Does Anyone Else Feel Like Their Heart Is Just Going To Stop?

[lucylou]

Hi im new on here, just thought i would share some of my recent experiences and how im feeling...
I was recently admitted to hospital with palpatations ( after drinking about 2 litres of diet coke in 8 hours!!!) ...i wasnt worried persay, because i knew id OD'd on the caffeine. i got kept in and to cut a long story short doc said i have something called Wolff parkinson white syndrome....Thats where it all began...
ive spent some time in hospital since then and just been for an MRI scan and awaiting a follow up appointment in JUNE!!!! ive been totally left hanging...thus...done the old DR google trick...Big mistake....
I have always known there has been something not quite right with my heart since being about 15 ( now 21 ) having had missed/skipped beats from 2- 5 times a week...and episodes of palpations 2-3 times a year maximum...and never even been worried enough to go to the doctors!!! ...now all of a sudden now i know there is officially something wrong...i cannot get it out of my mind. i spend every single waking minute of the day thinking about my heart and whether or not its beating correctly. i sit with one hand on my chest and get in the bath and put my ears under the water to hear it beating properly. i am becoming obsessed. ive joined a facebook site for the condition which is only making things worse...as ive recently been told " don't worry..it only induces sudden cardiac death in 4% of sufferers!!! 4%!!!! those are odds i cannot deal with!!!!
to top it all off ive been to my gp because i am now suffering from which i now realise is the typical anxiety symptoms of Heartburn and acid reflux,constipation and bloating to the point that i feel like my stomach is squashing my heart thus not helping the heart situation!!!
phew...glad i got that off my chest...is anyone else in a similar...left hanging situation by their specialist and are these symptoms im feeling normal?!?!?!:ohmy:

[CJH86]

Hi, i have a heart defect a 1cm ASD (hole) whch means i get blood flow between both sides of my heart, i always knew there was something wrong with my heart too. The doctors only found this in feb after i had an episode of racing heart beats....i am 22 and apparently i was born with it! I saw my specialist last week and have just been left with it for another year before they decide what to do about it as there is no damage yet! gah! :ohmy:

I am properly obsessed with my heartbeat, i check the rate at least 4 times a day...if i think its too fast/ slow i take it way more! i even time it on my phone, how sad is that! I have a heart murmur too which gets worse when i am anxious (actually unrelated to the defect) and it drives me nuts!:doh:

I know a little about WPW syndrome as im revising it at the moment for uni! I think the 4% figure for sudden cardic death seems too high to be honest:shrug: It is not the same % risk for everyone as it depends on what your doctors have seen on the ECGs etc and they are the only ones who can tell you your real risk......if they think you are at a real risk there are treatment options.

I really suffered when i found out about my heart problem - as untill i saw a specialist i didnt know things like; the type of defect it was, how big it is, whether i'd need open heart surgery or if i'd have complcations/damage etc! I got heart burn, chest pains, palpitations, backache, breathlessness, bloating, upset stomach and my periods completely stopped while i was waiting to find out!.....i went to the doctors in such a state several times. For me it was a devastating blow (i already had health anxiety) to find out there was actually something wrong after being told there is nothing for years!!:blush:

[lucylou]

god i am so so pleased i am not the only one. the symptoms ive been getting just seem to be getting worse. i feel completely like my stomach is squashing my heart or leaking or something. i can only put it down to feeling bloated because im not used to having any gastric problems at all!!! were your symptoms this strong?! im terrified its something else wrong with me but i know deep down its anxiety thats causing all of this...i just feel so ill! i feel like i cant breathe. wow thats a coincidence your studying it at uni. its something i really know nothing about. that 4% thing really scared me!!! xxx

[**twinkle**]

This is my biggest fear. Im forever checking my pulse to make sure my heart is still beating.
Palpitations is one of the most commen syptoms of anxiety.
I have them nearly everyday, if im having a bad time.
I went to see a cardiologist, as i too have "skipped" beats.
He explained that they are eptopic beats, also very commen with stress and anxiety. Look it up for more details... hopefully it will put your mind at rest about your heart and the way it beats.
Hope this helps.
Twinkle x

[CJH86]

My symptoms where very real...very difficult to talk yourself out of them, its something i know all too well! Gastric symptoms do seem odd if you've never had them before. When im very stressed i get acid reflux quite badly, its also a fairly new thing with me!


