

:hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

You will get loads of support and advice here.
Best wishes,
Chalky

Cathy V
04-05-08, 13:21
Hi Chalky, thanks for the welcome. I'm happy to be here. The only sad thing is that when all this first began for me at age 22 there wasn't anything like these sites around. Ive struggled for years to make friends and family understand what it feels like to live with this, but if youve never felt it its easy to dismiss yes? Normally people have support if they have a recognised illness, but when something manifests itself physically because of stress or anxiety its not aknowledged and we sufferers become forgotten. But hey, we're stronger than we think. The fact that we live with this, some of us for many years means we have more strength than we will ever know :) (says she who is reaching for the red wine to try to relax as we speak...ok i'm not perfect!)

Cathy V x

Cath V.

n3r0x1k
11-06-08, 02:31
You're right about the fact we lack support when our symptoms are dismissed as "caused by anxiety", as if they were easier to deal with because they were caused by anxiety.

My panic attacks first manifested themselves when I was 13 (now 26) BECAUSE of ectopics and palpitations, but the ectopics scared me the most, and same thing with the fluttering and missed beats and double/triple or many in a row beats. Last year (2007) aroiund may and june was the worst, as you can see I even posted about it last year: http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21281. I had come to a point where they were 24/7, at almost every 3 heartbeats. Even with that, which lasted for maybe a month or more, I passed a holter, they saw them in the 10,000's of PVC's (Preventricular Contractions), and still said it was nothing to worry about because it was on a said "healthy heart". Of course I've had a hard time beleiveing I had a healthy heart with all the heart-related symptoms I had, but that was my mind, as does yours where you say "think its because its our hearts and we know the heart is the force of life" so we tend to fear that it'll stop for good and that we'll die. But hey look, you've been over 20 years with them and still alive :) But I'm not to point fingers, 13 years didn't convince me either :P , but now I must admit I more often reason myself into thinking I'll survive.

Cathy V
11-06-08, 08:32
Hello again n3, I was surprised to see one of my old posts revived this morning, but thanks for the advice anyway :D

I have to say that my anx is much less troublesome these days and the dreaded ectopics also now seem to have gone away to bother someone else for a while at least (sorry someone else!)

But thank you for trying to make the previously poorly me feel better. Its appreciated.

Cathy xxx