Palpitations / Ectopic Beats / Trigeminy

[matttyb]

Hey everyone!

Thought I'd post my experiences here and see what people think.. basically I'm a 26yo Male.. completely healthy (other than my really bad back injury at the moment and a little bit of extra weight.)

I suffer from palpitations quite constantly.. sometimes they are good, and sometimes they are bad.. really bad. I've noticed that certain things can bring them on over time now.. such as eating nothing but shit junk food and not drinking enough water.. A healthy diet has seemed to work in reducing my palpitations significantly.. but not always.

My palpitations can be
very temperamental at times.. and have decided to really flare up again over the last 2 - 3 weeks. I've done a lot of research on the internet and from what I can tell.. I seem to suffer from something called "Trigeminy" which is when your heart skips every third beat - boom, boom, skip, boom, boom, skip. Sometimes it may only last for a minute or two but it has at several stages done exactly that for up to 5 - 15 minutes. It's VERY uncomfortable.

I've also noticed lately that my heart seems to be skipping 3 beats in a row now.. so It will skip, and then I won't feel my heart for another 2 beats before it kicks in again.. should I be really worried about this? it doesn't always do it.. just sometimes.. and it can vary (2 - 3 skipped beats)

I've noticed the last few weeks too I haven't felt particulary great with some dizziness and short of breath etc but I believe that was a result of overdosing on codeine because of my back injury (about 7 - 8 packets of panadeine forte in around 6 weeks - its that painful.)

Anyway since I've cut back a bit on the codeine I seem to be feeling much better.. but I've noticed that my chest is REALLY saw to touch like its oversensitive or something.. but I haven't really had any chest pain (nothing significant anyway that I've noticed.)

Another thing too which brings on these attacks is sex.. If I orgasm, that will set off my palps like 500% worse, and will also suffer trigeminy attacks (skip every 3rd beat for up to several minutes) and will generally feel uncomfortable for the rest of the day because of HIGHLY increased palpitations from this.

Anxiety attacks will also set it off big time.. but I usually only suffer from those when my palps really play up.. they can easily skip several hundreds beats a day no problem.

I always have palpitations.. they are always with me.. its just the frequency in which they occur that always changes.. sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad.. but there's always been one constant that will always make them MUCH worse and thats sex/orgasm. Very annoying and alarming.

I've had all the tests done a few years ago where nothing has really changed, except for maybe the 3 beats in a row? I'm not sure if my max was only 2 at the time of testing.. anyway they said I was fine.. I just suffer from ectopic beats and they are harmless.

Another thing I forgot to mention is if I perform heavy exercise.. that will also set off my palpitations and sometimes trigenimy. My stress test was all fine as well.

I'm just wondering what everyone thinks of this? I've been putting up with this since I was about 13 years old, and its just so annoying and alarming.. I'm really sick of it. I don't see why this happens to us? obviously there is an electrical problem in our hearts (not life-threatening supposedly) but still.. there's a lot of people out there that dont suffer with our symptoms and yet we are told that we are perfectly fine?

I really get worried sometimes wondering If I will live to 35 - 40yo without suffering a heart attack? if I'm going through all this bullshit now.. whats gonna happen as my heart ages and becomes more suspectible to disease etc?

Apparently heart disease does run in my father's side, but not my mothers. Personally I think this is related somehow..

But the doctors still reckon im fine. The Cardiologist I saw also recommended I see a therapist about my "sex" problem.. haha! I found that rather funny to be honest.. there's no way my "state-of-mind" is causing the link between my palps and sex. Obviously the increased adrenaline that goes through my body just sets my heart off and it doesn't like it that much?

Anyway sorry for the long post! I'm no expert in any of this.. I'm just wondering what everyone thinks :)

Thanks for your time!

Matty.

