Heart Skipping Beats

Cuchculan · Apr 25, 2021

Have you ever kept any kind of tracker / journal. When this comes on. What you were doing before it came on. Was it morning or was it night. To do something like that out of a period of a few months and then study it back over and see is there any pattern there at all. Some people are worse in the morning. Others are worse at night. Is all about trying to find any patterns at all. So you might be able to say ' it is far worse when I do this ' or ' it is far worse at night '. Would also keep track of your thoughts. If you remember them. Thoughts before, during and after. Be like you studying yourself over a period of time.

bin_tenn · Apr 25, 2021

To the point about a trigger being a certain time of day, that's absolutely been true for me when I have panic attacks. I also experience what I refer to as "aftershock attacks". When I have a moderate or severe panic attack, I will experience one when circumstances are similar, and each subsequent attack is gradually less intense, hence the aftershock.

So if I'm in the car, and suddenly I have a bad panic attack, I'm almost guaranteed to experience one the next time I get in a vehicle. Sometimes it's the time of day, sometimes it's an action, sometimes overall circumstances.

Cuchculan said:
Have you ever kept any kind of tracker / journal. When this comes on. What you were doing before it came on. Was it morning or was it night. To do something like that out of a period of a few months and then study it back over and see is there any pattern there at all. Some people are worse in the morning. Others are worse at night. Is all about trying to find any patterns at all. So you might be able to say ' it is far worse when I do this ' or ' it is far worse at night '. Would also keep track of your thoughts. If you remember them. Thoughts before, during and after. Be like you studying yourself over a period of time.

This is also a great idea that seems to work pretty well for a lot of folks. I never tried it myself, but so many others have, and they say great things about it. It can help not only to identify triggers / patterns, but also you can reflect on past experiences and realize that what you're feeling "now" is maybe not even as intense as X amount of time ago.

bin_tenn · Apr 25, 2021

Well, anxiety is a process, and it doesn't disappear when we've escaped the irrational thoughts. At least, that's true if you have an anxiety *disorder*. Meaning you don't have to feel obviously anxious in order to experience anxiety symptoms. An anxiety disorder causes incorrect activation of the body's fight or flight response, which causes changes in breathing, heart rate, vision, mental state, among so many other things. With anxiety *disorder*, that natural response is activated when there is no real threat. And that doesn't always mean you have to feel anxious.

Also, irregular beats (PACs & PVCs) are almost always normal whether a person has anxiety or not. I think I mentioned in an earlier reply (unless it was a different post entirely) that it's actually normal for some percentage of all heartbeats to be a PAC or PVC. They're not inherently dangerous, as far as I know (and per my own cardiologist).

JustMe · Apr 25, 2021

ThankfulJen said:
So, I guess I will begin with some history. I am newly 43, slightly overweight, and trying to quit smoking. I have dealt with major anxiety since I was around 32 years old. General anxiety, since I was 19. I go through major episodes and then a year or two of relief. The worst that I dealt with was when I was about 34 and was averaging the doctors office twice a week, thinking I had some horrible desease. Unable to eat or drink. Unable to sleep. I never thought I would get through it. But I did.
Fast forward to today or rather these past 5 years. 5 years ago I started experiencing heart palps although most people would say that is a racing heart so more accurately an irregular heartbeat. And I mean continuous as in 3 days at a time nonstop. I went to the doctor and she said everything seemed fine and as we get older these things tend to happen but she did all the tests, blood work, ultrasound, xray, EKG, to give me peace of mind. Everything came back normal. They finally went away. They do tend to come back when I have very stressful days, when I have lack of sleep, or when I take a hit off of a primatene inhaler.
These last two months my anxiety has reared its ugly head with my mother moving to another town, sickness in the family, and my husband losing his job. I have been waking up here and there with a racing heart and this seems new although maybe I just never noticed before. As you know, our anxiety makes us super focused on physical happenings much more than normal. My irregular heartbeat has reared its ugly head again. I can't seem to convince myself that this is nothing new. Instead my head says this is different or rather the anxiety. I went to the doctor again. A new one and she said she was sure it was anxiety and prescribed me Buspir 15 MG for morning and evening. Also a beta blocker to take once a day. The beats got more regular and was only feeling a hiccup here and there. Then, a week later, back again and after two days of non stop skipped beats Dr. Google convinced me I needed to go to the emergency room as I was in danger of a stroke. The emergency doctor was kind and proactive. He had me on an EKG. He took my blood. He did an xray. He told me my bloodwork was great. My heart looked great. My lungs looked great. He told me if things got worse to come back and he would get me taken care of. But the irregular heartbeats kept going and all I could think was I should have told him irregular heartbeats instead of palpitations. A week later and they seem to come and go. Sometimes they happen after I eat. Sometimes they just show up out of nowhere. Sometimes I have a whole day without them. I haven't had any major anxiety since the emergency room visit. But the voice in the back of my mind says if this goes on I will surely die. I don't currently have insurance. I can't get on medicaid because of my husband's unemployment. Can anyone relate or does anyone have any advice? Could this be hormonal? Does anyone have any suggestions? I should also add that I have started taking magnesium which seems to have calmed them but not completely eliminated them. I can feel them fluttering in my chest as I write this.. woke up with them today and it is such an uneasy feeling.. I am desperate for any support or advice. Thank you!!

