Palpitations for hours and hours

[Amy2Crazy]

Thanks everyone so much for your words of support....still worried, especially stressed today, as I had to go back to work....don't get off for 18 more hours....but it could be worse, I guess.... I am seriously considering quitting this job. The chest pains are always a lot worse here, and it was here that the palps started in the first place.... I don't know what I am going to do, all I know is that, since I got here at 6am (1 PM now) I just keep thinking over and over "I don't EVER want to come back here again"... Not sure what to do, but I AM sure that I am now just rambling =P Sorry bout that....

[ronski]

Hi Amy

It looks as though you have found your stressor, the workplace. To my cost I know that working 18 and 24 hr shifts are not good on long term health. I have now stopped doing these shifts and when I return to work my employers have said I can stick to 10 hr shifts and no out of hours. ( I had the support of the occupational health department)
I understand that you probably feel like you are in a catch 22 but your health is more important than money.

These enormous anxieties are the ones probably driving your premature ventricular contractions due to overstimulation of your autonomic nervous system so increasing your blood adrenaline levels. Have a word with your employers and tell them your concerns, you never know there may be an acceptable alternative to which both sides may be happy with.
look after yourself
Ron

[goth]

hi amy i had a bad time this time last year with missed heartbeats my gp sent me for ecg's 4 times i also had to wear a tape recording machine 4 24 hours and was sent for a heart scan it all came back as ectopics caused ba anx so dont worry to much i found the more i worried about my heartbeats the worse it felt i no it feels really bad at the moment try not to worry to much i no thats easier said then done. take care hope everything turns out ok keep us posted love lin x

[Amy2Crazy]

Going WAY off topic now, I definitely feel like I am in a catch 22... I am already down to working only one 25 hour shift, getting paid for 20 because I am allowed to sleep, but it is really hard for me to sleep here...the bed isn't comfortable, it is hot in this room, and the owners dogs smell up the whole place, and she is hardly ever around to care for them... plus, she saves everything for when I get here... Also, she has made it a point to tell everyone that I am having panic attacks... I could sue her for that, but I won't.... That would only end up hurting the clients (I help run a group home for developmentally disabled adults)... We've also had a couple of deaths in the last couple of months, one was our pharmacist that we dealt with all of the time, the other was our house manager, who also happened to be the boss' mother... so I have a lot of grief and guilt and feelings of obligation wrapped up in this. Also, the clients love me... one of them, at least, considers me to be the only one that understands her (probably because I am the only one willing to listen to her)... here I go rambling again....my point is, my chest has just ached and ached today (plus it is 100 degrees here) and I find it equally bad to stay and to quit... and this is just adding to all of the stress and anxiety...

Hey I know! If everyone that reads this will just send me a few hundred thousand bucks (or pounds, I'm not picky) then problem solved! LOL

Seriously, though, thank you all so much for listening to me rant, and just...thanks so much for being here, this place is really my lifesaver right now, waiting for the meds to kick in (BTW I am taking Celexa, on day 7 now, but so far they just seem to make me sleepy).....

Thanks Y'all,
Always,
Amy

[Iove]

Hi Amy,

I have had palpitations on and off every now and then, but today i started having them and they have not stoped yet. Probably been going on now for about 6 hours now. At first I thought it was because I had more coffee than usual... but the fact that it still hasn't gone away makes me worry as well.
Do you also get a feeling like you need to cough when the palpitations occur?

Have you recieved any update since your original post from your doctor?

As for me, if they haven't stoped by the time Im done work Im kind of tempted to go to the hospital. When I was a kid I remember having what the dr called a "minor heart murmur" that apparently went away.. does anyone know if they can come back?

On another note... Im just trying to stay calm and not focus on it... or anything else that may bring on anxiety. Try to stay positive Amy, cool and calm... at least that's what Im trying.

[Letish41]

Hello all, I know this discussion was done since 08, but I also wanted to share my experience. that I myself have been experiencing these palpitations. And it's not easy to deal with or at least not for me. As of ystrdy 1/10/18 i experienced the lingest palpitation ever. It's been going on for 8 hours which I never had before. I think the longest I've had one come on was for about an hour to an hour and a half. But late-night I just couldn't find myself to fall asleep. It's 7:15am here Texas and I'm afraid to fall asleep. I do have an appt at 2pm with my cardio Dr. For other reason which I hope it all goes well, first time ever having to see a cardio Dr. These palpitations can be very scary..
I feel so alone to Amy,

[cprelude]

Hey Amy, you can take comfort from some things here: First, you've done all the right things in getting it checked out. Also, there are people on this forum, posting who've had similar experiences to you and they are able to write about it, and help you put it in perspective. There are people who have got better over time too. From my experience of irregular, anxiety-related, rhythms, I can tell you, purely from evidence of my experience (I am not medically qualified) that the "hours and hours" feeling, and the fears around it, is terrifying - admittedly. But the thing about that hours and hours and feeling is that I've found myself adding to the time it all takes to settle, by, inevitably focusing like mad on the problem. In my experience it feels like, as we say here in the UK, "herding cats". I just chase round and round the problem in my head, and that unsettles me even more. Trying to break that habit, and get on with manageable tasks, and focus on generally on life around me, whilst they are still going on, is really hard, but there's no harm in trying. Things you can try are: Doing the washing up, watching some TV (cookery programmes are good), tidying your desk, doing a computer game (like you said, playing in the "Arcade" etc). Nothing in living with anxiety comes easily, but, if you are having an experience in which anxiety is playing a part, there are ways to soften the intensity of the anxiety. I am still a student in this, by no means a master...But focusing on externals, "distraction", whatever you want to call it, is a part of the process. And it is a process. The other thing is to send yourself positive messages in a relaxed tone, along the lines of, "it's going to be OK, this is adrenalin and anxiety up to its old tricks. It will settle". I call it "posting myself a letter". Eventually the letter arrives at its destination, and life gets a little easier.

So, take it gently. And very good luck. Congratulations on getting this far so far!

Paul

[Daedalus]

Hey Letish41

I recently spent 24 hours in hospital hooked up to an EKG machine. For the whole 24 hours, the machine was beeping saying that I was getting frequent PVCs (i.e., palpitations).

The doctors, including several cardiologists, were utterly unconcerned. I was averaging about 8 missed beats every minute (topping out at 13 PVCs in 1 minute), but as far as they were concerned, it wasn't clinically significant. They discharged me - I was there for a stress echocardiogram (there was a lab error, which suggested I'd had a heart attack, they knew it was a lab error, but they needed to confirm things with the stress echo before sending me on my way - basically, covering themselves) - saying everything was fine.

Anyway, the point is I probably had about 2000 missed beats in the 24 hours, all caught on monitor, and as far as multiple cardiologists were concerned (I think I saw four different cardiologists in the 24 hour period), it was nothing of concern.

If you've got a structurally normal heart, if you don't have heart disease, and if missed beats are fewer than 10% of your total beats, it's overwhelmingly likely there's no problem (even if you have a whole load of them).