heart still stopping, in desperate need of help

[candicemarie88]

I've been experiencing very frightening sensations in my chest for 3 days now and they won't leave me alone. I'm scared to death, i don't know what to do, i seriously think i am going to die.

I have asthma, but i know it is not down to that because i have been taking my inhalers and my peak flow is normal.

I have been very anxious for the last 6 months and it's getting worse by the day. I am at university and have not made many friends, so i'm always alone, and feel that if i needed emergency help then i'd have no one to help me or call an ambulance out for me.

I drink a lot and have smoked a bit of weed as i stupidly thought this would help decrease my anxiety.. i mixed the two drugs on wednesday night and woke in a sudden state of panic and sweat. My heart pounded for over 30 mins and i really thought my time was up.

I came to my parents house on thursday since i thought it would help me to relax, however, i feel worse than ever and this is when my heart started to stop and miss beats. I ALWAYS check my pulse, have been since summer and have never noticed my heart stop. Though on thursday i was still worked up about the panic attack i had the previous night, so was chcecking my pulse constantly. Suddenly whilst watching tv, where i had my fingers pressed on either sides of my neck, the pulse stopped, and i felt instantly breathless and an overwhelming electric shock like feeling went through my entire body. Suddenly my heart thudded back to it's normal rhythem.

So i thought it was all in my head and went to have a relaxing bath... then sat down to write my assignment, however, i kept checking my pulse just to be sure and it happened again, three times in 5 minutes... normal rate, then suddenly STOP and i felt as if i was going to pass out.

Okay, so i went to the dr the next day and he didnt even check my heart rate or anything, he didnt seem very sympathetic at all and prescribed me diazepam and ecitralopram. i already feel the need to take the diazepam, and i know im going to become addicted, because i NEED to get rid of my anxiety. my life has lost its meaning and i feel as if i can't enjoy myself anymore... i'm young and no one else my age seems to be worrying about death... :(

Right, so my heart still appears to be stopping and i can't help but feel my pulse all the time, it's driving me insane, i also can't stop crying or researching symptoms online.

My heart feels as if its jumping and fluttering and it feels as if it is in my throat, i also have pain and in my arms, i feel so breathless and uncomortable and have been sitting with a hot water bottle accross my chest all day. plus the diazepam is not relieving my heart/chest symptoms, although i do feel somewhat more relaxed after taking it, but the effects dont seem to last very long.

my question is that if the diazepam is supposed to calm my anxiety, then why is my heart still reacting like this, even when im relaxed, because i can feel it stop and then i feel breathless. surely this is a symptom of something serious? i just feel that i need to be monitored 24/7 and in hospital where im constantly around health experts, because what if i ignore this and then its too late, i might die and im not ready to, i want to overcome this and become the person i once was all those years ago.

i suffer from health anxiety, social anxiety, general anxiety, depresonalisation, ocd and depression... i need my life sorted out once and for all, otherwise whats the point? i hate the person i have become and i have gradually got worse over the last 10 years. i still fell like a child who needs protecting and act like a child, im 22 and need to grow up, but i just dont know how, i feel as if im losing my mind and control of myself, and all these issues and stress surely might cause my body to just give up and this is what im worried about, that my heart is going to just pack in because it cant take a single moment more of this. please help me, i really need someone to look after me, what am i going to do? i feel like jumping off a cliff, i really need help, but no one understands me.

sorry, this is so long and most likely boring you, but i cant control myself, i want to be free from all of this, why cant i just enjoy my life, its a gift that im taking for granted. if i dont appreciate it then whats the point in my existance?

[blueangel]

I had a partner a few years ago who used all sorts of drugs, and in the end he got cannabis psychosis (which is when I left!). Unfortunately, although weed calms a lot of people down, it can have completely the opposite effect on some people, which sounds as though is what happened to you. Alcohol is also really bad at heightening anxiety as well.

It's a shame that your doctor wasn't a bit more sympathetic; is there someone else you could see at the practice next time? The symptoms that you're describing certainly sound like anxiety to me, and I've had them loads of times, if it's any comfort. Have you asked to be referred to a counsellor, or for CBT? The medication will help you to feel more stable, then it enables you to sort the rest of yourself out.

