PalpitAtions

Hello all! I'm a 27 yr old married man with a 6week old baby girl! I have anxiety and panic disorder. My gp tells me I'm healthy as a horse, besides my slightly elevated blood pressure. I take 20mg benicar, Prevacid, and 5mg buspirone twice daily. I had a stress test about a year ago that came back good. A couple weeks ago I wore a 24hr holter monitor because I was feeling like I was missing a breath or my heart was skipping! It is an odd sensation. The results were 49pvc and nothing else. Doctor told me that was great and normal! about a week went by and my mind got to running in overdrive. I went back and was put on a 30 day heartrack smart wireless monitor that comes with a cell phone. I worn it for about a week with no problems. I frequently experience dizziness and palpitations some times! My doctor says its all in my head and that I am fine. Today, a guy at work broke down, so I pushed his car on flat ground for about 200 feet by myself with him steering! It was a full size jeep. When I was done I was so out of breath, dizzy, heart beating hard an fast and I thought I felt a palpitation or two! Is this normal? My monitor has an auto trigger and a manual record button. I pushed it and sent a few readings through to the 24/7 center. They called me about 5 minutes later and asked if I was ok and why I was sending so many manual reads! I told them I was exercising heavily! Do my symptoms sound normal? I'm afraid my heart will just give out! I've got it in my head that my heart is bad and that's why I'm always dizzy! Please help!

Thank you for the reply! I have a feeling that my doc is right and it is all in my head. I hope you find reassurance soon!

Hi ZC.,

It sounds like you have had a few test come back, and have gotten a good report from your doctor...yet as we know, this sometimes is just not enough to quiet the fears that anxiety causes us.

I am sorry that you are having these symptoms. It IS scary, because so many anxiety symptoms mimic the red flags that we are always told to watch out for!

Today, you were exerting yourself and it sounds like the physical sensations then triggered your anxiety...which of course brings on/focuses our attention to more symptoms...

The good news is that they are on record now, and when you get the results...you can rest assured that it was indeed just anxiety making you feel the way you did.

Dizzyness is a common symptom that often results in improper breathing and O2/CO2 levels not being balanced. When you were exerting today, it is likely that you were overbreathing and getting the hyperventilation feelings that include feeling dizzy. (as well as the normal feelings of increased heart rate and breathing that go along with exertion) 

Use your coping skills until you get your test results. (see our Resources for help with these)  Until then, try to trust in your previous tests and your doctor's reassurance that you are well.

Keep us posted as to the outcome of your recent holter.

S.C.

I'm getting by! Thanks for all the replies! I have two more weeks of wearing this monitor! It's driving me nuts! I have GAD, so, if its not one thing I worry about, it's another! Right now ive spent the last four days obsessing about sudden cardiac death and long qt count on EKG (which i dont have)! I'm totally out of control sometimes just looking for that QUICK fix that only leads to more turmoil!