Panic Attack or Heart Problems???? Low Resting Heart Rate-Arterial Flutter

[herprayer]

Hi my name is Sherry. I am 48 years old. My first panic attack (http://www.uncommonforum.com/glossary/panic-attacks.html) was at the age of 13. I have had them off and on throughout my life with periods of freedom from them. However in about 2006 they came back strong and again gave me a break for a while (came and went) from 2006-present.

I had been on Valium for over a year and recently took myself off. Had been Valium free for a month. During that time I started drinking freshly made juice and started feeling GREAT! Up until this past about 5 nights ago when I got home from work I was extremely tired so I went to bed, dozed off, woke up a few minutes later hungry and asked my daughter to make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I ate and laid back down when all of a sudden I felt this air bubble under my left rib .. it kinda freaked me out and then next thing you know my heart did a flip flop, my chest felt tight, my heart raced, felt warm sensation over my back and throughout my body I just kept burping and burping too ...we called an ambulance. My blood pressure was pretty high 168/? and I was having pvc's after sitting in the ambulance for awhile I calmed down and decided to stay home.

I ended up falling asleep propped up at about 1 in the morning. Around 4:30 I woke up and started thinking about what had happened earlier, got up used the bathroom and the weird sensations came back with racing heart, tight chest. This time I went with the paramedics and thought for sure that my heart was skipping beats, but they said it wasn't. Once at the hospital they did a quick ekg and told me that I had arrhythmia, but didn't seem concerned. My blood pressure was still high, oxygen saturation was 98% thought I felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen. I did still have a UTI which I had been given a 3 day round of antibiotics about 10 days prior to ending up in the hospital Ultimately they ended up releasing me and suggesting a follow up with my doctor. They discharged me with a prescription for antibiotics and literature on UTI's and Panic Attacks (http://www.uncommonforum.com/glossary/panic-attacks.html).


I called my doctor and she prescribed me lorazapam for the attacks. Today I went to see her and she did an ekg which showed my resting heart rate at 58 which she said was low and then she said the ekg showed arterial flutter, but she said it was wrong. I don't understand why it would show that if it is wrong.

She said that she didn't believe I had an arterial flutter. I am confused. Needless to say this has sent me into panic mode. I keep taking my blood pressure which has been at times 105 over 56 and 101 over 58 once it was 96 over 58 and that freaked me out. My blood pressure usually is on the higher end, but I've been drinking fresh juices to lower it like celery and cucumber juice. I haven't drank any today and I didn't understand why my blood pressure is so low. I also explained that I had been burping excessively and had experienced acid reflux (she said that might be why I was feeling flutters in my chest area) because my esophagus was irritated she prescribed prilocec. I don't know. I'm confused. I use to freak out over high blood pressure and now I'm worried about a low resting heart rate as well as a arterial flutter.

Has anyone else gone through anything similar? I really could use some feed back

Thanks for listening to me ramble on and on.

Sherry

[jothenurse]

They usually say as long as your systolic (upper number) is at least over 90 that that should be ok, though you could get a little dizzy standing up fast. I take ativan, and it does help with the panic/anxiety.

[uk23]

I get this on a daily basis, it started when I was 13, thats also when the anxiety started. It feels like a thud or flip sort of sensation, i notice it after heavy meals.

I looked it up, apparently Atrial flutter is associated with a heart beat of 250-380 bpm! Yours is much lower than that.

Actually I also have the same blood pressure readings as you.

[Lily76]

Hi.

I have bradycardia (low blood pressure) and therefore prone to short periods of arrhythmias (irregular heart beat). It's uncomfortable, as you know, but completely harmless. What your EKGs probably showed was sinus arrhythmia (normal heart rhythm with irregularities) rather than atrial fibrillation, and therefore not alarming.

Usually I feel this strange feeling for a few seconds, like there is a big bubble of air in my chest or oesophagus, and then it suddenly disappears. However, if I'm very tired, and especially if I've been in a resting position for some period of time, these episodes last longer. That's because my blood pressure is especially low. What makes us dizzy and a bit tired after it subsides, is that the heart needs extra energy to "click" back into sinus (normal) rhythm.

What I find helpful is coughing or holding my breath for a while. But these episodes become much easier when you realise there's nothing to be afraid of.