Hi all
I won't list my complete history here as it's long....I do have other posts on here though that describes it all in detail. By way of background, I have suffered from PACs/PVCs for around 3 years. Came on during pregnancy and never really left...
I posted a few weeks ago about a scary episode I had where my heart just went all fluttery and when I felt my pulse it was bounding away pretty fast. I jumped up and coughed and it stopped. I'd say it lasted less than 5 seconds. I have had similar episodes and was referred to cardiology again in Summer 2019 as my GP knows I get very anxious and she said it could have been SVT. More holter monitors but nothing significant caught. My last monitor was a 7 day one in February of last year and again, nothing found.
I'm used to the skips and thuds, the little flutters, the double beats and all of those but I'd always thought these horribly fluttery episodes where my heart races was SVT but one day I stupidly googled and came across VT and I read a comment on a site from someone saying that if your heart feels fluttery, it's definitely VT. That really frightened me and put me back on my slippery slope of anxiety again. I have read a lot of things about heart rhythm disturbances from cardiologists and watched Dr Gupta's videos from York Cardiology and they have all stated that you would not be able to tell from how they feel as to whether they are atrial or ventricular. Also, you cannot necessarily tell by feeling your pulse as to whether it's SVT or NSVT. I feel in a right mess because I have all this information flying around in my head. I guess i'm just after some perspective from someone who knows a bit about ectopics or has suffered with them for a while - can they feel different sometimes but be the same thing? I.e. can a PAC feel fluttery one time but a heavy thud the next? I'm terrified that I had NSVT or a run of VT because of the quick succession of fast beats before it righted itself. I listened to how Dr Gupta tapped out a VT and it scared me but it also is similar to how a SVT is tapped out....I will state that I don't feel anything other than anxious when these happen - no dizziness, pain or anything, just sheer terror that makes me need the toilet...
Also - I had a echo done March 2019 after the height of my ectopics and it came back that I had a structurally normal and functioning heart. Would these results still stand even though it was done 2 years ago considering there have not been any significant heart events such as a heart attack since?
I acknowledge my anxiety and stress (I am still having EMDR therapy where I was documented by my therapist as a 'severe case') so I know this won't help but they happen at times when I don't feel particularly stressed too. Sometimes I can go weeks without noticing anything and then weeks where I'm bothered by all manner of sensations. I have been discharged from cardiology twice and have asked to be referred again and am awaiting my appointment.
Thanks for reading, hopefully someone can relate.