Irregular Heartbeat

[zombiesarepeaceful]

I've had heart palpitations and tachycardia since I was a kid for unknown reasons. EKGs and ECGs done when I was younger, and the last one being done a year ago, shows nothing wrong, but does show that my heart is skipping beats. They don't know why. It scares the living shit out of me. I asked my doctor to put me on something to stop my heart from racing all the time, so I'm on beta blockers now. They do the job for the tachycardia, but not the palpitations. I'm not sure if it's even considered palpitations now or an irregular heartbeat. It used to do it only every so often, increasing as I got older. I'm 21 now and it does it up to several times in a few minutes. My heart will stop, skip a beat and start again. Doctors have told me nothing is wrong with my heart and I should be fine. Should I be worried? I tell myself that it's all in my head but I know it's not, and it scares me. Then I just worry about it and it probably makes it 10x worse but I'm a high strung person by nature and I'm scared that I just exacerbate it by worrying.

 

[euphoria]

I have the EXACT SAME thing as you, man. Down to the details. I seriously could have written your post about myself. And yes, it is scary as shit. Went through all kinds of tests, heart monitors, trips to the ER, ugh. Something I did figure out through all that is that I have insanely low blood pressure. That can cause minor palpitations in and of itself because the lower your blood pressure gets, the harder your heart has to beat to pump blood through it. Something I would do to test this theory (with the consultation of my doctor of course) was to go check my blood pressure at those free monitors inside the pharmacy at random times throughout the day. I was, too, prescribed beta blockers for my irregular heartbeat, and those only made my blood pressure drop dangerously low. This gave me more minor palpitations and made me incredibly dizzy and sick. The only thing that worked was... I started salting my food. I would salt everything, trying to raise my blood pressure. Or drink Gatorade, which has electrolytes. Staying hydrated and properly nourished is extremely helpful. Another thing, I quit the beta blockers and my doctor put me on Flecainide. It's a sodium channel blocker. You might ask your doctor about it, it did actually get rid of my minor palpitations which were occuring every few minutes.

I'm also a very anxious person by nature, so that only made my palpitations worse. Now they've subsided over the past few months and I only get one every week or so. I've gone through about three phases in my life now where these palpitations have become debilitating, but they usually only last for a few months before they subside again. But I know it can't kill me, and I know what to do if I get one. I just lay down flat on my back (no matter where I am) and wait for my heart to slow down. I make sure to carry my phone with me just in case, too. But usually if I start to feel one coming on, I just slow down, breathe slowly and just try to slow down my heart if I can. Keeping hydrated and stress-free also helps a lot.

Hope this helps, sorry for the book but I just know what that hell is like going through that. So yeah, check out your blood pressure, try to raise it if it's low, and ask about the flecainide! PM me if you wanna talk any more

 

[zombiesarepeaceful]

See, my blood pressure has always been normal to high. I'm gonna pm you though

 

[Laetithia]

Hello,
I've been suffering the same symptoms, when I was younger (now I am mid-30s). I did several ECG, finding nothing wrong with my hearth, except sometimes (it was happening quite often during the day) I felt my heart in my throat whilst it was skipping one or more beats. One day, it is simply disappeared and I didn't had the same issue anymore; to be honest with you I forgot that I 'suffered' of this until today. I hope it my help!

 

[Cultosaurus]

I have similar problems that I only became aware of after having a heart attack last spring. I always had some palpitations, but they only lasted a few beats. Now I get them anywhere from a few beats to a few minutes. And what you say of the doctors is true and a real pain. I seem to be the only one that is concerned about it. I don't miss a beat, I get an extra beat every once in a while. So, the pounding like I'd just done a 100 yard dash and that extra beat is something that they say is 'normal'. Normal my ass. Like you said, it scares the hell out of me.

Since the attack, I've been put on 3 blood pressure meds, an ACE inhibitor, a beta blocker and recently, don't know the name, something to decrease the di-systolic. I also have type 2 diabetes. For a while I was noticing that the palpitations would occur shortly after eating, which is where my sugar would go up without the metformin diabetes drugs. So, beyond the suggestions of the low BP being the cause, it may be blood sugar.

Doctors really need to advise patients better, instead of just saying that something is normal. Sitting in the hospital and watching the heart trace, then feeling your heat pound and see the monitor suddenly show traces that are twice that amplitude is very much a problem. I'd occationally feel faint, like I was going to pass out, but, since my heart attack was from blocked heart blood vessels, that may also be from blocking to the veins and arteries to my head, but IDK. I never could figure it out. But it still scared the hell out of me.

Good Luck with it.
Peace
Cult