[AliceG86]

Oh i cant believe uve been having this problem since you were 13 this really worries me. I am 18 years old and I have started suffering from such problems about three months. It all started one night I started getting serious palpitations I didint know what was wrong as this had never happened to be before, it went on for hours I ended up being brought to hospital because I lost conciousness. They kept me for 2 days then sent me home becauses they didnt have a clue what was wrong with me. Its bein happening ever since but my symtoms seem to be getting worse I get aching pains in my heart and all down my left arm..do you get this? I dont understand why nobody can find out whats wrong with us as I have got lots of tests done. I cant believe you`ve had this for so long I have had it for three months and im really sick of it, its really affecting my life as I usualy cant work and it always seems to happen more at the weekend when I want to go out. Do you drink or smoke? ive been told this can cause it. How have you dealt with this for so long, how often does it happen to you, did it ever stop for a long period of time.

[Dickyboy199]

Hi Mattyb,

Wow I can't believe how similar my symptoms are to yours!! I'm a 43yr old Male with ectopic beats and trigeminy (well that's what they call it!) I tend to get runs of beats (that's what I call them) similar to you. Sometimes one every other beat sometimes my heart misses a beat two or three in a row.

Without giving you a very very long winded account of my history, which I am sure will bore you to bits I will just give you a brief background to what happened to me.

I think I've always noticed the odd feeling in my throat or chest when I was between 8 and 19 I guess, but never knew what it was or bothered because it was so rare. When I was 19 I had a motorcycle accident where I went into some metal railings at some traffic lights. Although this wasn't a major accident, I did damage my right knee and break my left arm. I was taken to hospital x-rayed arm put in a sling and disharged.

I did notice a sore graze on my chest where I guess I had hit the railings. Over the next few weeks while recovering at home I noticed a funny feeling in my chest which kept happening. Eventually I realised it was my heart and as soon as I started feeling my pulse in my neck and my wrist and putting my hand on my chest I realised my heart kept missing beats. Well that's what I thought it was anyway and within a day my heart was missing thousands and thousands freaking me out and sending me to casualty.

They hooked me up to an ecg which recorded loads of ectopics and the dr didn't seem to concerned, he thought it was 'delayed shock' !!! from the accident and put me on beta blockers. Well within two days they had gone and my heart was back to normal. But within a few weeks I did start noticing them again and this was really the beginning of a wonderful relationship with my hearts weird and strange ways!!!

I soon went to the doctors and got to see a specialist who did every test possible. They found nothing structually wrong with my heart and concluded that they are just benign ectopic beats that are nothing to worry about!!!

I've always been an anxious type of person and a worrier so probably like you these heart irregularities are far from nothing to worry about, they are damn frightening!! Even after all these years I still hate them and worry about them.

Over the past 25 years (I'm going to be 44 soon!) I have seen heart specialists at least 15 times. I have had every test thinkable, including a TEE which is a camera down your throat to do an ultrasound right behind your heart. I did this without sedation too!! Only because I was too frightened to be put to sleep!! Ha what a wuss I am! I've had ton's of exercise stress tests, ecg's, scans etc etc etc.... But everytime there is nothing else they can come up with. At one stage my cardiologist even thought that there may be scar tissue from the motorbike accident or the accident had caused some disturbance but no... he still didn't find any link!

Anyway what alarms me the most is the way my palps have changed over the years. Sometimes I would get literally thousands a day which scared the hell out of me. Sometimes I get a few. Even though I would have many in a day they always used to be isolated ectopics with maybe another one a minute or two later. At one stage I could not drink alcohol, especially red wine as this would set them off within minutes. I used to get them if I went swimming, the minute I would get in the pool they would start.

Although exercise in general always helped. From the age of 23 to 37 I used to cycle, play squash and do weight training. I used to weight train 6 days a week and the ectopics never really bothered me. Then a few years ago I started jogging and after about 18 months I had some very fast and irregular beats during and mainly after exercise. This again led to the specialist and eventually a clean bill of health was concluded. Well after that I gave up running and for years never did any exercise at all.

During this round of tests I had the TEE and about a week after I was at work and I suddenly noticed my heart went into this weird rythmn. It was like half beats all after each other with an occasional normal beat in between. This lasted for about 20 beats. Well this really alarmed me like hell and about 3 days later it did it again.