Let us know how you get on.

[countrygirl]

You sound like you are experiencing plain old ectopic heartbeats - your hear does pause before it gives a really hard beat so yes it does feel as if you heart is stopping. Your heart gives an extra beat that you can't feel and then pauses to reset itself and then gives a strong beat to clear the heart of blood - you feel this as if your heart has stopped then a great big thump in your chest or throat. The pausing can feel like a sinking feeling in your chest and then the thump follows. Does all this sound like you??

They are nearly always harmless but for your peace of mind why don't you see your Dr and ask for ecg to stop you worrying.

Drugs and alcohol will make these ectopics much much worse I cannot have even a single mouthful of alcohol without them starting - they are caused by a sensitive vagus nerve and both drugs and alcohold affect this nerve so obviously keep off both if you can.

Of course anxiety can also affect your vagus nerve making the ectopics worse.

[dodo]

Did you read our replies to you on your other posts? I suggested what you should do.

Firstly STOP reading on the Internet as it will only fuel your thinking.

You need to get some sleep as I presume you're not sleeping well if you're checking your pulse every minute of the day.

Remember checking behaviour only adds to anxiety do you need to stop checking. I'm not saying go cold turkey but stopnchevking so frequently and keep reducing it down. It'll be very difficult to do, I know cos I've been there.

Finally I want you to go to your dr today and tell then everything you have written here. At least make them check you over so you know you're ok.

Then please come back later and tell us how you got on.

[burak]

hey there candice.
at the fact "countrygirl" has explained it well i think. you are getting pauses after extra beats. i know it because, i nearly became an expert by going to doctors and having these ectopic beats for about 8 years. im 25 now. sometimes it becomes very bad. it longs for months, and happens everyday every hour. sometimes im getting them on and on maybe 5 times a minute. but know that when u start to check yourself, count your beats they are getting worse. i got a very bad anxiety even now im counting my pulse from my neck :) i got real bad panic attacks for years got medicines and therapy sessions. at the moment i just learned that anxiety gets everything worse and thats all. i got a mvp on my heart. so that causes these ectopic beats. maybe it causes "1" and anxiety turns that "1" to an "10".
even that i dont need to count my pulse by my hand or something, cause i can feel my beat by myself :) im an expert :)
and i have a good nausea all the time. a few months ago i got a very bad attack that, my head got very light and my hands, arms and feet lost the senses. then i said myself thats the end! my friend called an ambulance. they took me in. connected me to a monitor and a machine that can count the body's O2 level. they just smiled and said everythings fine. even the doc said "you can breathe better than me", that my O2 level was 98% and his was 97 or something like that.and added that "if u breath heavy and often some long time the body is going to suffer from high O2 level and you can lose consciousness. these could be cause to that lightheaded feeling." after that i just calmed by myself like everytime.

"count yourself or not these freaky beats wont kill you" my cardiologist said.
and i think we have to trust them.
so go to doc and i think they will say the same thing but you should go anyway cause you have to relieve by hearing that one on one from your doctor.

hope u dont take it long to believe the doctors like i do.

best regards

[RLR]

Okay, your heart is not actually stopping at all. You are experiencing vagus nerve-induced palpitation events that in some instances can produce what feels like a cancelling effect of the normal cardiac cycle. Realize that this is purely a sensation only and not actual asystole, or absence of heartbeat.

Vagus nerve-induced palpitations are extremely common and are the consequence of significant stress and/or anxiety. They are entirely incapable of producing any type of cardiac event and do not represent risk of harm in any way. I will tell you very frankly that in more than 40 years of practice as a physician and specialist, not one recorded case of this type of disturbance has ever resulted in harm to the patient. Not one.

