Palpitations and heart worries please help

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum hoping I can find some sort of reassurance or someone who's dealt with this. So a bit of background. I'm a 27 year old guy, normal weight if not underweight, fairly active, and otherwise healthy. I've always had worries about my heart starting when I was a bit younger. I got racing heart and went to the ER where they diagnosed me with Right Bundle Branch Block and half of left. This was about 5 years ago and had the whole round of heart tests, echo, ecg, bloodwork, x-ray, stress test. All came back normal and they diagnosed the ecg abnormality as benign and something I was born with.

Fast forward to this September and I had an "episode" I think mostly attributed to anxiety and very bad acid reflux. However oddly sometimes when I eat certain foods or large meals it can trigger these odd symptoms that I get like I had lightheadedness, racing heart that wouldn't slow down for hours around 120+bpm, and palpitations. As well as a feeling of chest pain. It got so bad that I ended up going to the ER despite trying to wait it out for almost an entire day.

At the ER they did chest x-ray, ecg, and cardiac markers for blood work. All came back normal. They saw a palpitation or two and diagnosed those as PVCs. I started feeling better after I got fluids and electrolytes as well as a proton pump inhibitor and was sent home with a clean bill of health as far as they were concerned.

But since this weekend after going out with some friends and having a few too many drinks I've had palpitations about every 30 minutes. I don't usually ever get them so it has me sitting here like a disabled person wondering if I'm going to randomly drop dead :weep:. I also have some chest pain but think it's acid reflux as it comes and goes and had it in the ER too.

Other than the more frequent palpitations and a little chest pain I don't feel too bad other than being tired. I'm just so worried I'm going to randomly die from an arrhythmia I don't know what to do. I have a cardiologist appt next Monday but worried I can't wait until then.

Anyway thank you for taking the time to read this. Wish I was joining this community under better circumstances haha.

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

You've had all the tests to show your heart is working just fine.

You can't die from your heart beating too fast, at least not at 120bpm. It would have to be double that for days, or more.

Palpitations/skipped beats are also not dangerous at all.

I think it's possible here that the first time you went to hospital you were having a heart attack, and whoever you saw was trigger happy with over diagnosis, which has caused you to become hyper aware of it.

One thing I will say is that alcohol really is a no no for people with anxiety, even more so if you suffer from reflux.

I noticed you mention electrolytes in your post. They are very important, and if you do some searching on the internet you will see that studies have shown they can improve heart symptoms - especially potassium and magnesium. It's very easy to become slightly dehydated without noticing, which affects electrolyte levels. Also, drinking too much water can flush electrolytes as well.

For potassium I make sure I drink a couple of glasses of coconut water (they often give it to runners at the end of an event to help replenish electrolytes) per day and eat a couple of bananas (although coconut water and banans also have other electrolytes).

For magnesium - a soak with epsom salts 2 or 3 times a week is great for raising the levels.

I also try to remember to stay aware of signs of dehydration - dark urine for example.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ankietyjoe

I think it's possible here that the first time you went to hospital you were having a heart attack, and whoever you saw was trigger happy with over diagnosis, which has caused you to become hyper aware of it.

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Thank you all for your replies. I've been trying to stay away from coffee and haven't had any alcohol. I know it's most likely that my palpitations are benign and nothing to worry about I just haven't ever had so many before. I hope I didn't have a heart attack the first time I was at the ER. No one told me I did and they ran most of the tests :(.

Today has just been an especially bad day. After work I've been laying in bed all day terrified I'm going to drop dead randomly. For some reason when I'm resting I don't have as many PVCs as when I go for a walk. What really got me worked up is I tried to just go for a short walk and within the 15 min I was on a walk I got 6 palpitations. Instead of that walk helping me I just came back more convinced that since I get more when I walk it must be something bad and I'm dying of some kind of heart disease.

I just don't understand I'm an otherwise healthy thin guy and have been fairly active all my life. I have right bundle branch block and left posterior fascicular block which apparently is kind of rare in healthy people. I had that diagnosed 5 years ago and had all the heart tests and was given a clean bill of health. I'm just so scared :weep:.

I've been to the ER twice both times they did an ECG, cardiac markers, and a chest x-ray but never did an echocardiogram. I'm worried since the echo is the only thing that can see the structure of the heart that they missed something and sent me home sick. Part of me just wants to go to the ER and ask for one but that's insane I know and I already have a cardiologist appt on Monday. I'm just afraid I would drop dead before then.

Ugh that's my mindset right now. I'm sorry I'm just really not in a good place.

Thanks for the support all.