Palpitations or something else sinister

[JustMe]

I’ve been pretty good about my anxiety. I think stress from my recent move across the country is catching up with me and I’ve-been feeling really anxious again. I haven’t been able to sleep really well for at least 3 months and yesterday I was cooking dinner and all of a sudden my heart did like many skipped beats all one after another. I tried to cough to get it to stop but it didn’t help. About maybe 30 seconds later it just stopped and went back to normal. I was shaking and completely freaked out and thought I was going to die. Maybe a blood clot from the Covid I had last month. I was going to call 911 but my husband said I’m fine just stressed. I know I get pvcs but I don’t think I’ve ever gone through that. What do you guys think? I’m so scared to be left alone, go to the store, work out, etc because if it happens again I think I’ll die!

 

[JustMe]

Anybody…

 

[EMJ]

I have had Heart palpitations for 35+ years … over the last couple years my anxiety has been really bad and I notice my skipped beats even more. This past December I noticed I would sometimes get several fast beats in a row which was different than my usual skipped beats… my Cardiologist isn’t alarmed …. Anxiety

 

[E.B]

I’ve been pretty good about my anxiety. I think stress from my recent move across the country is catching up with me and I’ve-been feeling really anxious again. I haven’t been able to sleep really well for at least 3 months and yesterday I was cooking dinner and all of a sudden my heart did like many skipped beats all one after another. I tried to cough to get it to stop but it didn’t help. About maybe 30 seconds later it just stopped and went back to normal. I was shaking and completely freaked out and thought I was going to die. Maybe a blood clot from the Covid I had last month. I was going to call 911 but my husband said I’m fine just stressed. I know I get pvcs but I don’t think I’ve ever gone through that. What do you guys think? I’m so scared to be left alone, go to the store, work out, etc because if it happens again I think I’ll die!

I would venture to say that it sounds like your anxiety and stress is getting the best of you

 

[JustMe]

I have had Heart palpitations for 35+ years … over the last couple years my anxiety has been really bad and I notice my skipped beats even more. This past December I noticed I would sometimes get several fast beats in a row which was different than my usual skipped beats… my Cardiologist isn’t alarmed …. Anxiety

Thank you this makes me feel much better

 

[Zoe Jean]

I used to suffer from chronic stress and anxiety I had many symptoms including PVS. Which all disappear after overcoming chronic stress and anxiety. So it's most likely just from that. My biggest recommendation would be to get help with your anxiety. I saw a life coach and it completely changed my life. Or is someone already supporting you?

 

[JustMe]

@Zoe Jean I’m not currently seeing anyone. I’ve just moved across the country and have been starting to get stressed about it and missing where I moved from. I’ve had help in the past but I’ve been very good anxiety wise for quite a while.

 

[suzzeeb]

PVCs are my normal - I HATE them so much and some days are way worse than others. I have days where I have them all day - lots of them, and other days not so bad. Sometimes even 2 or 3 in a row. I don't think I will ever get used to them and I have had them my whole life (although worse over the past several years). Anxiety always makes them worse. I remind myself they are not dangerous but still freak out over them. They suck but are not dangerous.

 

[JustMe]

PVCs are my normal - I HATE them so much and some days are way worse than others. I have days where I have them all day - lots of them, and other days not so bad. Sometimes even 2 or 3 in a row. I don't think I will ever get used to them and I have had them my whole life (although worse over the past several years). Anxiety always makes them worse. I remind myself they are not dangerous but still freak out over them. They suck but are not dangerous.

Thank you. These ones seemed like back to back, maybe turned into an irregular heartbeat for about 30 seconds to a min. Hopefully it was just a fluke!

 

[suzzeeb]

Thank you. These ones seemed like back to back, maybe turned into an irregular heartbeat for about 30 seconds to a min. Hopefully it was just a fluke!

My husband will out of the blue go into bigeminy - a PVC every other beat and they will go on and on but he can take metoprolol and they stop. Metoprolol does not work for me unfortunately! I'm sure it was just a fluke for you and no big deal.

 

[bin_tenn]

I had an episode earlier this year, in Feb I think? I was experiencing the "skipped" beats very regularly, at least a couple times per minute. I went to the ER and they monitored me for something like five or six hours, ran a battery of tests, and everything checked out fine. I've been fine since.

That is, until one day late last week. I had a similar episode. It woke me up out of my sleep. I sat in bed for a long while. Eventually I realized that lying down or even propping up against my pillows exacerbated it. If I sat up, with no real pressure on my back or chest, it would pretty much not happen at all. A little while after I realized that and had been sitting up, I was finally able to lay down and go back to sleep.

These "attacks" can be quite normal and harmless, in the absence of an underlying condition. They can feel very scary and it's hard to believe that they don't indicate a more serious problem, but it is indeed possible that they're harmless.

 

[Zoe Jean]

@JustMe Yeah it would be hard when you have just moved. Seeing you have had alot of anixety come up now I would say it wasn't gone before and because you didn't heal the anxiety it came back.

It's not good to live with the heart palpitations. I got help to heal my chronic stress and anxiety and I still get anxious sometimes but it's very small and I know how to regulate my emotions now so I can move past the anixety quickly. Therefore it no longer turns in heart palpitations, panic attacks etc.

 

[suzzeeb]

Sometimes people just get them even without anxiety. Most people get them but they are not bothersome to most people.

 

[JustMe]

Sometimes people just get them even without anxiety. Most people get them but they are not bothersome to most people.

Right and I’m totally ok with getting them here and there but it kinda freaked me out because it was just constant for almost a minute like no regular beats in between but then it went back to normal.

 

[bin_tenn]

Right and I’m totally ok with getting them here and there but it kinda freaked me out because it was just constant for almost a minute like no regular beats in between but then it went back to normal.

That's me as well. An occasional skip is nothing these days. It's when they occur very regularly, a few times a minute or more, that I begin to get anxious.

 

[suzzeeb]

That's me as well. An occasional skip is nothing these days. It's when they occur very regularly, a few times a minute or more, that I begin to get anxious.

Yeah that's scary.

 

[bin_tenn]

Yeah that's scary.

It sounds scarier than it really is though.

 

[suzzeeb]

It sounds scarier than it really is though.

That's true. It feels scary but isn't dangerous.

 

[Zoe Jean]

If it's freaking you out 100% get checked out by a doctor. Heart palpitations are not normal and not something that should be left to get worse.

 

[bin_tenn]

Heart palpitations are not normal

They typically are though, especially for someone with anxiety disorder or under high stress.