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So Tired of Palpitations Part 2 (Still Tired)

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Posted 4/6/2015 1:19 PM (GMT 0)
Well that explains a lot LOL
Posted 5/3/2015 8:23 PM (GMT 0)
Thought I should check in. I've kept my PVCs (or the stress about them) at bay for several weeks now. Exercise and realizing my blood pressure and other signs of heart disease were not seen helped me out a lot.

Did have a bad day today though tied to stress. Had to go somewhere today and right before leaving I began having minor PVCs. Just barely enough to feel. Had a few moderate ones on the way and still a few more while in among a crowd.

I'd say about 10-15 of them between 10:30am and 3:30pm. On the way home a friend of mine who has actually dealt with atrial fibrillation noticed me checking my pulse and he reminded me that was a no-no as it only serves to spawn new PVCs.

Ever since then I have been mostly relaxed. So today is the worst day I've had in weeks and for the most part I have kept it under control.

Follow up with my doctor finally this upcoming Friday (I actually think knowing that may have caused them to increase a bit.

Hope everyone else is doing well.
Posted 5/3/2015 11:51 PM (GMT 0)
Hi CSA,

Thanks for checking in.:)

Sorry to hear that today was a bit of a challenge...but is sound like you handled it really well! Great progress.:)

I hope that your upcoming appointment is a good one with lots of info and helpful feedback. I know it is hard not to be nervous about appointments, but sending encouragement to relax, as I am sure that everything will be fine.:)

Let us know how it goes!

S.C.
Posted 5/3/2015 11:53 PM (GMT 0)
Hi CSA,

Thanks for checking in.:)

Sorry to hear that today was a bit of a challenge...but is sound like you handled it really well! Great progress.:)

I hope that your upcoming appointment is a good one with lots of info and helpful feedback. I know it is hard not to be nervous about appointments, but sending encouragement to relax, as I am sure that everything will be fine.:)

Let us know how it goes!

S.C.
Posted 5/7/2015 1:24 AM (GMT 0)
After weeks of keeping them under control, they have returned with gusto since Sunday. Monday was just the slight flutters. Then Tuesday was flutters with an occasional thump. Had an anxiety attack last night in bed. Now today, after eating, I am getting the "thump" every 10-15 minutes like I used to. That is so discouraging.
Posted 5/7/2015 2:35 AM (GMT 0)
CSA,

I am so sorry to hear this!

Any recognizable triggers you can pinpoint?

Foods...stress?

Try and keep your diet bland and use your coping skills to keep your anxiety levels down.

I hope this goes as quickly as it came back to bother you!

S.C.
Posted 5/7/2015 2:45 AM (GMT 0)
I have noticed that both nights that the thumps returned I had hamburgers one for supper last night and then one leftover for tonight's supper. Might be connected to that.

I have had a minor bit of excess stress but it doesn't seem like enough to cause this. Then again, I have learned through this board that stress can be very strong in small packages.

I have sweated a lot more the last few days. I have heard dehydration can play a part in how many palpitations we get. I've done a lot more yard work and the weather has finally got above 75 around here
Posted 5/8/2015 3:36 PM (GMT 0)
Went to the doctor this morning. She said she didn't detect anything with my heart, but knowing I have anxiety and seeing I was worried about my heart she did tell me to set up an appointment to get a cardiology screening. She said it was for my peace of mind and next time I come in I can get some better answers from her.

When I asked if it was anything I should worry about she said she didn't want to give me a definitive answer, but as far as she saw there was nothing I should worry about dropping dead from.

So that's where I am right now. My blood pressure is fine. My heart rate is fine. I've lost 10 pounds since my last visit. Nothing was red flagged for me. She just wants me to get this so she can better talk to me about my skipped heart beats.

Of course here's my worry: what if it is something serious and my appointment isn't for like a month? So of course I'm sitting here and finding new ways to convince myself I'm going to drop dead from my palpitations any second.
Posted 5/8/2015 4:33 PM (GMT 0)
I do that too. Now mind you, I've been having these palpitations for years. If there really was something wrong with my heart, I'd guess I'd know by now. Still, I stress when it happens.

I try to "talk myself down", lol. Usually I'm pretty good at it, but other health issues lately have caused me to have a much tougher time relaxing myself. I've found so much support here, and I hope you will be able relax, and think through it logically. If your doctor didn't think you needed to be immediately admitted for testing, you probably are okay. Keep telling yourself that.
Posted 5/8/2015 4:48 PM (GMT 0)
CSA08, I don't suffer from anxiety but I do have plenty of PVCs and PACs. They've been bothering me for about 4 years and I just started taking a low dose of a beta blocker to help reduce the annoyance factor. That has helped a lot. Plus getting more exercise and cutting back on my [already minimal] caffeine.

