please help, I think I'm dying

I've had these skipped beats before when I'm not drinking, basically my whole life at the moment consists of worrying when I'll get the next one.

. i had no idea calling 999 is as annoying as you described, what's up with the whole check list business?!

.

.i didn't go the hospital but I'm going to see my GP tomorrow, even though I've been before and all he did was give me like a 5second ECG and then basically tell me not to worry and i have to wait like 7 months to go to the nearest cardiology unit.

.thanks again for the reply

. I really hope I don't have SVT I just want to be able to relax, but with SVT isn't your heart rate irregular? Because when my heart starts racing it always seems to maintain a regular rhythm, Do you think it's possible that i experience a skipped heartbeat and then start panicking thus leading to the acceleration of my heart rate?

. I'm going to see my doctor tomorrow, even though i have been to see him before and all he did was give me like a 5 second ECG and then examined me with a stethoscope and basically told me not to worry and that my heart seemed fine but fast. I have to wait around 7 months for a referral to the nearest cardiology unit

.thanks again for your reply x

Am 45 and have ectopic on and off now for year sometimes they had cleared up completely then came back with vengeance few months ago and like you was terrified thought no-one i.e. doctors not listening and robbing me off but seen lots cardiologists and did research and know not life threatening just uncomfortable especially when resting as we are more aware of the thump feeling.

Anyhow did end up in hospital thought it was heart attack put down to believe it or not my thyroid lots of blood tests confirmed this.

Your thyroid can cause ectopic and irregular beating as it controls the muscle itself again lots of research done on my part (think I should have been doc nice pay packet lol )

Anyhow again worrying does 100% aggravate condition and pills when properly diagnosed help calm and stop .

So PLEASE try not to worry have been there worn t-shirt and trust me never is as bad as what you are thinking it is.

Good luck at doctors Amanda x

What you describe sounds very much like ectopic heartbeats which are of little significance to a doctor but can be terrifying when you feel them especially when you first experience them and havnt been reassured they are benign. The racing heart is probably a reaction to the fright you got after feeling the ectopic added to the fact you had some alcohol which is a stimulant. That said the only way to relax your mind and limit the chance of reaccurance is to visit your doctor and explain what has been happening and ask for a referral If he says you dont need that and you are reassured thats fine but if not explain that you want a visit to a cardiologist to run some tests to give double reassurance from an expert. My bet its ectopic beats. Im 51 and have suffered these from the age of nine somtimes very infreuent and sometimes quite reguarly. I used to panic and my heart would speed up but I have learned to try my best to relax and distract myself during episodes. On a positive note its not happened often and may go away completely with good diet , limited alcohol, no smoking and regular good sleep.

Good luck and stop worrying Ive had them for years and Im still here. There nothing but a nuisance. Just get reassurance and enjoy life. 

I am 27 years old and going throught the process of trying to pin point my irregular hear beat and all the flutters I keep feeling. I started feeling this way around my sophmore year of high school. I was just reading a book, and my heart experienced a funny skipped beat. Nothing too worry about, but at that instance anxiety hit me hard and has stayed with me to this day. I worried about dying, I worried about it every day. My parents took me to see my doctor they did an EKG, and a holter monitor test on me. Found nothing but fast rapid heart rate. I have been on anxiety medication ever since.  The anxiety got better, but my funny heart kept on doing its thing. I just pushed it away. I get palpitations almost daily; some make me stop in my tracks and cough. Sometimes it feels like my heart drops for  beat or two ( a very weird suction-like feeling) in my chest. I am almost ALWAYS aware of how its beating. When I work out it races pretty hard. I went back to the doctor the other week and demanded to get more tests done. I want to make sure it's nothing really serious. I have an echo scheduled soon, and another round of holter monitoring. I am so so terrified that they will find something scary. I can't sleep or eat anymore. I'm just waiting... I want to be ok, I want to live a long life. I worry about having children and being pregnant, how will my heart handle that? 

After reading some of these responses, especially your advice I was able to calm my mind for a little bit. I am so glad I found this post. even a year late. 

You may not see this, but just know that reading what you wrote helped me so much. 

Thank you. 

You have come to the right place for help and assurance that you are not going to die and you will live the life you want to. As you can see with all of us and our posts, we have irregular heart issues just like you. I was once assured the drummer will keep on beating even if he beats out of sync sometimes. As I have said in alot of previous posts, when mine started just about 3 years ago, I felt just like you. But anxiety and round the clock monitoring will only feed the fear. Keep a log what brings the ectopics on and try to get enough sleep, eat healthy and watch caffeine and alcohol, everyone's triggers may be different. Try to ignore them and know that you will not drop dead. I am here for you just like everyone else here and stay off Web MD. This forum has helped me the most also.  BTW  I get ectopics everyday! Let your doctore give you some peace of mind.......mine did.  He offered meds but alot of them do not help,.  So I just live my life to the fullest.....TRY......and know we are all in this together,  Just a side note, if your heart beats really fast, sometimes an ablation can fix that.  Mine use to beat over 200 bpm!  No more.  But I still have the ectopics.  Sorry this is so long Do not let fear rule you.....live girl!

Today is my heart echo and I am nervous of course, but positive that it will all be ok. There are some very strong individuals on here that don't let fear rule them, and reading this is exactly what I need. I really appreciate the support.

Thank you again.

Always remember the saying.... There is nothing to fear apart from fear itself.

