Another racing heart question.

[Rae93]

Sorry for yet another post but I just have a quick question. Every time I put this to the paramedics or doctors in the hospital they seem to brush over it and dismiss it which doesn't really help my state of mind.

A month back I had a very bad week where I would wake at night with a racing heart, at least over 170bpm. Naturally this cared me and the cycle worsened until one night I managed a full night's sleep. Anyway, I had another episode two nights ago and dealt with it myself, refrained from phoning an ambulance and it subsided within minutes and I was fine. However, this happened when I stood up to go to the toilet which I find strange.

But the real question, is that when it gets really fast, that's when I am most uncomfortable. However when it begins to slow it kicks into this weird rhythm where it beats for two and then misses a beat then beats for two and misses a beat and this scares me so much. It's such an awful feeling. I guess it's a PVC every third beat but it worries me especially since it is working so fast. I wondered if this is something dangerous or just the heart dealing with trying to slow down?

[anxiousmess]

don't think the doctors are dismissing it. they won't be brushing over it. but you have to remember, you aren' the only person suffering from anxiety and so they probably see it alot more than you think!
it might just be your anxiety making you believe that. i worry about going to my doctors now as i worry they think im a hypercondriac ...but that is just me!

the fact you know about your beating heart as well as you do, is obviously an issue here.
obviously knowing how your heart works isn't a bad thing. but with you dealing with anxiety, looking at every fine detail of your heart is doing you no good. it is just making you anxious.
forget about your heart beat - if something bad was about to happen - then i'm sure it would have happened by now.
first you were worried about the speed of your heart - the docs have cut you off on it all, so you can't worry that no more as logic thinking is kicking in.
so now you've gone for the next best thing, or should i say your anxiety has gone for the next best thing - the beats of your heart.

just let it be as it is. worry, when there is actually something to worry about! easier said than done, i know. you will get there though

[jeremyfresno]

Anxiousmess summed it up pretty good! If something was going to happen to your heart it would have happened already! Actually having heart palpitations is quite normal when having an anxiety attack. It painful and scary but normal. Try not to worry about it too much and when you feel your heart racing sit down try to relax and do some deep breathing to bring your heart rate down. Remember that a panic attack always passes so sometimes we just need to deal with it until it passes.its hard at times but you will learn to adapt. I hope this helped a bit

[Salem Doomey]

My heart races when I am suffering from anxiety, my doctor has me on propanalol (sp?) which helps tremendously with this complaint. I would talk to your doctor about this, they may ask to do an ecg just to check you out (this happened to me) but that's no big deal in honesty.

[alankay]

Yep, anxiety will do that to the heart and a beta blocker might help if the doc OK's it.

[Rae93]

Thank you so much for you replies.

Since I have had these problems, I have had an ECG, echo and X-ray done all of which have came back fine. I had several follow up appointments with my cardiologist who read all my monitor results, from PVCs and racing heart and said everything is fine. The only thing he noticed is that I get runs of extra beats (bigeminy) I think and he said they are benign.

I guess I need to not think about it too much, because the more I do I tend to wake up at night with the racing heart and such.
I have just become so unbelievably tuned into my heart beat that I can feel whenever it slows, speeds up, misses a beat and what not. It gets so uncomfortable at times.
Thanks again.