So convinced that the TEE test had something to do with it I was back at the doctors. Eventually I got to see a specialist again and had tests but still nothing to worry about!! That was the first time I had heard the words bigeminy and trigeminy!! After this first weird run of beats I noticed it happen every few days, sometimes not happening for a few weeks then every few days, this was on top of getting the regular ectopics!!!!!

About 18 months ago this weird rythmn started happening daily and sometimes 4 or 5 times a day. It seemed to be related to eating because it usually happens after lunch or after tea. I am the same as you because exercise triggers it and so does sex! Even doing general gardening, like digging etc starts it off.

What I cannot understand is the way these things have changed. I get this run of trigeminy or whatever it is called every single day. Sometimes just once other days it's lots of times. The odd isolated ectopic is now rare for me! It is just lots of ectopics in a row. It is so annoying and still after all these years very scary especially when any form of exercise kicks them off. Yesterday afternoon I was simply burning some garden rubbish in the incinerator and I had about 10 or 11 episodes!!!!

I give up as to be bothered why they change or why they happen, they are just so annoying and I would love to just have a week without any. That would be nice. I would also love to be able to exercise and have sex without them. As you can sympathise it is quite off putting when you are just about to orgasm and suddenly your heart goes into a weird irregular rythmn!!! What really annoys me is that everyone says there is nothing wrong but why don't you talk to people that have the same thing. How can this be normal for our hearts to do this??

Anyway I must go now and make my wife a cuppa and get our 4 kids sorted! My brief account has not been so brief! So if you are still with me and have not fallen asleep I apologise but I just wanted to let you know that there is at least one other person with VERY similar symptoms as you and I have had them for nearly 25 years if that's any consolation! I just hope that we both find some answers or something that may help or that we just say sod them, there uncomfortable but we're not going to die from them so get on with exercise and get on with our lives!

Best wishes

Rich

[pi_panic]

i've had palps for 20+ years, now i'm getting a series of palps in a row that is very uncomfortable (or scary as hell if you will)..

sex is always a trigger, as is masturbation - it's normally in to cool-down period after orgasm.

I read somewhere that it has to do with your adreneline and cortisol levels gearing back down - no proof or real MD knowledge about that - but maybe worth googling.

It's not fun, it's unnerving, but they're to be expected. I've leared if i 'take it easy' with the sex, slow down, and do a few rounds rather than a rampage it's not near as bad.. also when you KNOW it's coming you bring tend to bring it on - i mean after sex you're just waiting for them..

have slow sex and when you don't have one after then slowly build up your confidence until they get less.

hope that helps

[donnaharvey]

Oh i cant believe uve been having this problem since you were 13 this really worries me. I am 18 years old and I have started suffering from such problems about three months. It all started one night I started getting serious palpitations I didint know what was wrong as this had never happened to be before, it went on for hours I ended up being brought to hospital because I lost conciousness. They kept me for 2 days then sent me home becauses they didnt have a clue what was wrong with me. Its bein happening ever since but my symtoms seem to be getting worse I get aching pains in my heart and all down my left arm..do you get this? I dont understand why nobody can find out whats wrong with us as I have got lots of tests done. I cant believe you`ve had this for so long I have had it for three months and im really sick of it, its really affecting my life as I usualy cant work and it always seems to happen more at the weekend when I want to go out. Do you drink or smoke? ive been told this can cause it. How have you dealt with this for so long, how often does it happen to you, did it ever stop for a long period of time.
Hi there, l am new to this site and l to have been suffering with missed heart beats which l seem to be getting constantly more so when walking. I cannot seem to get my mind of these missed beats and am constantly waiting for the next one thinking l might not survive the next one. They seem to be with me all the time l have recently had an ECG and my doctor said it was fine however she put me on a 24 hour monitor which l have not had the results for, can anyone help as l am terrified and constantly worrying all the time about these dreaded things.

