Palpations

[bashley]

I am really getting in a state. My chest really aches I feel like I can't breathe properly. Every time I bend down today I get a palpatation andi feel like my heart is racing. I have had lots of tests over the years as I worry about my heart and have done for 7 years. Back in June I had ECG,echo,48hr heart monitor and was told by cardiologist it was fine apart from couple of ectopics. I had tho have the tests as I was due to have a hysterectomy but they cancelled at the last minute due to my heart and pulse going through the roof. Every time I go to doctors or hospital my heart races. I am having the op now in December so every time I go to see my gp about the palpations or chest pains they just look at me and say I have had all the tests and its anxiety due to my upcoming operation. But that's not helping me. I hate being alone as I am worried that something may happen. I feel so drained by it all. Is this really anxiety? Sometimes I get really forceful thuds in my chest and like spasms that shoot right across. I saw on here some people have mentioned about p.o.t.s I'm scared to look this up as I know its a heart condition please help

[livethelife]

hi there. i suffer from heart palpitations too and in the past it has tripped of some big panic attacks. like you, i have had all of the tests done and all came back normal although they could see the extra/skipped beats. i had a stress/treadmill test done a few years ago and while on the treadmill i had a skipped beat - i told the attending nurse that i just had something go on and she looked at the printout and indeed i had had a skipped beat - she could not believe that i had actually been able to feel that - she said that she typically has people there on the treadmill who are having skipped beats who have no idea they are having them - they can't even feel them.

so....bottom line - some of us are VERY sensitive to our heart and how it is beating. sometimes when i lay on my left side in bed i get heart palpitations and the only way they will stop is if i change positions. other times i just get them randomly and sometimes i get them when i am on the treadmill.

what i can tell you is that for the most part they rarely now set of a panic attack - i tell myself that my heart has been fully checked out and it is fine. also, i tell myself that i have had exactly the same feelings before and again i have been fine.

i hope this is some encouragment to you. i have been having heart palpitations ever since i was a kid (didn't know what they were then) and i am now 48. i have gone thru times when i am having many of them every day and then none for a while - that just seems to be how they go for me.

[bashley]

Thanks for the reply, I just hate them so much. I had the stress test about 7 years ago and they said there may be a problem with the blood supply to my heart so I paid privately to have a heart scan and they said I had zero calcium so no blockages, my cholesterol is really low too. And the scan results were sentbto my gp saying it was fine.When I went to see a cardiologist in June I told him that the previous stress test has hung over me for 7 years because of that remark that there could be a problem. He looked at me and shook his head and said many people get a false positive. And not to worry, and he listened to my heart ran ECG, and echo and gave me a portable heart and bp monitor and said the results were normal and I can go ahead with my op. but I still worry all the time. My nan died of a Heart attack walking me home from school when I was 10 I was holding her hand I think that maybe this has triggered something off and everything to me is heart related. I've seen a few different cardiologists and they all say its anxiety. My left side is always the worst I have rib pain on that side so I naturally think its heart related. I just want to be normal

[SarahH]

Bashley......I think after all the tests you have had you can safely say your heart is ok............................It is hardly surprising that you have this fear after losing your nan from a heart attack and witnessing it at the age of 10!!!! You do not have to be a Psychologist to work out where your fears come from.

I have fears of losing people I love in car crashes ...........because at 17 I lost 5 (yes FIVE) people to car crashes in 2 months....three of them were in the car I was travelling in.....................................my psychologist has taught me to understand this fear.

this is anxiety

[livethelife]

Bashley
what a terrible thing to witness as a child re: your grandmother. i think it is safe to say that this is the origin of your worries.

for me, when i was in grade 5, a boy in my class died of a brain tumour - i have been plagued by worries about health since then - most often brain tumours even though i never really think about this particular boy anymore.