Heart palpitations

[drivingmyselfupthewall]

I’m driving myself up the fucking wall. I suspect it’s getting to be a bit of OCD type thing (I am diagnosed with OCD).

I’ve had palpitations since puberty - nearly 20 years. I’ve been on propranolol for about four years. The palpitations used to be random, now they are getting worse and happen typically when I am nervous, anxious, stressed, excited, emotional in any way, tired.

They happen significantly more if I’m up and about and doing stuff.

Last big episode was about three weeks ago. I had a couple of glasses of wine, then had to go to my GP surgery the next day to pick up a prescription - heart was beating 3 times, then an ectopic, then 3 times, then an ectopic. Lasted about 40 minutes. GP saw me and once I sat with her it calmed down and stopped.

This morning, hadn’t slept very well, got up to take shopping in from Tesco at about 9am. Sat down, and back to same rhythm - 3 beats, stop, 3 beats, stop. 111 insisted on sending an ambulance round, by the time they got a monitor on it was back to normal.

Have had episodes where I feel I’m blacking out with them but have never lost consciousness completely.

I’ve seen cardiology a few times. Had a whole barrage of tests about five years ago. Told I was fine and they’d check in 3-5 years.

I’ve had a second 24 hour tape, and in the last 5 years probably 30+ ECGs, all normal as far as I know - but I’ve never had a monitor on when I’m having an episode.

My GP said she’s contacted cardiology to ask them to do another echo and for medication advice.

Meantime I’m googling 24/7, and driving myself mad, and worried I’m going to drop down dead - which I’m almost certain is making this much, much worse.

I was diagnosed with benign ectopic heartbeats last year. They were quite like caused by the Covid jabs according to the cardiologist and are completely harmless, but like you, I was convinced the palpitations were going to kill me.

If you've already had a load of tests, the chances are you're absolutely fine, but you're doing the right thing having more tests just in case.

Try to work out the triggers and avoid them - caffeine, stress, alcohol and poor sleep set mine off. Also, I had a virus recently and that started them up again.

Googling and worrying will definitely make them worse. Mine are now barely noticeable and the cardiologist told me there's a high chance they'll just go away.

Also, when you feel them coming on there are 2 things which can sometimes help you reset:
1 Yawn

1. Drink ice-cold water

Apparently these reset the vagus nerve (associated with stress/relaxation) and can calm it down.

Look up York Cardiology channel on Youtube. It's an NHS consultant and he talks about palpitations and ectopics a lot. He recommends which magnesium supplements to take, among other things. Mine calmed down hugely when I started slathering on Better You magnesium lotion. Also try meditation or progressive muscle relaxation. But strictly speaking, if you are starting to feel faint/blacking out you should go back to your GP.

I started getting these last year, was quite scared - doc ran the tests and all fine - apparently menopause is a key trigger, could this be relevant to you? X

@Fairylights7 , may I ask what tests did you have?

Some tips from my years of managing various heart rhythm problems

Look up vasovagal manovers, they can calm down the ectopic beats

Take magnesium and calcium supplements, the full RDA every day before bed

Take iron and vit C every day in the morning

If you can afford one, get a Kardia. Its an at home ECG monitor that works with your phone. It can save an abnormal tracing (or a normal one) to a pdf on your phone and then you can show /email it to the GP. The hardest thing with heart arrhythmias is catching them in the act, and this gadget really helps. Amazon sell them

If you are consistently dizzy and light headed when they happen you need to get re evaluated by cardiology

One last trick that might help. If it starts happening, try jumping up and down on the spot. Exerting yourself often clicks the heart rhythm back into synchrony. If exercise makes them worse, tell cardiology and stop exercising until you are seen.

I second PP about buying a Kardia. I was diagnosed with SVT after being able to show the cardiologists at hospital my readings on them. My heart rate would beat at 200bpm and it was only having the device to record it that I was able to prove what was going on.

Have you had iron levels taken recently? Whenever I have had phases of getting palpitations it was because iron levels were low. I also think I get them when dehydrated so make sure you drink enough water xx

I had heart palpitations from very early age as well and battle with anxiety & ocd. then 2 years ago I fainted in the middle of a stressful meeting and terrified everyone. I was referred to cardiology as they spotted "significant anomalies" in my heart rhythm in both in the ambulance and ER.
After going through all sorts of cardiac tests you can imagine, the cardiologist concluded that my cardiovascular health is so great that it's at the higher end of healthy when compared to the rest of the population, however I'm prone to fainting (vasovagal syncope) and benign palpitations, having naturally low blood pressure.
He recommended me to limit caffeine and stay hydrated as they have an affect on blood flow, as well as better stress management.
I discovered with my therapist that I have a tendency to go away (syncope) under stress or suppress it so much that I start having palpitations, so getting support for anxiety / ocd helped massively.

Second the suggestion of a Kardia device, Dont buy from Amazon though, they are the same price on the British Heart Foundation website. Better the profit goes to them than Amazon!