Heart palpitations...

[PathFinderGrl]

Anyone get heart palpitations (PVCs) with their anxiety? I am a 33 year old female with marked anxiety. My doctor recently prescribed Vistaril as needed for my anxiety. I like it so far. I have high blood pressure & sinus tachycardia (controlled with medicine) and also get heart palpitations. My palpitations seem worse with anxiety. I had a stressful day yesterday & I was getting them all day, they were driving me nuts. I'm supposed to see my cardiologist in Sept, but plan to see him sooner to get them checked out. All of my heart tests have been normal so far, except the isolated PVCs on my EKG. Anxiety seems to make them worse and I was just wondering if others felt this with their anxiety?

[Im-Suffering]

Anyone get heart palpitations (PVCs) with their anxiety? I am a 33 year old female with marked anxiety. My doctor recently prescribed Vistaril as needed for my anxiety. I like it so far. I have high blood pressure & sinus tachycardia (controlled with medicine) and also get heart palpitations. My palpitations seem worse with anxiety. I had a stressful day yesterday & I was getting them all day, they were driving me nuts. I'm supposed to see my cardiologist in Sept, but plan to see him sooner to get them checked out. All of my heart tests have been normal so far, except the isolated PVCs on my EKG. Anxiety seems to make them worse and I was just wondering if others felt this with their anxiety?

Most definately, PathfinderGrl. Love and light, peace to you.

[PathFinderGrl]

Thanks so much I'm -suffering, same to you...

[Im-Suffering]

Thanks so much I'm -suffering, same to you...

I have a message for you:

Notice the bolding above in your original post. The skipped beats/irregular, will lessen (frequency) over time. I behoove you to watch the amount of different medications prescribed. Not to stop it, but not to take so many! Better to consolidate, you see, if you could, into one or two. Doctors like to get lucky, as they term it, finding one to do the trick. Remember, you do not have multiple diseases now ! Talk to the Dr. About this. Just to be aware, thats all, should this cardiologist suggest something additional.

For example, depending on the sinus tach diagnosis, (symptomatic of anxiety episodes, and long term sensativity) you may find a benzo (ativan or generic lorazapam) would be most effective in treating both the tach and pvc. Lowering your anxiety sensativity, your body's alert dropping overall to a more relaxed level, you may find your blood pressure drop as well (also with diet/lifestyle change). In this case the benzo served all 3 issues.

Now the benzo is hotly debated !! Because of addicting qualities, you see, whereas the vistaril is just a histamine, non addictive, but not as effective. You must be learned. So as to not overload the body and liver/kidneys with many differing drugs.

All this ofcourse while you are dealing with the underlying emotional cause for all of it.

[Im-Suffering]

From a doctor, it may help some of you reading this, so I will post it : (for current and all future readers)

It could change your life, knowledge is power in this case, for your edification.

Re: benzodiazephines/palps/sinus tach/anxiety

Firstly, there is no adverse consequence for the discontinuation of Ativan (.5) at the dosing schedule prescribed. The withdrawal syndrome observed with these agents is at the higher doses for more extended periods.

Secondly, the inability for most patients to simply set their fears aside regarding benign palpitations is due to the fact that have pre-conceived notions about what the range of consequences will be, often all fatal in nature. They also are unable to move ahead based solely on the word of their physician because the symptoms persist despite the fact the "nothing" is wrong. This is an extremely difficult hurdle for most patients, who typically fall back to their irrational fears of the consequences.

The truth about benign palpitations is that they do not originate from within the heart and are not derived from pathology of the cardiovascular system as well. They merely constitute an inappropriate stimulation of the heart by the vagus nerve as a consequence of significant anxiety or stress.

So that you understand precisely what is taking place, you need to realize that all persons have experienced palpitations of this type, only they don't recognize them to be pathological in any sense because of the context in which they occur. By example, you've certainly heard people who have been suddenly startled or frightened exclaim "Gosh, that made my heart skip a beat!" or "That almost made my heart stop!" What these people are all describing is a palpitation event induced by vagus nerve stimulation. Following the experience, these people do not subsequently think that something is wrong with their heart because the event occurred within a context that is reasonable and to some extent, expected. In fact, it has occurred on previous occasions with the same result, so it is deemed as inconsequential because it produced no detrimental outcome.