[Rachey poos]

This is my problem....when im walking and its makin me agraphobic..... i get them one after the other when walking...apparently absolut' harmless...but it dont feel it does it xx pm me if you wanna chat

[shaun2010]

i have the exact same problem as you mate, and im same age and carrying a bit of weight, doctors also told me im fine! i cant sleep when they start

[Typer]

If I continue to walk for 5 minutes, it makes them stop. Excercise actually seems to help mine.

I have had a few really good days of only a few and one day none....first in 10 months. I am sure its because I have been less scared and try to relax more when they do happen

[GreatGigantaur]

I've had these for years. They used to worry me but I find the less I think about them the less they happen. My Grandad used to get them too, his whole life in fact and he lived until he was 87.

I think the moment you realize that it isn't going to kill you the quicker you can make peace with this aggravating symptom and move on with your life.

I understand it's not easy but you'll thank yourself when life becomes enjoyable again and not a prison of waiting for a heart attack.

Irregular/missed beats are nothing to worry about, many people have them, they will not kill you! So be happy that you actually do have your health, there are many out there who don't. Sorry if that sounds aggressive but it took similarly harsh truths to help me move on. Hope this pays that favour forward.

Best of luck!

Joe

[Typer]

I know some of you visit RLR's site. But for those who do not, you will find peace of mind and explanations by reading the 6 threads of info, and reading other people's posts.


http://palps.chemicalforums.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl

[*clare*]

I'm 28 and have suffered ectopic beats for over 3 years now. Started noticing a feeling at the base of my throat which would make me cough, then after feeling my pulse, realised it was my heart. Scared the life out of me and i was already suffering from anxiety. I've had numerous tests done which have all been clear. Being so intune with my body i guess they are just more noticable. They have also changed in the time i've been having them. They started as the extra odd beat, then i would notice skipped beats and more recently i have this flip flopping sensation which can last around 10 seconds. Some days i barely get any, and other days i'm plagued with them. I'm still not sure what makes them worse but i'm just trying to live with them as hard as it is and as uncomfortable as it feels at times. They really do suck!!!

Good Luck, clare :)

[christopherbvn@gmail]

Hi there, I'm Chris and I am 19 year old male. Only very slightly over wieght. I also have slightly high blood pressure, but not high enough for medicationetc. My treatment is esercise and lifestyle. I ate shit for about 2 years. The other week I was exercising and noticed Trigeminal ventricular contractions (ectopic beats one after another). This happend about 4 times, got my breath back and they went away. I told my doctor about this and she said..........................dont wory. That was the first time I noticed them. Ever sinse then, I have noticed some now and agian (mainly when feeling tired, pissed off etc). I thought that was the first time it ever happend. Wrong - when my doc found out about the high blood opressure, she sent me for a 24 hour ecg. I thought the ecg was clean throughout. It turns out there were 8 ectopic (palpitations) on there, that i never noticed. They also happen to perfectly healthy people. Not sure why, but there is no known link between missed beats (whatever you want to callthem) and cardiac death. My point been that, they happen to all of us sometimes (or all the time), but we only seem to think we are experiencing more after the first time we notice them. This is because we have become more aware of them and spend more time thinking about them. They havnt become more frequent, but we have just become more aware - thats all really. The reason we tend to feel them more during exercise a lot is because our heart beats harderm giving us a more pronounced 'thud'. So we feel them in exercise because they stand out more due to the heart pushing blood harder. Dont worry. You may be wondering if these can trigger a heart attack (more speciffically, ventricular fibrilation). They can, BUT only in people with bad heart conditions (Angina, heart disease - by which you will only be diagnosed with if you have had a heart attack). So if you have ever had a heart attack, or have a bad heart condition (high blood pressure does not count as a heart condition), then do not be concerned. Some of you mention having them for 20 years or so - concider this an advantage (stupid to think, i know), as your body has become adapted to your hearts rythm. I must say, if there is any change in WHATS YOUR USUAL HEART RYTHAM, then do see a doctor - this is not necisarily cause for concern, but just to check and out your mind at ease.