Is it dangerous to stop my palpitations?

[Rhii_anna]

I'm 24 and have had palpitations for well over ten years now, luckily only a few times a year. My palps are the strong and fast kind, usually well over 180-200 bpm.

Over the years, I've managed to find that lying down when I get palpitations like this makes them stop pretty much immediately (no idea how that works, but it does!), so as soon as an episode begins, I usually lie down and stop them. But now I'm wondering if this might be causing more damage than good - is it bad for me to force my heart back into another, normal rhythm so soon after it starts beating fast? Should I just ride it out instead?

I had an ECG and echo last year which showed my heart as completely healthy, so obviously having done this over the years hasn't caused any outward signs of damage, but I don't want to one day give myself a heart attack because I messed around with my heart rate and forced it to go slow so soon after it starts going fast :S

Thanks!

[Careful1]

How do you know your heart rate is that fast during episodes? Have you been attached to monitors when its happened?

You will not suffer any negative consequences from trying to lower your heart rate. I have a few different arrhythmias and my EP taught me a couple things one can do to bring their heart rate down like the "vagal maneuver" for example.

[ankietyjoe]

Of course it's not dangerous as you are not 'forcing' anything. Your body is doing what it wants to do.

There is such a thing as postural tachycardia. Has that been mentioned to you at any time?