Your reply helped me feel better about what I have been going through. I just got anxiety about a year ago. I was on Zoloft for about a month and it made me sooo sleepy I couldn't take it and stopped taking it. I get heart palpitations that scare the crap out of me sometimes and sometimes they jus happen and I'm okay. Anxiety it self freaks me out bc I've never had it and it freaking sucks. But I can just be sitting home watching tv and my heart skips a beat and I feel like I'm going to die! I've learned to deal with them and anxiety. A year ago I had a EKG done at the hospital and I was in it for about 2 hours and everything was fine. Like a month ago I had my Doctor do like a 5min EKG but it came out normal but at times I don't feel like I have a normal heart beat bc of the palpitations. I also got a heart monitor test scheduled for December. I've learn to jus not make a big deal out of them and not ride my anxiety and let myself know I am okay but it doesn't always work. I've learned more to cope with it though when I read stories and know that I'm not the only one it's more calming for me. The internet is thee worst tho! It makes you feel e more scared when you look up words or google what your feeling and it gives you worse case scenarios. Lol We will all be fine and it will get better. I try to drink once week versus everyday bc I love to drink and it helps with my anxiety and palpitations when I limit myself. But it's okay. Jus letting yourself know that it's okay and your not having a heart attack or dying or going to die is the thing. It will pass. I've had one really bad panic/anxiety attack that lasted for literally like 12 hours n I thought GOD himself was taking me to the heavens and I survived so it will be alright. Jus let yourself know it happens and your okay

It is hard to accept when you have to modify your lifestyle to cope with these problems. I too have made certain sacrifices. I haven't had caffeine for 6 years, I hardly drink alcohol. Late nights are a no-no and I have a low tolerance for exercise. Depending on where your SVT is originating depends on how successful an ablation would be. Mine was pretty easy to zap and since the procedure, although I have had brief runs, 5 minutes maximum, they have been easy to stop or have stopped on their own. Don't expect miracles though. I have had far more ectopic beats since the ablation. I am also a bit of a strange case where I also have multi-focal atrial tachycardia which seems to be impossible to get rid of. Ablation works really well for many people but I wouldn't enter into it lightly.If you can cope with your SVT and they happen rarely (once a month or less) and stop without you needing intervention then I would probably keep on with the beta blockers. I was on no medication before my ablations and now I am on beta blockers and ivabradine. My ectopics are worse when I am stressed and tired. They don't seem to happen when I get my heart rate up, but after exercise they are worse when resting. It feels pretty horrible, but it helps to know that your heart wants to beat. If you put a piece of heart tissue in a test tube it would beat on its own until it ran out of oxygen. They are amazingly resilient organs.

Thank you for your reply and I definitely will take all your comments on board when deciding about the ablation although I very much doubt if they will do it as the SVT's that I get are luckily, not very often. It is more the ectopics and unusual rthymns that I seem to get that bother me most. Some days I find it just completely terrifying and exhausting. It definitely is linked to how my stomach is doing at the time plus a number of other factors. I do think that stress is the major contribitor and unfortunately I am permanently stressed. I too have given up caffeine and alcohol and try to avoid situations which cause me anxiety but that's not easy. I find it very difficult to explain to friends as they don't understand and would get bored if I kept on so it is nice to have this forum where people do get it. I was interested in what you said about after exercise so I tested that and had a fast walk with the dog ( aren't I brave!) and actually I was ok whilst on the move but back in the car, my heart felt horrible getting back to normal. You do seem to have accepted your condition and have a lot of knowledge about it but you must feel frustrated that more can't be done. There do seem to be a lot of people struggling with lots of similar problems and it is sad that more can't be done but maybe in tme and with more research? I just wish that each time it happens, I could believe the specialists when they say that I won't die!

I just wrote you a reply and hit something on my iPhone and the whole thing vanished. Apologies if you got it and this is a duplicate!

Did you feel any symptoms when you wore the 48hr ECG? Perhaps it didn't show anything because you had a couple of quiet days? 

Did you notice the ectopics before you started running/going to the gym? I only ask as when you get fitter you have an increase in Vagal tone (google for more info). This makes your heart beat slower. Many athletes get this. In fact it is called athletes heart. Because the gaps between heart beats is larger, ectopics get chance to break through. They come in phases like you described and can be triggered by tiredness, alcohol, caffiene, upset tummy/wind and pretty much anything else! My friend runs a lot and she goes through periods of getting loads of flutters and ectopics for a few days and then they disappear. As long as you've had everything checked out, which it sounds like you have, I would try and ignore them (which I know isn't easy). Getting a second opinion is always a good idea. They may suggest a low dose beta blocker if your heart rate isn't too slow. Let us know how you get on. Sarah 

I just wrote you a reply and hit something on my iPhone and the whole thing vanished. Apologies if you got it and this is a duplicate!

Did you feel any symptoms when you wore the 48hr ECG? Perhaps it didn't show anything because you had a couple of quiet days? 

Did you notice the ectopics before you started running/going to the gym? I only ask as when you get fitter you have an increase in Vagal tone (google for more info). This makes your heart beat slower. Many athletes get this. In fact it is called athletes heart. Because the gaps between heart beats is larger, ectopics get chance to break through. They come in phases like you described and can be triggered by tiredness, alcohol, caffiene, upset tummy/wind and pretty much anything else! My friend runs a lot and she goes through periods of getting loads of flutters and ectopics for a few days and then they disappear. As long as you've had everything checked out, which it sounds like you have, I would try and ignore them (which I know isn't easy). Getting a second opinion is always a good idea. They may suggest a low dose beta blocker if your heart rate isn't too slow. Let us know how you get on. Sarah