Frequent ectopics - need some help!

[Karenm]

Hi there,
I was on holiday last week and got terrible runs of thumping heart beat with ectopics. Soo awful as you all well know I'm sure!! Anyway as soon as I got back, woke up in the night thinking I was having a heart attack went to hospital. They did 3 ECGs, they weren't happy to let me go home until the ectopics became a bit less frequent. He said I had some abnormal ectopics but couldn't see anything else wrong. they did blood work everything came back fine with 100% oxygen in blood etc,. Chest xray was fine, and no sign of diabetes etc,. I was soo relieved but of course doesn't really stop what is happening to me every day. Do other people feel sick when you kind of go into panic mode ? Its awful it is like it is never going to calm down. Truly starting to forget what relaxing feels like. I have had this on and off for about 5 years now. Originally when I ffirst started getting them had echo too and that showed ectopics but was otherwise fine. Do you think something would have been spotted by now ??? Can't help thinking that one day something will go wrong with my heart. Please help with any advice and tips.

[paula lynne]

Hi there, I understand what you mean as I get an ectopic beat every 2-3 minutes . Anxiety makes it worse, as soon as you are aware its happening...it seems the doom and black clouds desend! I mostly try to accept it, and keep busy. Use all relaxation techniques, good info on the panic and anxiety threads on here. I hope you feel better soon.x

[Karenm]

Thanks for your reply, I know what you mean. I must fight it and not just let it depress me. I wasn't going to go ballet tonight as the thought of an over excited heart with missed beats isn't appealing but will not change my life and will carry on and ride through it.

[paula lynne]

Wow! ballet sounds amazing! any form of excersice burns off the nasty adrenalin which feeds panic, so yes...go the ballet and enjoy it. If you get a few ectopics, keep going...your heart is a very powerful muscle, you will be fine. after class, congratulate yourself for going! well done x

[Karenm]

Thanks for your support I really appreciate it It is nice to know you are not alone.
xx

[paula lynne]

Anytime! let us know how ballet goes x

[Panickypants]

Deffo not alone another one here..

Yep i feel awfully sick when i get really anxious.I actually feel ill sometimes, have never been to A+E as i managed to talk myself down but i have come very close to it a couple of times...Hope you start feeling better soon x

[NattyOne]

Yes, I totally sympathise. I have had a difficult time of it since May (2010). I too have a history of ectopics/PVCs, but they now have developed into 'runs'. Have you been offered or prescribed any medication?
In Feb 2009 I had the usual tests (ECGs, 7 day holter monitor, and Echo). I was reassured that the ectopics were benign, although the consultant acknowledged that they can be very distressing. No medication was offered. And until Easter this year I was dealing with them quite well. Well, sort of, if I am completely honest...
I saw the Lead Consultant at the Cardiology Clinic this Monday (last visit was March 2009). He was very sympathetic and has prescribed me a low dose of BISOPROLOL (beta-blocker), but only to take as a 'back-up', not as a regular medication. He's reviewing me in December.
I find myself not very willing to go on holiday these days. We did go to France for a week in the school holidays, and although I had the ectopics, I did my very best to calm myself for the sake of my husband and daughter. One night I woke up with Tachycardia (heart racing about 150+ bpm), but I did the 'vagal technique', and it suddenly stopped. Although this technique doesn't work for ectopic runs. I've tried it, it actually made them worse.
Hope you get some sort of help. Maybe you should be a bit pushy with your GP - take a friend or family member for support with you. I suspect that my GP wrote a very 'good' letter to the consultant, as I never expected to see the 'Lead' Consultant. I was very pleased about that.
I wish you well.
As an after thought, have you tried keeping a diary of your 'worse' days, just to see if there is any pattern?? Just a thought. I am still keeping a diary, although I can't work out a pattern. Some time ago I thought it was related to my menstrual cycle, but the last few months that idea has been disproved. I even thought maybe I was going into the menopause, I'm 41. But I had all the blood tests for that, and no, bang went that theory. I live in hope of some answer...

[Karenm]

Hi Thanks for your reply. It is nice to know we are not alone in this and because it seems to be a common thing maybe we are ok and just very anxious people who are too intuned with our bodies. I did some exercise thought i might as well just get on with it, and actually didn't feel too bad. Also went to see my doc on Thursday. He looked at my results from the ECG and blood tests. Said he doesn't think necessary for a 24 hr tape as I had one a few years ago but will do it to reassure me if he wants but said I have no heart problem. He was very kind. He probably sees it as anxiety that is causing the ectopics. Had a good weekend, reassurance definitely helps but then last night started to feel them again. I think I have them all the time but some days notice them really bad. It is horrible but I think we need to get positive and they won't go overnight. I paste below something that really has helped me in the past.

Every short respite from fear helps to calm your nerves so that they become less & less responsive to stimulation and your sensations less and less intense, until they are only a memory. Once you learn the trick of relaxing and seeing the wave of fear through to its finish without adding further panic and tension to the fear, or without trying to arrest it by controlling it, you will begin to lose your fear of fear.

I have never asked you to ignore your heartbeats, ignoring is not the same as accepting. Even a healthy heart may palpitate when fatigued or under stress. It is only natural to be alarmed by sudden, unexpected, uncomfortable happenings in our bodies, particularly in the region of our hearts!

Accepting means not getting upset, knowing your heart is racing or skipping and understanding that a heart can beat this way without damaging itself. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the secretion of adrenaline & makes the heart beat fast while the parasympathetic makes the heart calm down. An attack of alarmingly quickly beating heart may come, just as you are going off to sleep, or may even wake you from sleep. Do not sit up in panic. the more you panic, the more adrenalin is released. So, relax to the best of your ability, take deep breaths, and let your heart do this until it chooses to calm down, it is a good heart, merely temporarily over-stimulated.

Sensitized people have these sensations as a more or less constant background to their day. Do not shrink from it. as acceptance calms your nerves the attacks will become less frequent, until they longer come. Do not get trapped in a cycle of fear-adrenalin-fear that constant apprehension brings.

Your heart has evolved over millions of years - YOU are not going to stop it or harm it with your thoughts or fears. You are not as important as all that! Palpitations although attention-demanding, are really unimportant when caused by nerves. You have really got to learn to let it beat without being afraid of it, and I promise you that then it will gradually calm down.

It may be that instead of your heart beating too quickly, your heart occasionally beats too slowly for comfort, you feel faint and you are sure it is about to stop altogether. In such an attack you may feel paralysed, unable to move. This is called a vasovagal attack and is brought on by overstimulation of the parasympathetic nerve, the vagus. The parasympathetic nerves hold the adrenalin-releasing nerves in check. In this case they check too severely, and the heart slows to an uncomfortable rate.

Your heart is not diseased, the attack does not harm your heart. As you worry less, sustained tension lessens and these attacks gradually leave you. Even after apparent recovery, you will occasionally have one. So not be concerned with this. With understanding and acceptance they seem less formidable.

A nervously tired heart will sometimes "miss beats". The beats are not really missed just unevenly spaced. The patient feels as if his heart turns over. These missed beats are in no way dangerous & your heart will not stop because of them. They are annoying but that is all. So do not let "missed beats" frighten you. Many people have them, they are not important.

XXX

[paula lynne]

Thanks for that post, really helpful, as I suffer every day. Really good advice, thanks!