I go through this when stressed out tired. Sometimes they come out of no where. I'm always scared they will kill me. Been told multiple times just PVCs and totally normal. I try not to worry when I have them and sometimes can last a few days even weeks and then just go away. I'm 42 so around same age but have always had these with my anxiety since my teens.

suzzeeb · Apr 25, 2021

I can definitely relate to your concern and fear with having the stupid PVCs! I have always had them here and there, sometimes worse than others, but about a year and a half ago I started having them almost non-stop, like every 3-5 beats. I kept hoping they would slow down but they never did so I went to my doctor and had a Holter monitor which showed like 4000 in 24 hours! I was seriously getting a little short of breath with them. He sent me to a cardiologist who said it wasn't that big of a deal and they only were concerned if there were structural changes to the heart or if there were 10,000 or more a day, which I couldn't even imagine. They did an echocardiogram and said the structure of my heart was normal and they would not hurt me but if they were really affecting my daily life I could have an ablation. I chose the ablation because I couldn't live with having that many constantly. I had that done last July and they were able to stop most of them. I still get a few every day because he really only wanted to stop the most frequent ones. They are not much of a bother to me anymore but I lived in fear for months with those stupid things.

But like I said, they were not concerned at all even with the amount I was having. He said people have tons of them every day, some people don't even feel them - not sure how that is possible! So they are really pretty benign and just totally annoying and distracting, and anxiety does make them worse so for people with anxiety it can be a vicious circle.

Maybe they get better in the evening because you are getting tired in the evening and not so worried about it? A lot of people have worse anxiety in the morning so maybe that's what makes them worse then. Hopefully they will ease up soon!

TruthHurts · Apr 29, 2021

ThankfulJen said:
I am really starting to think this is connected to when I eat now. I just had lunch and could feel the irregular heart beats starting. I got brave and looked up the connection between the vagus nerve (sp?) And I'm going to look into some of the remedies suggested.

Yes, it is connected this is one of the things that I first noticed and it started giving me anxiety 3 years ago. Once you understand it better you accept it and it doesn't bother you as much.

bin_tenn · Apr 29, 2021

ThankfulJen said:
I am really starting to think this is connected to when I eat now. I just had lunch and could feel the irregular heart beats starting. I got brave and looked up the connection between the vagus nerve (sp?) And I'm going to look into some of the remedies suggested.

GERD can also cause palpitations and other heart crap. Any time I have a moderate to severe bout of GERD, I also experience regular palpitations (skipped beats), and sometimes a racing/pounding sensation. I'm actually dealing with this right now. I took some Tums so things should be back to normal very soon.

GERD can actually cause a lot of troubling (for someone with health anxiety) symptoms. I get chest pain, back pain, shoulder pain, skipped beats - all sorts of crap. Haha. It causes me a bit of anxiety sometimes, including now. I'm trying to take a step back and remind myself that this is normal, and I'm alright so far. Not panicking.

bin_tenn · Apr 29, 2021

ThankfulJen said:
I could very well have this. Is heartburn a symptom. Because I never have heartburn.

Not always. Everyone's experience is different, probably depending on the exact root cause. I don't always get heartburn or acid regurgitation, but can have the other symptoms.

bin_tenn · Apr 29, 2021

When you experience episodes like this you could try taking something like Tums. Chew two or three, and see what happens. It always works well for me, almost instantaneously. If that does the trick, you could talk to your doctor about long term management. Sometimes a person just needs lifestyle and/or dietary changes. I know for me it's mostly diet, because if I eat well, I rarely experience it. As soon as I slip back into eating less than great, I start having reflux pretty regularly.

bin_tenn · Apr 29, 2021

ThankfulJen said:
I'll pick up some Tums today and try that. It would be great if it works.

I'm overdue for eating healthier. Since keto wasn't all that pleasant when it comes to matters of the heart, I'll just have to work on more fruits and veggies. That was probably tmi lol just rambling now!

Haha it's all good. I personally won't stick to a strict diet. I feel like it's generally too restrictive. Instead, I just focus on eating better overall. More fruits and veggies, poultry and fish, smaller portions of red meat, etc.

TruthHurts · Apr 29, 2021

ThankfulJen said:
I'll pick up some Tums today and try that. It would be great if it works.

I'm overdue for eating healthier. Since keto wasn't all that pleasant when it comes to matters of the heart, I'll just have to work on more fruits and veggies. That was probably tmi lol just rambling now!

Legumes are the perfect food to add to your diet. Tonight for dinner I'm making a burrito mix that consist of pinto beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, quinoa, red bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, onions and some healthy seasonings that we enjoy. I eat this type of stuff a lot. It's cheap, healthy and enjoyable.

PS fun fact beans actually help to lower the heart rate.

Heart Skipping Beats

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