I have to say i did a lot of internet research on my heart prob before i saw my specialist, bad idea! the symptoms i subsequently developed were mainly the ones i had read about on various websites:doh:.......i have come to realise the information from the net was very very misleading compared to what i was then told by my cardiologist (whose credentials were far superior to Dr Googles)

If id give any advice its to definately ask the cardiologist or a Dr to explain everything you want to know, the information they give is 100x more reassuring than the always morbid prognosis given by Dr Google. After all Dr google told me i had CJD in january.....it turned out to be just anxiety!:blush:

[lucylou]

DR Google is my WORST enemy!!! I have googled everything you could possibly imagine!!! ive been in total agony and panic today with bloatedness...but hearing that others are in the same position as me is so helpful. i went to see my cardiologists secretary today to see if i could get my appointment moved on a bit... as i cannot carry on like this. can i ask that once you had got some answers from your DR did your anxiety symptoms get any better?! i cant help but think that even if my DR said ive got to have an op or whatever i think i would feel better knowing that has come out of his mouth so it must be true, rather than googling and getting ideas in my head like " maybe he's wrong, maybe its this or that" xxx

[CJH86]

I would say my anxiety symptoms have improved since i saw the cardiologist. Before my appt i just felt like I couldnt look forward to anything, its hard to explain but i think its the not knowing that is the main problem. I think the fact my cardiology Dr was very sure that a lot of my symptoms were just in my head helped massively......in other words i needed him to tell me to stop being silly and that the EKG definately shows i dont 'heart faliure', despite what Dr Google says!:blush:

And yeah just actually hearing things off of somebody who you know is an expert does help anyway. I did actually question what my gp told me as GPs don't directly deal with these kind of heart problems day in day out other than to refer people (and she told me she couldnt offer me much information because of this).....but the cardiologists see so many and they really do know their stuff.

You have to just think too, that if they thought you were at high end risk they would have moved things along much quicker. I think i waited 6 weeks for my appointment with the cardiologist...for the amount of anxiety it was causing me it seemed forever waiting! And during that time i did feel very unwell.....it really does pay to avoid google all together, you really do notice the difference after a bit!

[lucylou]

yeah google is a complete nightmare. well as i say my appointment is on 9th June unless they bring it forward. so that will actually be 14!!! weeks since i was admitted to hospital. Thats a long time to stew over this. I think i need to make some possitive changes in the meantime, the first being to sack DR google. im not going to even think about googling any more...hopefully that will help...and just need to think that no matter how bad my stomach feels or how it makes my heart feel..if it were that bad i would need to go to the hospital...which so far i havent needed to do...so if it was something im about to die of..surely my symptoms would be causing me some major pain/ discomfort. xxx

[CJH86]

Report Dr Google to the general medical council for that matter me thinks!

And maybe lay off the diet coke a little.....caffiene causes so many problems! i think it actually fuels my googling, yet i still keep chucking cans of relentless and red bull down my throat!!:doh:x

[lucylou]

oh ive given up on the diet coke...my lifelong companion!!! i dont want to induce an attack. problem is im so bloody thirsty all the time!!! must be the come down...its such an addiction. problem is i cant control my thirst cos the bloatedness is a nightmare...water just makes it worse!!!xxx

[lucylou]

is there anyone else out there with a heart problem or suspected heart problems?!

[Janvi]

Hi

Do u mean to say that someone who suffer from anxiety/palpitation
can have a cardiac death. O my god im petrified im very very very anxious
please help me out. I know i will get palpitation on & off now
Please email me on pmulliah@airmate.mu. Can somebody reassure me
now, urgently. I think im having a pannick attack with this. Please
help me with this.Please.........

janvi

[CJH86]

Hi, no dont worry! anxiety palpitations are very different to the problems we were talking about...I get palpitations because of a structural problem with my heart. People with anxiety palpitations are NOT likely to suffer cardiac death