Missed beats...

[ann88]

Hi,

This is my first post although I have been looking at this website for ages. It's a godsend!

I'm 21 and have suffered with anxiety and panic attacks for over 3 years, and I used to get lots of ectopics/missed beats etc. I had lots of tests, ECGs, 24hr monitor, blood tests, all ok. Cardiologist told me to try and accept these funny beats. Just over a year ago, they pretty much stopped. Hooray! Thought I was rid of them for good. Not so lucky. A couple of months ago, they started up again. I have been to the doctor and had an ECG (ectopics weren't happening at the time) and he told me not to worry. Can't help it!:scared15: Sometimes I get them really bad, in runs of 4 or 5 at a time then my heart races afterwards. This can go on for 2 or 3 hours. I don't drink caffiene or eat lots of sugar, and exercising doesnt seem to make a difference. It's so hard to live a normal life when I'm worried sick about these awful things.

I don't generally have health anxiety about other things like cancer etc. Just my heart. I also get loads of pains in my chest, arms, fingers, shoulders, jaw, neck (although not at same time as ectopics). At the weekend when I got up, my heart started racing for no apparent reason (about 120-140) and wouldnt slow down for ages. Went back to bed feeling sorry for myself. Yesterday when I was at work my heart seemed to go crazy and jump around doing all sorts of funny things for about 20 seconds. Was just getting in a panic thinking I should go to hospital when it stopped. Is there any way there could be something serious wrong?

Thanks anyone who's reading this, and hope someone can try to reassure me! :)

[JulieM]

You have my sympathies Ann as i am at present going through a similar thing, but still awaiting the 24hr ecg to rule out that its not something connected to my type 2 diabetes, but do you mind if i ask what age group you are in? My gp says that it can be linked to hormonal changes within yr boday and for me its certainly worse since i started the menopause and at period time than it is mid-cycle. I ended up down A&E last weekend because i was feeling so physically ill from it, and they diagnosed an ectopic beat, but it never happens when im sitting resting, only whilst stressed or on the move. its a horrible thing to have to go through and very frightening, but if you have had all the tests then your doctor is right and its best just to think of it as one of your bodies little quirks just like a mole on you chin or birthmark would be.
Julie

[Typer]

I can relate. What I hate so much is that just as you think they are gone....back they come with a vengeance. Like you I have no other health anxieties apart from when I am actually ill with flu or something

For me I get dizzy too and sometimes it feels like my heart wont restart and I'll drop dead there and then. But I don't.

Does not mater how many times people say these are not dangerous...when they come, the feeling is so awful we feel there is something wrong. I do know that the more I stress about them, the worse they seem to get.

Have you had some stress recently or when they started up again?

[ann88]

Thanks very much for your replies. It's comforting to know other people are going through a similar thing. Julie, I'm 21 so don't think it's the menopause in my case! I bet you were relieved when they actually picked up the ectopic beats at the hospital. I worry that even though i've had an ecg, they weren't happening during it so how can the docs know what they are for sure? Typer, I don't think I was any more anxious than usual when they started up again. You're right though, just when we think we have beat them, they come back again worse than ever!

Also, i know i said in my post that exercise doesnt seem to affect them, but I was wrong. I have just bought a cross trainer and although I can exercise and not get any missed beats during, now 2 hours later and I've been getting loads. When I say loads, I mean it must be 1,000.:scared15: I was hoping that doing some 'proper' exercise might get rid of them, but it now seems to have made them worse. I only did 15mins, although for me that's a lot!

One more thing before I bore you all half to death... i've read (or half-read because I was too scared to read the whole thing!:blush:) a couple of posts on here about atrial fibrillation, people who regularly have ectopics have gone to a&e to find that it is actually AF. I dont even really know what that is and I'm not sure I want to know, but I am scared that may be what I have! Aaaaagghhh!

[JulieM]

Ann, if you were a sufferer of AF I think it would have been picked up on your ECG, its a fluttering of the top chambers of the heart which can cause an abnormal heart beat when its contracting much faster than the lower half. It can have various causes and is treated my medication and sometimes other proceedures depending on the cause.
Julie

[ann88]

Hi Julie, thanks very much for your reassurance, it really helped. Iv asked my doc to refer me for a 24 hr monitor just to give me peace of mind that these funny episodes are nothing to worry about. They are stopping me from living my life. As soon as I start driving out into the countryside, i start panicking and have to turn round and head back. Fear of being far away from help/hospital. Silly, i know. I was hoping i could put these funny heartbeats down to something in my diet but iv been experimenting and nothing seems to make a difference. Maybe it's just something I'll have to live with. :weep: The odd one or two i can cope with, but 1,000's in a few hours? It's so difficult.

[Typer]

It is so difficult to live with them...for me the dizziness is the worst bit.

Had some real thumpers today.

I too worry I have A fib and so far have never had an echo. Does anyone know if they would show up on ecg or 24 hour tape.

Occasionally I have flutters instead of thumps - like butterflies in my chest...then my heart seems to stop for a long pause, then I feel as though i will black out and then it kicks in again. Those are just so scary.

[ann88]

Iv not had an echo either. Iv been to my doctor today to arrange a 24 hr tape. He said he would refer me but can't say whether i will be able to have a tape or not; that's up to the cardiologist. I also get the weird flutters Typer, they're awful. It's like I can't feel exactly what my heart is doing, but it's definitely doing something odd. Sometimes I feel it in my throat, sometimes in the centre of my chest. Most of the time though, the ones I feel are like 2 beats together then a bit of a longer pause until the next one. I often get them in runs of 6 at a time, and they can last for hours. Literally thousands. What tests have you had so far Typer? Have you seen a cardiologist? If not, maybe that's what it would take to reassure you? I know that's what I feel will help me.

[Dollie]

Hi Ann88,

I just how you feel, I too have the problems and they send me dizzy too. The cardiologist reccommended i take more salt in my diet and that I have something called Vaso Vagal Syncope but I don't at this stage faint. I've had all the tests and an angiogram so I really feel for you. All my tests were clear so there must be some underlying issues with the anxiety. They gave me propranaolol and that seems to have help as it slows the heart rate and when I have attacks now I feel that the tablets kick in as I can feel it fighting to keep the heart rate at an even pace.

Im sure your fine Ann and you will be ok.
Take care hun :)