Stupid ectopics

[Antonia]

Hi Guys, I feel the need to vent my worries somewhere. My palps have been so bad lately. Last night they kept me awake which hasn't happened in a bit, and they continued when i got up. I know they're harmless but I can't help but being scared. Numerous times in the day they act up. I can't find a pattern. They can happen anytime. I feel like I'm being tortured. They are ruining my life and I don't know how to not let them. One day these palps were not a problem and then, bam, they are so aggresive lately. I don't feel like I was particularly stressed when they got really bad. I'm stressed out now though from these stupid palps. They are getting me down and ruining my life.

[dodo]

What do they feel like?

[Antonia]

Hi, They feel like my heart is skipping, sometimes like it has hiccups or it is jumping...You think I'd be use to it by now...Antonia

[countrygirl]

I know how you feel - i started with them in my early 20's and am now approaching 50! When mine are bad they are very very bad and the bad times tend to last for a few weeks where up to every 3rd beat is an ectopic. In all this time I have never found a common denominator for what triggers them other than they tend to happen when I think I am not stressed! I have tried everything from cutting out caffeine to eating potassium rich food, taking magnesium supplement etc etc .

The big thing to hang on to and I know its hard as I can feel faint and light headed with mine at their worst and they do keep you awake as you toss and turn trying to find a posisiton where they are not as noticeable is that they are harmless.

[Antonia]

Thanks Countrygirl. I started getting mine in my 20s also and I am now 34. I guess we have to go with the flow...difficult somedays but I will try.

[DeetheTree]

Just recently i have been having bad palpitations (like 20 a day or more)
It frightens me to lots. I had them 8 years ago when pregnant and i had them once before for a couple of weeks and then they passed after i wore a monitor. Could these this time really be stress?
I also get a chest pressure/discomfort and it feels like my heart is climbing in my throat before or during the palp. Also i seem to belch more than usual.
I am female of normal weight, i eat healthy, do not drink or smoke and lead a healthy life. They suck and they make me feel like i am going to drop dead or something :/
Advise please guys, i am due a full blood test (including thyroid) and ECG monday.

[dodo]

Dee this is exactly what mine are like at the moment. I have a lit of pressure in my chest and burp a lot and then have this welling feeling in my chest and throat. I have caught a couple of skipped beats in my pulse but sometimes I get the feeling and can't feel one in my pulse. Not sure what is happening and it's vey confusing.

[laurajoy88]

i also share the feeling - my chest feels very sensitive and strange and have the weird belching thing too! :( not good! xxx

[Antonia]

This quote is from http://palps.chemicalforums.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl . It may explain some of the burping and skipped beats. "The vagus nerve...is appropriately termed a "mixed" nerve. It provides a sort of two-way communication of nerve impulses back and forth between the brain and the pharnyx,larynx, esophagus, stomach and associated abdominal viscera(basically, your throat, windpipe, your tummy and guts), the heart, lungs and several more complex but irrelevant body organs or functions. The vagus nerve is the longest and most complex of the cranial nerves in the body.The key point here is to make note that this nerve involves the "heart," the "lungs" and basically the whole digestive system of your tummy and intestines. Now let's pair that with some real specific and limited physiology about the heart and its rhythm.
Remember that we said the vagus nerve is linked to both the tummy, the throat and the heart. Let's assume that we've eaten meal and it's caused us to experience some gastrointestinal discomfort, or in other words, gas. The irregular presence and activity by your tummy and intestines stimulates, more appropriately irritates, the vagus nerve which sends a rather inappropriate signal back along the pathway to guess where? That's right! The heart. Move to the head of the class. The heart is busy pacing away regularly and is relatively unconcerned with all the food you poured into your tummy, when all of a sudden in comes a signal from the vagus nerve because it has been inappropriately stimulated and tells the heart to beat. Well, just like our bad date example, the signal to beat is rather untimely and awkward but the heart has to accept it and respond. The result is extra beats that make the heart feel like it is stumbling. The degree to which it stumbles oftentimes depends upon the extent to which the vagus nerve is irritated and the relative state of indigestion present as the causitive agent." There's a lot of helpful info on the website and it's all legitimate. It's worth a gander ;)

[laurajoy88]

:( thanks for the link antonia. Iv just been woke up by the palps, first time it's happened and I freaked out :( it's hard to explain but do u ever feel like ur hearts struggling to beat? And like aches around the back and side of it?

Ohh it's horrible and I don't think il get bk to sleep now. I guess my doc did tell me I'd get palps in first few weeks of taking citalopram and I'm on day 8 of 10mg but my mind can't accept it's probably just that. Hope you're better than me xx

[dodo]

This seems to correlate with what I've been trying to tell my dr. The first one refused to believe that my palps were associated with my indigestion. The one I saw the other day said it was entirely possible that I was getting a similar feeling of skipping when I had gas.

But thus seems to suggest gas can give a skipped beat?

What I want to know is though dies the gas cause the skip or does the skip cause gas?

[countrygirl]

The gas causes the skip - in olden days !! like back in the 1950's they used to call ectopic beats a windy heart! honest my GP told me this as people got the ectopic beats after eating and would often burp etc:D and be full of wind. Even then they knew it was harmless but unpleasant.
I was told that people who are anxious have a very senstive vagus nerve and loads of things can make it trigger ectopics heartbeats from being worried to caffeine to eating to alcohol to gas etc etc.

[DeetheTree]

Thanks Antonia :) but surely that would only explain the palps after or during eating wouldn't it? I mean i get them in the middle of the night! :/
And why would this nerve suddenly be misbehaving now? It's all very strange.

[dodo]

I really want to believe this explanation as mine does coincide with the presence of gas.

However I just can't get my head round why a bit of gas would make your heart pause.

Re the middle of the night thing. I suppose if you have silent reflux then that could be causing it when you lie down. Mine were worse when I was bending over today and lifting. Strangely I tried the renee deflatine as someone suggested by someone on here and mine have calmed down thus afternoon. Not to speak too soon though.

[DeetheTree]

Mine have come on suddenly (had them about 2 weeks now) so i can't see how gas could be responsible? I have had ibs and gas for ages.

[dodo]

Well I have read through all of the palpitations 101 artical and it certainly makes interesteing reading.

It seems to suggest that it isn't the heart itself that is the centre of these skipped beats and rather the vagus nerve causing the sensation and that the heart carries on as normal thorugh these irregularities.

[Anxious_gal]

does anyone ever feel like their chest or even their whole body is vibrating when they heart palps? It happens sometimes to me and makes it's very hard to ignore :-(

[Antonia]

The vagus nerve seems to be very complex...It makes sense for a lot of symptoms we get. However, sometimes I can't always make it fit. I suggest going to the Heart Palps Forum and posting a question. The moderator is a retired neurologist and he will answer specific questions that we can't make sense of...http://palps.chemicalforums.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=general

[Going home]

A neurologist answers questions about the heart? now i'm confused sorry :wacko:

GH x