Heart Skipping a beat

[Derekkest]

I have had anxiety since 1992. It started after a very stressful time in my life where I had exhibited the text book symptoms. I saw my GP and he had put me on medication.

I have since then gone off medication and seem to have been copeing fine. However lately I have been under a LOT of stress. Wife, Job, Money, Grandmother's health, Parents Health, etc etc etc...The list goes on.

I was laying in bed last night and I felt a weird feeling in my throat, almost like a vacume or flutter. So being the hypochondriac I am I took my pulse and to my shock I seemed to miss or skip a heartbeat.

This put my anxiety through the roof!! So today now I can feel them happening and it is scaring me. I looked up miss heart beats or "PVC's" online and most of what I see is that they can be caused by stress and are mostly harmless. I have an appt. this afternoon with my GP just to make sure.

Do any of you suffer from these? Do they go away on their own? Should I be freaking out all day before my appt.?

[punisher]

Occasionally yes. They do go away. Don't freak out about the dr visit. They will probably do an EKG that is the easiest test you can have. Let us know how it goes.

[doworkson]

I have had that same problem where your heart skips beats or palpitates. I went to a cardiologist too and they did an ekg and put me on a treadmill. All the tests came back normal so I would tell you its probably stress or anxiety related. The dr appt is nothing to be worried about. Its really simple. the first time it happened i was playing basketball and could have been because i was dehydrated and then after that i worried about and it seemed to reoccur. now i dont worry about it at all and it hardly ever happens.
Hope everything turns out ok for you!!

[DAVIE 28]

im not 100% on this but im pretty sure what you are getting is what called eptopic heartbeats where after a heart beat you get another one straight after then there is a delay until your next heart beat which will be normal again. thats where the flutter sensation comes from and usually the beat after the fast one feels like a thump in your chest.

yes they are harmless and nothing to worry about but unfortunatly we dont think like that and we think we are going to die or having a heart attack. ive been getting them regularly (more at night time) for about 2 years and im still here fighting fit :)

hopefully if you get a EKG this will prove it and hopefully ease your worry.

goodluck and let me know how you go

[Knawx]

Yup, same here. I'll go months without having them and then all of a sudden I will have one. Once I have one, I can't help but go into a state of worry, which only makes them occur more regularly.. haha.

The worst one I have ever had was while playing in a basketball game. The crowd was very loud and tension was high, then I felt my heart stop, and then start again followed by eratic beating for the next few hours.

Soon you will find something else to obsess about, and you will forget about your heart. That's when it will start beating normal again. ;)