What the consultant says about ectopic heartbeats

[kinnygirl1]

hiya, and hugs back

sorry you're going through this at the moment, and that it sounds like something you regularly have to deal with. i know what you mean about trying to cope by ignoring symptoms, but that's easier to say than do.. maybe distracting techniques might help you ignore them. but - i know the minute you think 'heart' then it's bound to be a trigger for the anxiety, that's why i'm having silly conversations in my own head at the moment, trying to reason it out & keep the panic away.

do you regularly check your blood pressure and/or pulse? i've managed to go the whole day today without doing either, as i almost scared the pants off myself last night when i felt a missed heartbeat twice. i actually feel a little better not knowing just how fast my pulse is, or how temperamental my heartbeat is right now...

Hi yeah my "heart anxiety" started about 2 years ago. Seem to have had various heart related symptons over these years, chest pain , pain in left arm and these flutters and thuds... had many checks 2 ECGs, 24hour tape and blood tests and the only thing that has ever been found is a low iron count...so it's anxiety related. I just need to believe that! I do go through periods of doing much better but these flutters have worried me these last few days. Yes always checking pulse and feeling a missed beat makes it even worse so I don't know why I do it! I have no means of checking blood pressure, which is prob a good thingHope you have had a good day today! K x

[Daisy Sue]

i've had a better day today than previous days... still not used my stethoscope, although i've spied it in my room a couple of times, and made myself ignore it i am very naughty, i also have a blood pressure monitor - probably not the best toys to have around the house when you're an anxiety sufferer lol. normally, i don't even think of checking pulse/pressure etc, it's only when i feel ill and don't know why, i do tend to check then. i am sure half the time i feel yuk is due to anxiety itself, and the logic side of me knows checking will make me worse...

i guess the good thing is, we all know this viscious circle, so it's comforting in a way to know i'm not the only one.

i also have the left arm ache, and as much as i think it feels muscular, that little voice is doing the "what if.." thing.

really good news for you that all the tests, including the 24hr monitor, have come back clear, so you know deep in your mind that your heart is in good condition.. you just need to convince the rest of you now

[kinnygirl1]

I know! I go through phases where only 1% of me believes it's my heart but at the moment I am probably around 40%, cos of the flutters. Having had the tests does help reassure me, but the niggles are still there, "what if they missed something" etc. Coming on here and seeing that others understand helps a lot though.

[yagi]

The comment about low iron is interesting.

I started have what I think are ectopic heartbeats about 12 months ago, but they where so bad that they would really take my breath away badly. It felt really horrible. I ended up in the A&E a few times and rushed to a city hospital one time also. Yet no one could ever find anything wrong. Finally I got iron levels checked and I had no iron, very small blood cells and a HG level of 8 (due to a bowel problem that I am now getting treatment for). I had an iron infusion and wait for that to work.

After the iron infusion my ectopic beats slowly faded, but now after a year I still get them, not very often and not nearly as bad, but I feel them in my chest and a slight feeling of less breath. Normally happens when I am at rest. It's like a swallowing feeling in my heart ... its a weird feeling, can feel it a bit in my throat and sometimes my heart rate speed up just after it happens. When I was getting the more severe ones it was like a bang in the chest.
Is that what other people feel when they get them ?

Anyway I am pretty sure mine was caused by the very low iron levels and hopefully they will completely go one day. I have had stress tests and echo's, holters, countless ECGs ... never a problem found.

[ectopicsufferer]

hi all
reading all the posts i have had ectopic heartbeats for 7 years now, went thru a period of time where i got them once in a while however over the last 3 months now they have been back with a vengeance ranging from lots to a few here and there daily big thumps runs of rapid beats .... i read a CBT self help article and its the only thing thats helped me to cope with this plus im now due to see CBT therapist soon ... i rely on telling myself that its just adrenalin and adrenalin can be a complete ****** when he wants lol ... on another note i have low calcium levels and totally unrelated but i thought i would mention it as people connect the heart palps to the stomach i also have a gastric band fitted however ive been getting palps alot longer than ive had the band

I dont understand why they come when they come i dont understand why all of a sudden im getting them so much but i do mostly stay strong by believing in the CBT therapy of the cause being adrenalin, it keeps my head above water and hey im still here after 7 years and no matter what type or how many palps i get tonight ill still be here tomorrow xx

[Brad Dennison]

I've had occasional ectopics all of my life. As a hypochondriac, I've done a lot of reading on this topic, from modern medical journals to old Chinese medicine. Ectopics can apparently sometimes be caused by a misaligned spine, which makes the vagus nerve unhappy. If posture is less than perfect (I have a little spinal curvature, which gives me a sort of Alan Alda posture. Bent forward at the shoulders and neck). Certain vertebrae, when misaligned, can cause ectopics or palpitations or both. Other causes can be too much caffeine, and some people experience this an hour or so after drinking red wine. If you have to kneel down, try to keep your upper body as vertical as you can. Especially your neck.

[Eurorox]

Found this guy on the net he is a cardiologist from York in England and this videos about eptopics are very interesting, one of his videos is called Anxiety and ectopics: The Missing Link , look him up on YouTube, York Cardiology

[WiredIncorrectly]

"There are two types of people, those who notice having ectopics and those who don't"

I have to wholly disagree with this here.

If any of you guys/girls get the thud type skips you know that they are impossible to ignore. They stop you in your tracks and scare the living s**t out of anyone who has them.

I'm telling you this as fact ... these would be impossible for anyone to ignore.

The doctors who make up these claims have never experienced them first hand. They can only go on research.

Some people might have the tiny flutter. I can ignore them. But what I can not ignore is the thuds, and the ones that feel like: hard beat ... pause ... hard beat ... fast pulse ... back to normal. And if you get these in short runs, or have bouts of them for hours, you aint ignoring them. Simple as that.

And I think many will agree these can not be ignored because they cause physical symptoms and feelings.

Doctors don't fully understand it and I think many are still clutching at straws.