Please help, Heart Palpitations, PVCs and Panic Disorder!

Hi there,

I've always been the kind of person who reads stuff over the internet rather than post in forums about my problems. Well I guess today I'm forced to make an exception.

My story is quite long but I'll try to make it as concise as I can.

I'm a 26 year old guy and have been having chronic stress and anxiety about my health for the past 2 years (almost)! I'm quite the hypochondriac. At the age of 23, I had hit obesity big time and after seeing my healthy mother of 58 almost dying of a heart attack, I decided to take a shift in life and become healthy, and so I did! I had been taking beta blockers for my high bp due to my weight which I managed to stop taking after losing so much weight a year after I adopted a healthy and active lifestyle. My cardiologist performed an echo and an EKG back in 2012 and told me that I have a sound heart and I couldn't be any happier! I could finally say that I knew what I loved in life. It was working out and being healthy. I became completely fit in 2013.

In March 2013, I had a blood work for my usual annual check-up and literally freaked myself out over an abnormal reading. I was shivering in bed the night I got the results, googling stuff and reading about scary things like leukaemia. I discovered later by my GP that my abnormal reading wasn't in fact abnormal, however, since that day, I have been living in fear over the slightest pain I get in my body. Getting checkups and tests for almost everything like a crazy person until I decided on the night of December 31st, 2013 that I'm going to snap out of this and focus on staying positive and leading a healthy life as part of my new year's resolution.

However, and on January 11th, 2014, I felt my first ever PVC firing in my heart while lying down watching TV. It was a scary feeling. I had just come out of a very bad sore throat so I figured it must've been induced by that, went to a doctor who said it was just a post-nasal infection and gave me some pain killers and vitamins to take.

Seeing that my PVCs were really affecting me (at that point I had no idea what PVCs were and didn't even know if the flutter in my chest was related to my heart) and since it was clear it wasn't a chest infection, I went to see my heart doctor who I had seen in 2012. Told him what I was going through, he did an EKG that showed PVCs. Echo showed a perfectly normal heart. He gave me a 2.5 mg beta-blocker to take once a day. And so I did. I wasn't really feeling that much better, and so I took the medication for a month. Went back for another doctor visit a month later as I didn't want to be put on beta-blockers for nothing. He said that he thought I'm just worrying myself too much (which was and still is true) and put me on a holter monitor for 24 hours after 2 days of stopping the beta-blocker.

My holter showed a non-sustained run of Vtach for around 8 seconds while I was asleep which I didn't feel or get awakened by. He was shocked and referred me to an electro-cardiologist. My life was turned upside down at that point. I said that I must be dying soon and got even more freaked out than ever when I knew that this could possibly be fatal! I asked all possible questions to relieve myself such as if this could be induced by my anxiety, or the fact that I had stopped taking the Beta-blocker 2 days before the holter reading. The doctor kept saying that your heart shouldn't go into Vtach by those triggers and we need to do some more tests.

Anyway, he did all kinds of tests possible including another echo, EKG, and 4 other holter monitors (24 hours, 48 hours and 36 hours). All showed frequent PVCs but not too-frequent where I could be a candidate for an ablation or getting a defibrillator. No runs of Vtach were recorded. My PVCs were (according to my doctor) less than 1% of my normal heart beats and finally the doctor attributed my short run of non-sustained Vtach to stress, anxiety and caffeine intake. (I had just quit my job 10 days before the first holter monitor that showed the run, so he said I must have been really worrying myself). He also said that he suspected I had POTs (a syndrome where my heart would race abnormally upon standing - which I had always felt but was told by my doctor in 2012 it was due to my weight loss and that I just have to get up slowly in the morning - which usually helped).

I underwent another test called Tilt-head up for POTs. On the day of this test, I experienced my first panic attack ever while being hooked on the table. The doctor told me that I had to re-take the test as the test results were inconclusive due to the attack. I did the test the next day, and came back positive (barely positive, as the doctor said I had a touch of POTs only).

I kept telling the doctor that I could sense my PVCs but they're not what I'm most bothered about. What bothers me is that I ALWAYS ALWAYS feel my heartbeat very forceful and it affects my breathing. I also have a chronic dry cough for almost 9 months now. He said that this is all due to anxiety!

During the past month I've had 4 panic attacks, 2 of which got me running to the ER and even sleeping at the hospital for 24 hours in the CCU under surveillance. Everything came back normal except for my PVCs of course.

My doctor then referred me to a shrink first who said that I'm going through a panic disorder and then I went to see a psychiatrist who wanted me to take an anti-anxiety medication.

I still haven't taken it but I take half a pill of lexotanil 3mg when I'm feeling really bad. Deep inside, I feel like I can conquer this and it's all a lie. I know I'm a little delusional but I want to be OK. :(

I am now always symptomatic, I get tingling sensation in my face from my anxiety when I'm worried. Dealing with frequent PVCs daily and always always feeling wired by my forceful heart beat even when I'm not having an episode of PVCs! It's like a vicious cycle where my palpitations are making me anxious and my anxiety is feeding my palpitations.