You're going to be just fine. You need to relax. The palpitation events, or absence beats, are analogous to calling the wrong telephone number. When you dial the wrong number, it nevertheless sends an electrical signal to the unintended recipient's telephone equipment, causing it to ring. It doesn't damage the phone at all and regardless of how many wrong numbers the phone receives, it will never affect its performance. A very similar instance is occurring with your heart. An unintentional electrical signal is being sent along the vagus nerve to its terminal points, one of which is the heart. The heart simply responds to the signal and much like the telephone example, continues to perform just fine regardless of how many times it occurs. Understand that the signal associated with the disturbance you are experiencing does not originate from within the heart at all, but rather a nerve elsewhere in the body whose responsibility is to regulate all sorts of processes, including the heart in certain instances.

In fact, everyone has experienced this kind of disturbance. If you've ever overheard someone comment after just being suddenly startled or frightened, they will typically make exclamations to the effect "Gosh! That made my heart stop!" or "That made my heart skip a beat!" These are but two examples of the vagus nerve producing stimulation of the heart and creating the sensation of extra beats, absent beats and other similar characterizations.

Again, the disturbance is entirely harmless. You can visit the following link at

http://palps.chemicalforums.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=general

It is a forum where literally hundreds of individuals just like you are experiencing the exact same type of disturbance. You'll find that not a one of these people have ever encountered any real consequence. It is frightening, but not harmful to you in any manner whatsoever.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)

[gaaron]

Hi, RLR I know it's not the correct place to put this - but I really enjoy your responses to questions.

[kaisersozay]

What you are describing is classic palpitations.

Does it feel as though your heart is a drum and somebody comes along every now and then to beat it? Or perhaps the feeling that a thousand butterflies are released in your heart all at once? These are palpitations of the heart and are nothing to worry about, its a classic sign of anxiety.

Just a word about weed. No doubt weed is fine when you have a clear mind but when your mind is a state, do not do it, as it will heighten any sense of derealisation you have.

[countrygirl]

RLR thank you for explaining ectopics so well - I knew the basics ( I was a lay person in medical world so absorbed loads of info and find it easy to understand) but your description explains it so much better than anyone else ever had especially linking it to the phone - brilliant.

[amy3]

Aw, i know it is absolutely awful. You sound exactly like me. Infact I could've wrote that! If your heart had stopped hunni, u wouldn't be here to tell the tale. Anxiety and fear can give you such awful feelings but in fact it's just your body going into over-drive, ur mind is reeling and u cant seem to enjoy anything anymore cos u r too obsessed and too confused as to what is going on. It is all normal what you're feeling. Trust me. I was like you and look, i'm still here and we all get through it. Just do whatever you need to do to make urself feel better, like take a trip to the doctors, ask him to check you over. All you need and want is reassurance, because it's a mind baffling illness. If you need to chat anytime just PM me. x

[Skin'eadWesty]

I can relate to the weed aspect, I wasnt a heavy user or anything, but I did it when I felt the need, before I realised my panic attacks were panic attacks. One particular time it made me 100 times worse, my heart wouldnt just speed up, it would race till it sounded in my paranoid mind like it was buzzing at oppose to thudding. Really frightening, I dont think I've ever had one that bad, but since being off it and being given beta blockers the heart rate aspect has got somewhat better. I think about it and realise I always had a bad spell on the green stuff, all me mates would be in the zone and 'lean' as they called it, whereas I always got paranoid as it started to wear off. In the weeks following that attack I checked my pulse just like you do, all the time, and I realised I was scaring myself even worse. Now I resist the urge to feel for it, I can still feel it, it's like I'm so in tune with it I can't ignore it, It's known as 'safety behavious', checking yourself out all the time. But some level of distration and resisting the urge to check you're at a 'normal' heart rate can do at lot to help. and stay off the weed in future, you'll realise it just fed the attacks negative feelings. Also for your own peace of mind I'd ask for an ECG, once you realise its not your heart starting to give up it will become easier to deal with in between. I've suffered for a good few months with the same symptoms, but I was surprised by how much advice and learning about my specific symptoms helped. And even now when I have them, I find myself comparing them to the weed incident panic attack, and that alone keeps me from getting out of control because I realise It wont be that bad again!