young female concerned about heart problems!

[white1989]

Hi I wonder if anyone can help/relate as I'm absolutely despairing with worry. I am a 25 year old female. For about two years I've been having strange things happen with my heart and chest which has all been blamed on anxiety.
it started when one day at work I randomly felt like my heart was being flung around my chest and jumping up my throat and I got an overwhelming feeling of anxiety like I was about to die. docs diagnosed it as a panic attack, I had about 3 ecg's and one 24 hours ecg which both showed normal, and I have had a chest xray which showed normal. it started to settle a bit and now over the last few months it has come back and I am so worried! its like randomly ill just get a fluttering feeling in my chest, sometimes like a random thud, always accompanied by massive feelings of anxiety, and the other day in the supermarket within the space of about 10 minutes I had about 15 of these 'flutters/thuds' and I genuinely felt like my heart was collapsing, we had to leave the shop and I couldn't stop crying!
I also get persistent breathing problems every day (asthma test shown clear) usually worse towards the end of the day, and sometimes get left chest/arm pain. these heart flutters/prominent beats sometimes also happen when I drink alcohol/have got a hangover/eat a very heavy meal, so I usually adopt 'safety behaviours' and avoid doing things that I was doing when they occurred. does anyone else have anything similar/can make me feel better in any way at all? im worried the ecgs didn't pick something up and I have a serious heart problem - it is literally taking over my life, my relationships, my happiness as a whole. i can't go a day without worrying that my heart is just going to completely collapse. any help greatly appreciated :(

[ricardo]

Hello white

Has something dramatic happened in your life in the last few years which may have set, what sounds like GAD off ?

[white1989]

I did come out of a very stressful and emotionally demanding relationship about 3 years ago. The issues started about a year after this. My therapist at CBT told me this could have had something to do with it, I just never thought that could be possible now. I have so much to be grateful for now, I have a fantastic family, partner, job and home. I can't understand why I am having all these problems

[Aaahhfreakout]

It sounds very much like PACs and/or PVCs, which are almost always harmless. Just over half of people your age get at least one a day but most don't feel them.

Do the thuds and flutters just last a second? Does the anxiety feeling follow them or precede them? Also, were any of these flutters and thuds captured on a monitor?

[white1989]

Hi there, I don't recall having any when I had the 24 ecg on. This made me panic that they've not picked up a heart problem as nothing really happened when I was wearing the monitor. Yeah, they last a couple of seconds usually and an intense feeling of anxiety follows, usually because I think my heart is stopping/about to fail and I'm going to stop breathing or go into cardiac arrest! It's so frightening, some days they ruin my day and I feel like I cannot continue. Other days I don't feel a thing. It is so draining :( what is it caused by??

[Aaahhfreakout]

It sounds very much like you're having early beats, perhaps with short runs of several in a row.

The actual cause of part of the heart firing early and triggering a beat can be all sorts of things, some of which are unknown at the moment.

In your position, I'd maybe ask them to try and record them again and you should give a rough timeframe of how often you get them so they know roughly how long to record for.

Also, they may actually have already recorded ones you didn't feel so perhaps a previous recording shows them. It's very common to only feel some of these premature beats.

It's not sounding like there's anything too bad going on, despite how upsetting these early beats can be.

[white1989]

thank you so much for your message, I think that reassures me a little, its good to know that they may have been picked up on previous tests that I didn't feel. I think I may ask for another 24 hour ecg which hopefully will show some funny beats (I never thought I'd be wishing these horrible episodes on myself!!) but at least they'd be able to analyse them that way. the only problem I face is that I find GP's to be so reluctant in offering any tests or help, they seem to just want to push me out of the room, sometimes even laugh at what im saying, and pretty much just tell me to chill out and stop overreacting! do they have the right to refuse any tests? as I feel I may have a challenge in requesting another ecg

[rockbush]

I have been thru the same as you. once I had these pvc's (skipping beats) for days. went to the hospital and had two doctors stare at the monitor and say well we don't know what is causing this but there is nothing wrong with your heart.
chest pain, skipping beats, etc for over 35 years. Now a days it does sometimes take me on the panic ride for a few days but I tell myself that I am always wrong about anything that has to do with self diagnosis. my thoughts, feelings and conclusions are only that. Does not mean they are true or false or anything. take them for what they are.

[white1989]

hi rockbush,

thank you for your message, that makes me feel a lot better that you've been having them for 35 years and you're still here! sometimes I don't have any for really long periods of time, and then suddenly ill have absolutely tonnes day after day and it makes me not want to get out of bed as I'm so terrified! even though I know they must be harmless (or I'd definitely be dead by now) I can't seem to tell myself this when it's happening! do you ever have any problems with breathing at all? or is it just the funny heart beats?

xx