I read stories where people have PVCs who are benign but mine is different. I was plagued with a run of Vtach once and it's always in my mind. With every PVC I get, I fear that I could go into Vtach even though my doctor said that my case is mostly benign as I have a structurally normal heart. He said that moderate exercise would be good for me as my PVCs tend to go away while exercising.

I did exercise only last week and during exercise I felt completely fine, even when I ran on the treadmill or did some light weight-lifting, but I sensed that hours after my workout, I was having short breaths and mild chest pain that scared the hell out of me!

I'm now lost and worried all the time. Is it all just triggered by my anxiety?

Any insight from you guys would be really helpful. I want to know how I can go back and lead a normal life. I wish I can go back to being healthy and exercising regularly. I want my old life back without panic attacks. I want to sleep with ease at night. I want to live like a 26 year-old :(


Sorry for babbling for so long btw but I really am in agony

I'm not a doctor but with the weight loss your magnesium intake is low so try a magnesium supplement and I bet you will feel better. I wouldn't have believed it myself but a while back I aslo was getting pvc's quit often and was put on a 24hr halter which showed nothing serious. I did some research and started magnesium and a week later and still today I hardly ever get pvc's.

Hi Zak and welcome

I am sorry to hear of your current anxiety, fears and symptoms. I know how this feels.

I agree with Hibee that you need to explore all treatment options to help you to get a handle on anxiety management.

Talk to your doctor about taking your prescribed medication and getting started with on-going therapy/CBT sessions. There is help and hope for being free of these worries!

In the meantime, and as an enhancement to meds and therapy...

...here are some self-help options to get you going in the right direction today. Practice the recommended coping skills daily, and you will see a difference in how you feel.

Self Help for PVCs

 

http://heartpvcs.com/pvc_cures.htm

http://heartpvcs.com/long_term_pvc_cures.htm

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Self Help sites with breathing/relaxation exercises instructions

Panic attack relief exercises:

 

http://www.healthcentral.com/anxiety/c/73076/34334/breathing-lessons/

http://www.healthyplace.com/

http://www.stress-relief-exercises.com/

http://www.ehow.com/video_4405003_breathing-exercises-panic-attacks.html

http://www.psybersquare.com/anxiety/panic_relax_I

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Health Anxiety - A Self Help Guide:

 

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hypochondria/pages/introduction.aspx

Helping health Anxiety

 

http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/infopax.cfm?Info_id=53

Health Anxiety- The Super Scanner

 

http://www.get.gg/docs/SuperScanner.pdf

 

Keep posting with us as well. We understand, care and support is key!

Scaredy Cat

Thank you all for your posts. :)

Miss spice bomb, I know! What confused me more with my doctor is that at first he was like: I don't want you to exercise. Do some brisk walking and always be with someone, he thought I had something congenital which he later dismissed when he did and echo, stress-test and numerous EKGs which all showed nothing! And the last time I saw him he was like I need you to exercise 6 times a week and I want your heart rate to go up to 150. I was like what the hell? Make up your mind already.

However, mine wasn't an 8 beat run. It was more but lasted 8 seconds - he did eventually say that he's not concerned about those when my heart looked healthy, but by then the damage (psychological) was already done and I'd already started panicking.

What makes it hard for me to get past this is that I'm always symptomatic and keep getting worried that maybe there's something wrong with my heart that they couldn't pinpoint. After all, I didn't do an MRI as there is no clinic or hospital that has the device in my area. All of this lead to me getting puzzled and more lost as to whether my symptoms are all being exaggerated by my anxiety or that I really have something lurking there physically in my heart.

I'm starting my first CBT session tomorrow for my anxiety and attacks. Will definitely ask my therapist about possibly taking meds for now. Hope this puts an end to my suffering.

Sorry my mistake about the 8 beat run! Lol!

Even so my cardio would still insist that a 8 second run would be fine!
He told me it has to go on for more than 30 seconds for it to be deemed as dangerous,but I guess all doctors are different!

And about CBT, Its great, it helped me tremendously!!
Good luck :-D

Zak,

Yeah!! Great news about your reprieve from panic...and the great work that you are starting on in therapy! I am so happy for you! :)

In answer to your question...yes, I have had those feelings and concerns about my heart. Many of us with anxiety have a heightened awarenss of our body's functions/fluxuations. A change in how we perceive our heart is beating becomes a red alert for us...

...however, everyone has these irregularities, just not everyone notices or reacts. (this according to my doctor)

The bottom line is that you have checked out as healthy...plus, you do have anxiety...

...so logically, that tells you that this is a perception issue, rather than a physical one, right? ;) (I have had to tell myself this many times!)

Keep up the good work, and let us know more of your progress soon!

S.C.

P.S. Check out the 'Super Scanner' link if you've not done so already!