Stimulants Help me better understand heart related anxiety problems during a comedown

[hatrix]

Heart related anxiety problems are a pretty common occurrence for me when I take any sort of stimulant, as I normally experience anxiety when sober and am prescribed xanax (as needed) for it. I'm currently in between refills though, so can't go to that for relief.

So tonight I plugged 2x 20mg Adderall XR (40mg total at once), crushed into a powder and dissolved into a solution. Did 20mg plugged 3 days ago but it wasn't strong enough, was kind of disappointed. So I dosed it about 7 hours ago, still have a bit of that speedy/tweeky feeling going which is pretty obvious as I'm up at 6:30AM and haven't slept yet. Not really worried about that though, I'll try to sleep in a couple hours or so. I don't work until 4 in the afternoon.

But it seems everytime I comedown from a stimulant, which has been mostly adderall the past month or so, my heart rate stays elevated for even 10 or more hours after dosing. I also experience random heart palpitations, so far tonight I have had I think 4 or 5 ? I think the last couple was because I was starting to think about it. Before that they were completely random just sitting at the computer. I'm also usually constantly aware of my heart beat and how fast it's beating because I can feel it. Keeping myself distracted or talking with people will make me completely unaware though so that's why I think this is entirely anxiety related.

Now I want to make sure what I mean by heart palpitation is what other people mean or that they understand what I experience. Seems there's a few definitions people throw around such as, yes, my heart rate is at most times noticeable when on a stimulant, to the point I can feel it throughout my whole body and makes it very heard to sleep, but that's not really what I mean by heart palpitation. What I mean is a sudden feeling like I skipped a beat, my heart fluttered or was slightly squeezed for a second and then its back to normal, accompanied by a sort of relief sensation wave from my chest. It's very similar to when you realize something terrible, hear bad news or almost fall or something..... that sinking heart feeling, but obviously at my actual heart. Like it's a stronger than normal beat or something that surprises. It's like a THUMP in my chest and I can suddenly lose my current breath it seems and I have always played it off as comedown anxiety because that's what the doctor told me is most likely the reason for any heart palpitations I've ever experienced. I HAVE experienced them when sober, super randomly, while working and while completely at rest. But that hasn't happened for a while and I think it was related to my MXE use. Since then sober palpitations haven't happened.

Sometimes I can feel it coming right before it happens. Like I know it's about to do it because of I'd say maybe a tense sensation around my heart, though I don't know how to explain it. It's still so very sudden.

Anyways instead of trying to make a wall of text, I just want someone to assure me this is the same normal sensation a lot of people experience on comedowns. It of course goes away after I get sleep and wake up for the next day/later or whatever (95% of the time). The time I had it when sober was months and months ago and I contribute it to MXE use. While I was sober at work, I was usually doing MXE in high doses the night before as I had a daily habit for about a year.

I've never had any scans or EKGs done on my heart, just the usual stethoscope and breath in for me type checkup when I visit the doctor regularly. I'd love to get some scans done just to know I'm perfectly alright to continue doing stimulants when I want too, but I don't think it would be covered completely by insurance and end up being pricey.

Throughout the post I had two more palpitations, but much more mild than the ones from before.

 

[blight12]

^ I know exactly what you mean. Even the weird precognition you get before the palpitation even happens, like a build up you can sense somehow. I always thought that was weird. These are scary but when you know its all fake, it gets better.

All the above though sounds like anxiety and panic attack based heart symptoms which are scary and seem so real and so bad. If i never had much experience with anxiety and panic over years I would have called the ambulance on myself asap during my first amps comedown related effects. I will say that medical checkup is recommended and nothing else is a substitute, just to make sure.

When i was younger i went through crazy checkups like pipes down my thoat over days to determine the cause of the palpitation and wierdness. Once everything checked out and all was well, it went away as soon as i started to relax about it. Stress is a big one here.

Personally since i know the heart stuff isnt real, i still always get freaked out about the breathing. Each breath seems like the last, like so much effort. It always freaks me out.

A checkup should make clear its anxiety related stuff which is also something that can be treated.

 

[adder]

sudden feeling like I skipped a beat, my heart fluttered or was slightly squeezed for a second and then its back to normal, accompanied by a sort of relief sensation wave from my chest

It sounds a bit like atrial fibrillation. But it may be a change in heartbeat that often happens in stressful situations, e.g. you're anxious, your heart is beating very fast, then you calm down a bit and your heart slows down. Changes in heartbeat are often during comedowns and as your BP is elevated you can feel every beat throughout your whole body. Palpitations are also very often (palpitation - as from Latin palpitare - to move rapidly), it's a condition when your heartbeat exceeds 100 BPM (other sources say 120 BPM) and is accompanied by pounding.

You should get a referral for an EKG from your doctor when he/she notices rapid heartbeat as this may be a sign of some more serious problems. It's fairly simple, I don't know why it would cost much. Someone who can read electrocardiograms should tell if there's something more behind it.