Well, the very same circumstances are occurring with people who suffer benign palpitations on a more frequent schedule. The difference is that they are occurring in a context unfamiliar to the individual and therefore, cannot be connected to a rational cause. They are subsequently construed to be symptoms or warning signs of heart disease of some type.

The palpitations are still being induced by fear, but it is a variant that it chronic and suppressed rather than immediate and overt. Realize that certain responses by the brain take place regardless of whether the threat is immediate and identifiable or contrastly more prolonged and unidentifiable. Physiological changes take place because the brain is attempting to prepare the body to either fend off the threat or escape from it. This is a genetic predisposition in all human beings.

The problem is that these changes in physiology are taking place in the presence of a perceived threat rather than a real one. Vigilence to the physiological manifestations are common and are universally construed as symptoms that something is wrong. Thus, continuous visits to the doctor's office and a trail of medical tests reveal nothing, yet the affected individual remains convinved that something is indeed wrong because their "symptoms" won't abate and it reinforces their fears.

The reason that your tests are negative is because nothing is wrong with you. You are misinterpreting physiological changes that are manifesting in response to fear as symptoms of disease. You must come to understand that you are making a mistake and that your instincts are incorrect. Diagnostic tests are incredibly accurate in their ability to identify true markers of pathology. It's not simply a hit or miss process, wherein trouble evades detection.

The reason that the palpitation events subside when you are under evaluation by your doctor is that sympathetic tone becomes dominant, subsequently suppressing wayward parasympathetic responses of the type capable of producing the palpitation events. True pathology does not behave in this manner. If it's present at all, it remains regardless of whether you are under direct examination. Patents become overly frustrated by this manifestation largely because they have concluded that their doctor absolutely must see the abnormality to understand it.

Realize that we're looking for things which would constitute the underlying cause of the palpitation and not the event itself. If the cause is not present, then the palpitations are benign and therefore are not required to be visualized to know their type. It remains a major problem for persons with anxiety in that they develop fear and apprehension based upon their own interpretations of what is taking place, actually forming truths about these interpretations despite their gross inaccuracy.

You are free to exercise as much as you wish because the heart is not under any type of excess strain and the palpitation events are entirely incapable of inducing any type of harm, nor can they cause weakness or damage to the heart muscle or impair its performance. Your conjecture and subsequent apprehension is based upon irrational fears and lack of scientific understanding of what is actually taking place. It is entirely inaccurate to associate a vagus nerve induced palpitation with a pathological arrhythmia.

Your heart is fine and what you believe to be occurring is entirely the byproduct of irrational fear and subjective conclusions which have absolutely no basis in medical fact.

Best regards and Good Health

[PathFinderGrl]

Hi, thanks for your posts. I have had genetic high BP and sinus tachycardia since I was 22. It also started after becoming slightly pre-eclamptic with high BP during pregnancy that year. I'm 33 now. I definitely think the anxiety aggravates those issues, but believe they are truly genetic. I remember having a "racing heart" in high school before developing anxiety. My PCP prescribed me some Ativan, but I won't take them. I am a nurse, and do not want to become dependent on such meds. My mother was addicted to Xanax for 23 years, and finally got clean a couple years ago.

[Im-Suffering]

Hi, thanks for your posts. I have had genetic high BP and sinus tachycardia since I was 22. It also started after becoming slightly pre-eclamptic with high BP during pregnancy that year. I'm 33 now. I definitely think the anxiety aggravates those issues, but believe they are truly genetic. I remember having a "racing heart" in high school before developing anxiety. My PCP prescribed me some Ativan, but I won't take them. I am a nurse, and do not want to become dependent on such meds. My mother was addicted to Xanax for 23 years, and finally got clean a couple years ago.

Understood, God speed. And thanks for starting the topic, hope the posts can help others who may feel the same symptoms to feel comforted and less afraid.