Even without having an anxiety disorder I would find myself worried when the palps would get so bad as to cause minor chest pain. All the talk about how women don't recognize heart attacks blah blah blah. Rationally, I know that I am at extremely low risk for a cardiac event like a heart attack. I am young. I have low cholesterol. I have zero family history of heart disease in anyone younger than 80.

I also know that my dad has a-fib that he treats with medication. I assume this will ultimately be my situation but that's years down the road.

I have had an echo cardiogram and stress test and wore a holter monitor 4 years ago when this began. I wore a monitor again last month becuase the palps have gotten much worse, and I had an echo this past week.

My message to you is the same as what you will read online and hear from your dr - these are annoying, very common and not dangerous. If they are too annoying or disruptive to your life, there are safe meds to take to reduce their frequency.
Posted 5/8/2015 5:54 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I know that there are danger signs from PVCs like shortness of breath and feeling faint etc that I'm not getting. My brain understands that if I ignored these for several days and not automatically react to every one of them that they'd probably go away. My brain just doesn't do that. But definitely keep at this because every time I hear from others it helps me relax a bit more.
Posted 5/9/2015 1:35 AM (GMT 0)
WhaT is pvc?
Posted 5/9/2015 3:28 AM (GMT 0)

bambola2nv said...
WhaT is pvc?

Long form "premature ventricular contraction" Short form is a skipped heartbeat. It's that feeling you get in your chest when you feel a thump or a thud or a flutter and it feels as though your heart missed a beat or stopped for a second.
Posted 7/17/2015 7:25 PM (GMT 0)
And here we go. Finally had my cardiology appointment this morning. Blood test. EKG. CT scan on my heart. I'll be 3-5 days before I hear something from it. Now I gotta try to relax and not worry about the results (easier. said. than. done!) LOL
Posted 7/17/2015 9:13 PM (GMT 0)
Hey...there you are.:)

Yes...the waiting...it really is the hardest part!

Great job on getting through your appointment...how did it go? Not too intimidating I hope...

How have things been otherwise?

S.C.
Posted 7/17/2015 11:28 PM (GMT 0)
Hello,

I've had these problems for 4 months now.
I had a Holter monitor and an echo, all came back fine.
As I'm sure it will with you! It's definitely an adjustment, still hard to get use to, heck, I'm not even use to it yet. Ha.

Now that I'm done rambling, I'm sure the results will come back that they're harmless, even though it's hard to believe that!

(:
Posted 7/18/2015 12:46 AM (GMT 0)

Scaredy Cat said...
Hey...there you are.:)

Yes...the waiting...it really is the hardest part!

Great job on getting through your appointment...how did it go? Not too intimidating I hope...

How have things been otherwise?

S.C.

I was uptight over the CT scan after the horror stories of claustrophobia I've heard involving tests like that, but it ended up being easy.

Had on and off palpitations ever since. A few bad days, but mostly average or good days. I've had several today but I'm at the point of "well I've had my tests so nothing I can do, no point in worrying." That does seem to help oddly enough.
Posted 7/18/2015 2:02 AM (GMT 0)
Yes! That is great coping...well done.:)

It's weird how oddly freeing letting go of the control can be isn't it?

...a bit of a scary first step...thinking you are going to free-fall into unknown/scary territory, but actually it ends ups allowing us much peace, since the heavy burden is taken out of our hands if we let it.:)

S.C.
Posted 7/18/2015 4:25 AM (GMT 0)

Melissuh said...
Hello,

I've had these problems for 4 months now.
I had a Holter monitor and an echo, all came back fine.
As I'm sure it will with you! It's definitely an adjustment, still hard to get use to, heck, I'm not even use to it yet. Ha.

Now that I'm done rambling, I'm sure the results will come back that they're harmless, even though it's hard to believe that!

(:

I appreciate the words of encouragement!
Posted 7/21/2015 3:34 PM (GMT 0)
Well now I am confused so I'll just post what my results were. The cholestoral and calcium scans appeared to be normal, but the ECG gave me cause for concern.

CT Calcium Score: 0 (10th percentile)

ECT: Abnormal
On the follow up explanation of results it says this is an important finding that could indicate underlying cardiac disease.

Total Cholesterol: 196
LDL: 132
HDL 47
Trig. 83

From a quick search and their follow up explanation pages, these numbers are all good (can be better, but certainly not in the risk range by any means.) Meanwhile, the calcium score it flat out says gives me a very low heart attack risk (less than 5% chance of even having heart disease.)

