Near constant palpitations?!

[TheWorminLabyrinth]

Has anyone had this? I've been having them for months and months now (probably more like a couple of years on and off) and honestly i've put it down to perimenopause (i'm 44). The last few days they have really ramped up and start almost as soon as I get in bed and last for 1-2 hours. Fluttering, weird feeling in throat, occasional absolute thumps in the chest, then I seem to fall asleep and all normal again in the morning.

For some reason this evening has been worse than they have ever been before. Started around 5pm and haven't stopped since! I am otherwise fine, (I do have severe anxiety and health anxiety so I am obviously working myself up into a state now) but am torn between trying to ignore, and then looking to get a GP appt. in the morning, or going to A&E!! I think I want talking down <wibble>

Have they ruled out SVT ? I have it and it makes me feel quite unwell. I have tablets for it.

Thanks for the reply. I haven't been told anything unfortunately. Had a telephone appointment with my doctor earlier today, to follow up on me starting an antidepressant. I asked her about the palpitations and she simply said "All I can say is we are treating you for anxiety but remaining open-minded about the palpitations"!!! I have only been told that my ECG at A&E was "abnormal". The wait for a 24-hour ecg is currently 4-5 months in my area. I've been looking at how much a private echocardiogram would be because I can't take much more of this. I am convinced something is seriously wrong and i'm not going to find out for months, or worse be dead before I even get the 24-hour monitor.

Having just googled SVT (!) - I don't think it is that as I don't tend to have a fast heart-rate. As I sit here with my fingers obsessively on my neck, i'm less than 75 beats per min.

You have all the symptoms I do- palpitations, hair falling out in clumps,Tired all the time, random cycle, anxiety. I am on HRT but I dont think it’s working anymore (been on it 2.5yrs) - taking magnesium helps the palpitations a bit . I take iron and b12 because both are low (although nhs normal) and I have given up gluten which has had a massive positive impact on my overall anxiety and feeling of impending doom.
I feel tired and incredibly tearful today and my heart has been thundering away although I have a very low heart rate so it’s been about 60bpm. I have previously had diagnosis of ectopic beats and other non serious cardio issues. My garmin does an ecg and today it measured Arterial fib during a palpitation episode. Basically I feel crappy a lot of the time, palpitations are really exhausting aren’t they?

I am also convinced that all this started after Covid and has been made worse by second infection and the vaccine, and I know a lot of people who anecdotally say the same. I went from being an endurance runner doing half marathons for fun, to getting out of breath reading to my kids in the space of around 6-10 months. I’m better now but I have to constantly be on the ball with my iron levels and I’ve been back to the gp so many times.

Hey OP, I’ve had something a bit similar: heart palpitations, tightness in throat and dizziness. It was POTS and spa spasms in the oesophagus. Took me 18 admissions to hospital for them to work it out. Hopefully it’s not this for you 😞

Yes - turned out to be a wheat or gluten thing. I gave up gluten for other reasons and my palpitations and ectopic beats stopped right away! I'd been having them for a couple of years, like you OP worse a few hours after evening meal.

Hi @TheWorminLabyrinth I suffer from palpitations, in my case ectopic beats. My heart skips a beat, then there is a big thud when the next beat comes along. In my case, low B12 is a factor.

I have been where you are, sitting with my fingers on my neck monitoring them, wondering if I am going to die. But (after a year, ecgs and x-rays etc.)I have learned to ignore them mostly now. They are very unpleasant but harmless. I found this video helpful. I know your palpitations may be different, but still might help calm you:

https://www.youtube.com/live/-i3b-ureBxs?si=Vt1laqzw_OXP9SQu

Try not to worry. Most palpitations are harmless.

Oh OP, a lot of us here have had similar with varying diagnoses (or none bar anxiety) in the end. I can assure you that you will NOT die from palpitations, so get that out of your head straight away. But it's worth getting it all checked out anyway, even though you'll have a wait for that. If you do feel overwhelmed then go back to A+E and insist that they put you on a 48 hour monitor. Don't leave without it although I know that's easier said than done.

I am not a medic but I had exactly what you have. It drove me insane with worry and of course every thump, bump and stop - start made the whole thing 100 times worse!

I had every cardiac test under the sun, and I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation, which is well controlled now thankfully. Despite that diagnosis, I do not have ANY heart disease at all, everything in the arteries, valves, whatever is absolutely fine which just goes to show you!

I know from experience that telling someone to do breathing and relaxation exercises does not work if you are in the thick of a terrifying episode. However one thing I found helpful is grounding. Look around the room and focus on different things, spell each one out and repeat. It takes your mind off things and can slow things down. There are things called "vagal manouevres" (have a look for it on google) which worked for me.

Beta blockers are the gift that keeps on giving with out of whack tickers. Please, if they are prescribed do take them. I wish you all the best and hope you get some relief soon. x

B12 is interesting. My b12 is low but still technically normal . @TheWorminLabyrinth it’s worth looking at your actual numbers from any tests you have done , use the nhs app, you can read into the numbers. For example, I had low b12 but high folic acid, apparently these two together can give you other weird symptoms. But all my results were ‘normal’ from the lab.

