Do you worry about palpitations?

[soulvalin]

I have suffered with palpitations now for about 7 years, on and off depending on how stressed out or anxious I am.

They have also varied in strength over the years, some scarier than others.

I have had little flutters, big flutters, little thumps, big scarey thumps, palpitations that were long and made me think I couldn't catch my breath, wierd heart jumping about all over the place palpitations (escecially when in panic mode) little regular ones every 20-30 seconds usually when lying in bed feeling anxious, palpiatations for no reason even when I am feeling calm, palpitations when trying to talk to someone 1 on 1 or standing in a queue, palpatations when exercising, when I have eaten a big mean, when I breathe in deep, when I used to drink too much coffee... the list goes on.

I have had ECG's, Trips to the hospital and the doctors, all tests have come back fine.

The hard thing about getting rid of palpitations is it is a vicious circle, if you worry you will get them, then you worry about them, then you get them worse. If you think you get them when your having a day when you don't worry that is because adrenaline is still in your blood stream from the last time you worried. Adrenaline will give you palpitations, and adrenaline once it has built up from anxiety does not just go over night. I have found that it takes my body about 1 week before the adrenaline has left my blood stream enough for me not to have palpitations. This is only when I don't feel anxious though, if you worry or feel anxious or feel panic then you will produce more adrenaline and you will keep getting palpitations, and the more you worry about them the more you will get and the bigger they will be.

Adrenaline causes apalpitation by entering into your heart and making it beat soner that the regualr beat, as you heart still wants to remain in a rhythm it then misses the beat that it should have beat and skipps to the next beat, by doing this there is a bit more blood in the heart than normal so it beats slightly harder to expel the blood, this is what gives you the thud in your heart. THIS WILL NOT HARM YOU. I have had 1000's and I am still hear, I have had 2 this morning because my little girl woke me up suddenly shouting in my ear and which in turn produced the adreanline and gave me a few palpitations.

Now what I dont do any more is Freak Out!

There are 2 ways to deal with a palpitation,

1 way is when you feel one, completely freak out, check your pulse, feel the missed beats, your heart racing, sweating, pacing up and down, producing huge amounts of adreanline, going in to full panic mode having more, possible phoning the nhs helpline in a state or even worse ringing for an ambulance.

or 2, when you have one, completely ignore it and do something else, cough hard when you feel one coming on, DO NOT check your pulse, clear your throat and take your mind off your heart. Keep doing this, every time you have one. Try to stop building up adrenaline in your blood stream. Then carry on with your day.

The adrenaline you produce with anxiety is not the same as the adrenaline produced when excersising, excersising will reduce adreanline produced by anxiety. At first though you will probably get palpitations so don't go straight in with a 2 hour gym session, a 20 minute walk each day will be enough to begin with, then you can build up to longer sessions over time.

Before I finish I just want to tell you about my gran, she has suffered quite bad with anxiety since she was in her 20's, she was on various tablets as a young lady, she has had palpitations all her life on and off, she still gets them and she is 85, yes, she has been having them for over 60 years, she said that after so many years she couldn't worry about them any more.

I was also once just by chance talking to a heart surgeon who told me that he got loads of palpitations before he had to perform an operation.

The simple fact is palpitations are an every day occurance in everybody, it is how you deal with them when they occur that makes the difference. So the next time you feel one, don't give it the time of day, think 'I've had them before and I will have them again but I am not spending any more time worrying about them!!!!!!!'

[Loubelle87]

Hiya

That's a really interesting post and very helpful especially as I suffer terribly with palpitations and I'm actually getting them right now.

Do you have a lump in throat sensation that comes with them? I sometimes get a feeling like something is stuck in my throat and then I might breathe in deeply or bend a certain way and I can the flutter feeling.

I only every get them in my throat and I don't get chest pain with them. They go as quickly as they come but every time they frighte me and I feel like I may collapse.

Mine come on even when I'm relaxed or at work on the computer. It's a horrible feeling and I try everyting to stop them but can't :( x

[soulvalin]

Hiya

That's a really interesting post and very helpful especially as I suffer terribly with palpitations and I'm actually getting them right now.

Do you have a lump in throat sensation that comes with them? I sometimes get a feeling like something is stuck in my throat and then I might breathe in deeply or bend a certain way and I can the flutter feeling.

I only every get them in my throat and I don't get chest pain with them. They go as quickly as they come but every time they frighte me and I feel like I may collapse.

Mine come on even when I'm relaxed or at work on the computer. It's a horrible feeling and I try everyting to stop them but can't :( x

I used to suffer quite bad with them when I was sitting doing nothing, sitting at the computer was when I used to get them the most, they used to freak me out as I was sure there was something wrong with my heart.
You might think your relaxed because you are sitting watching TV or on the compter, but you are not really, there will still be adrenaline in your blood so you will get palpitations. They will not harm you though.