So what is up with the ECG and just how worried should I be over this between now and my follow up?
Posted 7/21/2015 4:01 PM (GMT 0)
Spoke to a receptionist who said that there was no indication that I needed a follow up appointment after the screening.
Posted 7/21/2015 4:07 PM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry for the abnormal ECG, I really don't know what it means, your numbers look good to me. If you need to feel more at ease, then call your doctor's office back and ask to speak to the doctor, I don't know if I would trust the receptionist either. You have every right to speak to your doctor directly to ease your mind.
Posted 7/21/2015 4:46 PM (GMT 0)
I agree...

While an 'abnormal' EKG can mean a variety of things... many of them not cause for alarm...

I still think that for your peace of mind, you need to speak directly to your doctor.

I'm sorry...I know this is not the result hoped for of course, but remember anomalies happen with medical tests, and are not necessarily indicative of serious issues.

Call for clarification and let us know what you hear, okay?

S.C.
Posted 7/21/2015 6:10 PM (GMT 0)
Going to contact my doctor and set up an appointment. Several friends who have looked at the results and are in the medical field say it appears I have nothing to be concerned about since the primary factors of cardiac problems (plaque, blockages, cholesterol, etc) are shown to be fine on my results.

So hopefully I can relax a bit more until I see my doc in a few weeks.
Posted 8/16/2019 11:51 PM (GMT 0)
It's been a while, but I'm back. I've had some new events unfold and it's causing me a great amount of grief. I thought this might be the best place to come back "home" to.

I've had palpitation problems for years (as my thread can attest to.) In the time since I started posting here I have officially been diagnosed with anxiety disorder and depression. I have started seeing a therapist twice a month to help me get past some of those problems.

In the mean time, my palpitations continued, so my doctor got me a screening. I had a blood test, a CT scan, and an EKG done. Everything came back fine on that, but the palpitations continued.

The seemed to get worse as I started to have runs of them many nights where I would eat supper and a short while later I'd have what would feel like 3-5 in a row and cause me significant stress worrying that this was a bad sign. My doctor, wanting to give me peace of mind, got back with my heart doctor and had me set up on a three day monitor.

The cardiologist gave me a clean bill of health following the three day monitor and for the last year I've been fine. Even when I had palpitations or flutters or runs of them I'd shake it off because "cardiologist said I'm fine."

Then came the beta blocker. My regular doctor wanted my blood pressure down from its average of 140/90 and the lisinopril she had me on wasn't doing the trick so she wanted me to try a low dose beta blocker in with it. She even said that it might help ease what PVCs I did have.

I had reservations about taking them, but I gave in. This past Monday I cut the pill in half (she gave me that option) and took it and went about my business. Same thing on Tuesday. Though, on Tuesday I started to have a flare up of PVCs. lt was unusual since I hadn't had many in the last year, and it freaked me out enough I decided to stop taking the beta blocker.

My doctor is closed Wednesdays, so I wasn't able to speak to her, but on Wednesday afternoon my PVCs flared up to a point that I've never seen before. I was having dozens an hour, and in some cases 3-5 per minute and a few runs of them. This went on all afternoon into the night to the point that by 2am I became so frightened and frustrated that I decided to go to the ER.

Thankfully, it was almost deserted so they took me right in to check me out. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and they did an EKG on me. The head doctor came in about 30 minutes later somewhat bewildered saying that while I was having PVCs, nothing on my monitor or EKG was alarming him in anyway, and he was actually surprised I was feeling them.

He did feel that on some level the beta blocker did cause a flare up, but he felt the heightened amount was also causing me anxiety which was playing off of each other giving me worse and worse PVCs. He kept monitoring me for another 2 hours and gave me a blood test. He found absolutely nothing wrong with me other than the fact that I was feeling every PVC I experienced.

He sent me home, told me not to take any more beta blockers and to follow up with my doctor. Even before I got home the number of skips I was feeling had fallen considerably. I was able to sleep comfortably all morning, and even though I felt a good number during the day Thursday I never got anxious about them.

Today (Friday) I went for the follow up with my doctor. She looked at the paperwork from the ER and said the ER doctor was right. There was nothing on my EKG that looked suspect in the least other than the PVCs which she already knew I had. She felt that anxiety played a huge role in this.

I came home feeling good, only had a handful of PVCs, and then I went outside. I had a run of them. I don't know how many, I just know I felt several flip flops in my chest and it completely undid everything my doctor and the ER doctor told me.

I came in and had a breakdown. I started crying out of a sense of frustration and fear. Here I was just a few hours before being told I was fine, and now I'm right back to square one. After that moment, the PVCs have increased ten fold. Occasional flutters, mostly skipped beats or a double beat here or there.

Even as I write this, I have felt about one or two PVCs every minute. I don't want to go back to the ER, but it being a Friday evening if it gets worse or I don't calm down it maybe my only choice. Any feedback would be much appreciated.
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