Sudden palpitation

[peter34uk]

woke up this morning and just lay there for a bit on my side. Was about to get up then something happened in my chest.

It was like a switch and my heart started racing like 300bpm (theoreticle but thats what it felt like) and jumping out of my chest.

I jumpred up and ran to bathroom to dowse myself with cold water. It slowed down to normal after a couple minutes.

But what the hell was that and does it happen to anyone else?

[Maj]

Hi Peter,
This has happened to me once or twice over the last few months. It just comes without warning and goes. It must be like an ectopic beat, but different in that it is a series of quick beats. It does frighten you when it happens but it soon calms down again. Like ectopics I don't think it's anything to worry about and is all about the electrical activity of our hearts - blinking nuisance though!
Myra x

[jnuz]

Hi, it has happend to me also during 7 years of anxiety. I guess it's obe of the nasty symptoms of it. But as i've read and told to - harmless ;)

[sarah jayne]

Its happened to me over the last year and although its scarey i think its just another horrid smptom of anxiety....

[karen001]

OMG this has just happen to me tonight! Had a funeral today so felt bit funny.but got home was chilling on sofa and band all of a sudden my heart starting beating so fast,i jumped up and vision was bit blurry for few seconds then i went on to my balcony and had rescue remedy then i was ok!! Scared the hell out of me!!

[thetube82]

hey Peter this is most probably anxiety, next time dont throw water on your face, it wont help at all (in the long term), anxiety always passes anyway....fact.

[peter34uk]

Really the doc says if u throw water on ur face it stimulaes thevargus nerve!!

[TracyL]

Hi

Yep I have to say my doctor told me to splash cold water or better till put dip my face into cold water (hopefully not drowning :blush:) and that it would make my heart rate go back to normal. I've never tried it I have to admit so not sure if it would work or not.

Tracy

[jothenurse]

I get tachycardia with my panic attacks, though it seems like my pulse is kind of fast most of the time. I have been in the ER a few times with a pulse near 160, but they say it is sinus tachycardia, a healthy heart, just panic attack. So, I am supposed to be able to exercise and be fine. I used to exercise all the time before this happened - but now if my pulse starts to go up, which of course it will with exercise (plus I lost 20 pounds and am now out of shape), I get scared right away. I also have some of the other symptoms with the anxiety, lightheadedness, feeling faint, feelings of unreality, wobbly legs. I take Ativan .5mg early in the morning and .5mg at noon. I am in the process of tapering that. My psychiatrist says it is a very low dose. Any ideas though how to get over being so scared with the tachycardia and being able to exercise? The doctor just says he's reviewed all of my EKG's and they are all fine - to go ahead and exercise and if I get a fast pulse, take some deep breaths and relax.

[Faethra]

Cold water doesn't really do anything to me but make me feel clean, and thus lessen some of my anxiety. But I love water anyway so it always makes me calm. :P

As for the exercise... start with just little things and work your way up as you feel more comfortable. As my palpitations have gotten worse with my anxiety this past few years, it has made me afraid of exercise and exertion as well, but I've done many tiring things and I am still here. :3 Though... when I was in for my EKG during a panic attack my heart rate was only 99 bpm. My average at rest is 60. It was lower during high school, but I don't know exactly... I was on the soccer team, and I remember going to the hospital to have a cyst taken from my scalp and the doctor commented on how slow my heart rate was, but I was still getting 100% oxygen to my extremities so I was fine. *shrug* Strangely enough I have a history of having slightly high blood pressure. xD

[whisperingbells]

Peter, it sounds like you had an epsisode of SVT. Supraventricular Tachycardia. The fact that the cold water helped is a tell tale sign. My cardiologist said this will slow your heart down, as well pushing down as if having a bowel movement, or also, rubbing your eyelids with a little bit of force. This stimulates the vagus nerve, which is the nerve in charge or keeping our HR under 100bpm.

I have this, and I take beta blockers for it. They do help, but I'm having a procedure to fix the problem. It can be very hard to catch on a monitor, and people often present to ER with the racing heart but then it stops within a beat and won't be caught on the monitors.

SVT attacks come on within a beat or two, and normally end the same way. Mine starts with a hard thump, and then I know my heart is racing. It then stops the same way.

SVT is when you have an extra pathway in your heart, and triggers (like stress, anxiety) can cause this pathway activate and go crazy. You're heart is literally ''chasing its tail'' and going far too quick. It's a loop in the electrical system.

My heart rate has gotten up to 200bpm during an SVT attack. I have had everything around me go black and yes it is a scary experience.

It is not life threatening, but still you should go to ER if it lasts more than a few minutes so they can convert you back to normal sinus rhythm and get proper diagnosis.

If it happens to occur again, keep in mind rubbing your eyelids or the cold water. Works for me.

[Turtleman]

Hi Pete / Whisperingbells,

Just wanted to post a comment about your experience Pete, and about SVT, I used to suffer with SVT, I had my first episode when I was about 13 years old, I am now 43 and no longer get any episodes, like you my heart would just explode into a race at 200 beats for no apparent reason, they used to last only a few minutes, and would only get about 2 - 3 a year, then when I turned 40 I would get about 1 a month, the worst one lasting over 1 hour, when that one happened I managed to get to the A&E and they put me on a monitor and got all the information they needed to make an accurate diagnosis, which was SVT.
They scheduled me for a relatively new procedure called an ablation, the SVT happened because there was to many electrical impulses going to my heart, so they needed to remove some of the electrical pathways, and to do this they needed to burn off some of the electrical nodes on the heart, this was done via keyhole surgery by entering a vein in the groin and going up into the heart.
Quite a unique experience as they don't put you right under only mildly sedate you, and there was a bank of 12 video monitors next to the bed with a supersized image of my heart while they were doing the operation, after they burned off the affected area they then tried to stimulate the heart into a full blown SVT by mild electric shocks, sounds grim but was really quite ok, the drugs they give you take away any worry or concerns and you don't remember it as a bad experience at all.

I don't get any SVT now, but I am left with regular palpatations and eptopic beats usually one or two a day, sometimes none at all and only lasting a few seconds, my condition used to control me and my life, its so nice to have things the other way round now.

Thanks for letting me share this with you, on a final note while the SVT is quite scary it is not life threatening or even dangerous in any way, I had it for over 30 years, I have always been very sporty and active (mountain biking and karate) and my heart has been fine, in fact the surgeons told me that the SVT would give your heart a good workout without having to do any exercise!! thats got to be a bonus, the heart is a muscle and needs a regular workout.

Take care and best wishes.

[dodo]

Can I ask re this, if it involves extra pathways, wouldn't they show up on tests like an echocardiogram?

[Typer]

Yes I have had this several times - very scary but like all of you, it stops after a while