A lump in your throat is common with palpitations and anxiety, like I said in my post, when you feel one coming on or when you feel your having one, cough and clear your throat then think of something else, don't dwell on it, that will make it worse and you will get more.

Yes breathing in deeply will give you palpatations and bending over, lying on your side in bed, stooping down etc... this is very common, you will not collapse. I bet you have had 100's if not 1000's and never collapsed. That sould tell you something.

I drink Pukka Clean Greens, I have found it really helps, you can get it off amazon, powder form is better, also eat as much green salad as you can and stay off caffine and sugar, junk food etc. Eat healthy, loads of greens, rocket, lettuce, cress etc, this will help. Also a vitamin b supliment might help and eat magnesium rich foods like raw broccoli, peanuts and spinich, don't go withhout food for too long as acid build up can give you palpitations as well.

Oh, and try to stay off booze, this will only make your palpitations and anxiety 100 times worse.

Do your best not to let them scare you, the more you DON'T focus on them the less you will get.

Good Luck and let me know how you get on

[jaspar]

Hi

Thank you for posting your comments regarding your palpitations.
I will carry on regardless just like your wonderful grandmother!!

[Emma86]

Thanks for the great post!
I have suffered with them for 10 years now. I have experienced everyone possible! They still frighten me.
I can be having a great day and feeling great and my heart can skip about and it brings me right down :(
Most of the time I can let it go and not worry about it but other times its all I focus on.
I find them worse when I'm poorly or its the time of the month for me.
I also have a 5 year old daughter who can also cause them! Not her fault of course.
Im terrible for checking my pulse if I get a run of them, waiting for the next one. I need to stop it!
Having CBT for my anxiety and negative thoughts so I need help with that aswell. Its comforting to know that other people feel the same as me!

[tt]

Dido here, I do appreciate hearing that someone else looses their breathe. That is the scariest part for me. I do feel better reading your post and totally agree that if you fuel the fire the flame gets higher.
Thanks again, I am sure this post will help a lot of ppl.

[iceman68]

@soulvalin ..thank you very much for your super informative info ...

as for mine the palpilation started somehow once i quit smoking ...been almost 11 months now, but yet i do get that at days and even once woke up with a heavy heart burn and was perspiring from my hands and feet even being in an airconditioned room ...

but somehow doctor was directing me stating that i'm undergoing Nicotine withdrawal symptom which when the body is detoxifying, you get the palpilation ...

never had these before and only started 11 months back ....at times it freaks me out that i'm gonna get a heart attack, but very much after reading this it's a RELIEF to know that it's kindda norm at times...

and for those who had been smoking out there, yehh this is something you may have during your sessions without the ciggy ...

others symptoms i had upon quiting my ciggies
1) bad sinus and throat glan elongated ( first 3 months )
2) heart palpilation, loss of breath, stomach bloated ( 4th month till the 6th month )
3) stiff neck upon waking up in the morning, high BP 150/90 at times and drastic weight loss and heart palpilating at times --on going

[ewood79]

This is a great post, I'm struggling at the moment and my palps and missed or skipped beats are flipping me out.... Over the last 8 years I've had countless ECGs, Cardio stress test and all fine, nothing wrong with the ticker....

I find when extremely anxious or stressed they are worse. Even my GP says he gets them etc.

At times I can blow them off to be nothing, other times I freak the hell out!

[saab]

Great post, OP. Missed beats are very scary, but as you say, they are really slightly premature beats - at no time does your heart stop, there is just a slightly longer pause and then a bigger beat as your heart clears the extra blood through.

I read a lot on the All Experts Cardiology forum - the heart doc on there frequently posts that 'pvc's are normal heart activity' - meaning they are not unusual and most people get them at some time, just that some people are more tuned in to them than others.

I have been having a good spell the last few months - I usually get hundreds or more a day - then last night in bed, quite relaxed, boom - they started up and I had several in a couple of minutes. Still a lot better than when I get 10 a minute for hours at a time, but still an unpleasant shock after a spell where they were much reduced.

The last time I saw my GP about them - it was a locum actually - he just looked at the last holter monitor test that had showed 300 in 24 hours and said there was nothing to worry about. (The 300 was a good day, I hadn't felt any that day!). He also said that I was probably never truly relaxed - that I was prob in a state of slight anxiety all the time. I think this is true - when you get so anxious over something you are never really relaxed.

I find heavy meals, stress, cold weather, a hot bath - all can set them off, but unfortunately nothing has ever stopped them, they have just reduced of their own accord at times.

[Dazzaroonie]

Great post, soulvalin. Many thanks for sharing!

It can be difficult not to overreact when palpitations strike. I struggle with them when relaxing or trying to sleep - it's so easy to focus on a strange sensation like that when not engaged in activity.

Adopting an indifferent attitude towards them definitely seems to help keep them in check. It's not always easy to do, of course, but I'm sure it'll get easier with practice.