Thanks for replying. You pretty much describe how mine feel. Feeling them in my neck last night was just awful, I was in such a state. It felt like two very very close together beats, then a horrible long pause, then back to normal with a super forceful beat. I ended up having to take a propranolol which did settle things down after about 90 minutes, but made me have weird episodes of waking up panicking and totally disorientated when I finally went to sleep. Not sure if that was the propranolol or just the high anxiety.

Like clockwork, they have just started up again about 10 minutes ago.

Thank you, I really appreciate your response. I suppose it is the constant fear that a) my heart isn't going to 'start' again after the pause and b) that something is seriously wrong that isn't going to be found for months/or i'll keel over in the meantime.

I am also reluctant to take the beta blocker (propranolol) as I feel like, what if it is 'masking' what is really wrong with me by stopping the palpitations and then it never gets found.

I honestly do know how ridiculous I sound. I've never had health anxiety this badly in my life. Good old regular anxiety - yes, but this is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

what tests did they do to diagnose this?

I have a very fluttery heart and slow (ish) heart rate. I bought the Kardia app and ECG tool. It’s really easy to use and whenever I feel anxious I just do an ECG. It’s about £70-80 and saves me a lot of worry. I also have an oxygen reader/heart rate monitor which cost about a fiver.

OP, has no doctor suggested HRT? I can't believe they're going down the beta-blocker/propranolol/anti-depressant route before trying simple old HRT.

I had episodes like yours - thought I was going to die like you - and I was alone overnight with a four-year old - very frightening. But I had an ECG, which showed nothing, then a 24 hour monitor, then a 7 day one. It showed ectopic beats. But they are rare now that I'm on HRT.

So many women of a certain age get this - I'm surprised doctors haven't cottoned on.

I did mention peri when I was in A&E and the doctor said, yes that could be a factor. I had a telephone call with my GP last night and said again, can we not consider HRT here - i'm 44, my hair is falling out, I don't have normal periods anymore etc. She was really reluctant. I've got to have repeat bloods in 5 weeks, to see if my white blood cells/neutrophil count is back to normal, and then she said we can 'consider' HRT then.

Thanks - I have been debating buying one of these. I just don't know if it is a good idea - I fear I would become obsessed and spiral myself into more states.

Do watch the video I linked to OP. It is so helpful.

I really will, thank you. I'm going to get a Horlicks (wild) and watch it in bed later x

Hi Op. I suffer from health anxiety so just wanted to check do you work? are you busy during the day and if so do you ever have any episodes during the day. Im just wondering if the palpitations coming on around the same time each day are almost when your body is reaching a state of relax and now your fear and brain are almost willing them to happen. Does this make sense? I realised all my symptoms were first thing in the morning because i would wake up terrified and almost do a body scan and this would make it worse. Im not for one moment saying its not real but anxiety is so horrible at almost tricking our body to make problems worse. Just wondering because i totally understand that fear and it snowballing. ;

Hi,

I work part-time - the rest of the time i'm my husbands' carer. I do get them at work, but say between 2-5 an hour. Today and yesterday I had none at work and they started just after i'd eaten at roughly 6pm. I also got a bad run of them whilst I was on the phone to the GP, as just talking about things make me anxious. So I do partly think it is linked to stress/anxiety. I just feel you read/hear so much about women being dismissed with anxiety and menopause and then it turns out there was something serious that was missed

Try not to worry too much about heart attacks, as they often present as indigestion or nausea, as opposed to heart palpitations. The pain often spreads across the chest or into the back or arms. It's one of those illnesses that is totally misrepresented by Hollywood. Feeling like you need to do a poo isn't as glamorous as grabbing your chest in pain and collapsing to the ground.

If you are concerned that you may have heart disease, you can have a full blood workup to understand your cholesterol levels, and if anything troubling is uncovered, a CT scan to understand the state of your arteries.

The most common form of heart attack is a plumbing disease in that if the pipes are blocked, you have a problem. However, staying with the plumbing analogy, it can be a slow drip at first that gets gradually bigger overtime.

This is quite different from the over-dramatisation of heart attacks as the result of a sudden shock or surge of adrenaline, resulting in an otherwise healthy person collapsing, which is an inaccurate shortcut for filmmaking.

I find it really reassuring and it normally calms me down but we’re all different

I've been getting this as well. I am in peri and I always got the odd flutter or racing but the past few weeks it has been much worse on and off all day less racing and more the odd feeling in my throat and thumps. However my fitness watch says everything is fine. I think it is likely anaemia as I get this all the time and am taking some iron tablets and will add some B12 as well.

@FrauPaige I suppose with palpitations the concern is more some kind of arrythmia or heart block which can be very serious, even fatal rather than a heart attack.