Heart flutter/missed beat

[QA5IS]

hi i'm new here. ive been told by my doctor that i suffer from anxiety. the reason i went was because i was getting these 'flutters' from my heart or sometimes flutters with a thump. he told me they were perfectly normal but i'm worried he didn't understand what i meant. i was taking my pulse the other day after getting out of breath when i had a 'flutter' and my pulse actually missed a beat. sometimes they are more severe than others and happen when i get nervous. excited or out of breath. does anyone else get these? ive looked them up and think they are called PVC's. thanks and hope someone can put my mind at ease!

[Terry]

I have been suffering from anxiety for the past two months. Heart palpatations are one of my symptoms, althought not alot, but I do have alot of other weird symptoms. Electric shock head feelings, which penetrate into my sinus, well that's the way it feels, neck tension, difficulty breathing. I have been through all the heart tests, and recent MRI for inner ear, oh ya, I also get plugged ears and ringing in the ears. It all stinks and it came on so sudden. One panic attack, then I am stuck with this... I HATE IT...HELP!!

[mikel]

Q - I get the flutters and skips too. It's not very often, though. Mainly it happens when I'm extra stressed about things. Usually when I start checking my pulse, I'm sure to get them. It almost feels that if I'm checking for it, it happens.

Terry - All it took for me was one panic attack as well and I've been stuck with anxiety and reoccurring panic attacks. I've had plenty of tests and they've all come back negative. My head tingles too and every once in a while when I'm laying down to go to sleep I'll have some breathing difficulty, almost as if I need to force myself to breathe. It's quite irritating and doesn't allow me much sleep... which is why I wind up on this site at this time of night. :P

[vanphelan]

First let me say that you (99 percent sure) have nothing to worry about. I went through the exact same thing. I first felt the skips over the summer last year. In June I had a collapsed lung which required surgery and a hospital stay which started my anxiety. Sense then I have thought I had everything from lukemia to brain tumor lol. I had some weird white blood cell count at my physical which sent my anxiety into overdrive which turned out to only be a little viral infection but I digress. I was having the heart beat skips as well. I would feel a flip flop in my chest like I couldn't breath for a half second. When I checked my pulse during these I noticed the beat would skip. After persisting with my doctor I have come to discover that I had benign PVC's and they are HARMLESS. Everybody gets them from time to time but I just so happen to get them all day long multiple times a minute especially with anxiety. I even wore a 24 hour monitor to make sure. Doctor says there are meds you can take to help with the sensation but honestly juts knowing they were benign has calmed them down big time. I still feel one once in a while but for the most part I don't even think about them anymore. I would check into PVC's with your doc and ask to wear a 24 hour monitor to give you a little peace of mind. If you need to talk let me know I am always pretty bored at the office lol.

[QA5IS]

thanks vanphelan, you've really put my mind at ease. what you had/have sounds exactly like mine. your the first person ive come across that knows what i'm talking about . ive had them for years now but seem to have long periods of time where they dont happen or maybe im not noticing them. just recently ive noticed them more and sometimes they can feel quite severe and take my breath away. doc says thier normal and had an ecg done which was normal. thanks again anyway mate.

[vanphelan]

i know how terrifying/annoying these things can be. I didn't believe they could be "normal" but the more I thought about it the more I realized I had probably always had these. I totally know what you mean about them taking your breath away. Most of the time I don't notice them at all but I would have periods of time (for a few weeks or so) where they were very strong and I noticed every single one. Best we can do is ignore them I guess. This whole process has gotten better/easier. Just watch out for what I call the replacement symptoms lol. As soon as I get one thing explained to me it is like a new thing jumps out at me.