Ectopic heartbeats

[mummyl2013]

I’ve been having ectopic beats for the past year or so. My heart skips beats and my whole chest shakes when it does it. Can’t imagine its serious as I’m still here but it’s happening all the time and I can’t concentrate when it happens and it is very unsettling. I had a 24 hour ecg attached to me and of course I wasn’t aware of it happening at that time. Been told that the ecg hasn’t even been looked at and there is a long wait with cardiology. In the mean time I’ve asked to be referred to a different hospital and now I have an appointment in August.
when it happens sometimes I use the blood pressure monitor we have and it flags up irregular heartbeat, it sometimes says it’s beating 40 a minute and my blood pressure is sometimes low. I also get tired a lot!
Anyone experienced anything like this?

I’ve had this for years. I’ve had ecgs, angiograms, echocardiogram etc and there is nothing wrong with my heart (thank goodness). I don’t drink alcohol or caffeinated drinks any more and that definitely helps. I’m sure mine was worsened by covid

I had them a lot in peri and then they went away with HRT (prescribed for other symptoms).

It’s a horrible feeling!

I’m on hrt too and it’s the only one thing that hasn’t gone away 😭

That’s reassuring to read. I really need to give up caffeine but I struggle. It’s only tea I drink but i struggle to cut down

Yes I have had these on and off for years. I had several ECGs including 24 hour and 7 day ones. A 24 hr one caught some spells of lots of ectopic together but they are harmless. The cardiologist I was referred to says they are caused by my digestion, specifically stomach acid. If I'm careful not to overeat, I don't get any ectopics.

Iron deficiency can be a big factor in ectopics/palpitations. If your bloods are ok, and I mean not at the lower end of normal, then it might be just one of those things. Good that you are going to be fully checked anyway.

I was about to say anaemia.

Get your iron levels checked.

Mine started during COVID. Fobbed off as menopause, stress, anxiety, then went into fast AF and eventually had an ablation. Despite that and being on beta blockers I still have them, around 400 a day at the last monitor, cardiology unconcerned. I’ve had a few whilst typing this. Don’t drink, caffeine free, on HRT, bloods ok etc.
I just ignore them now.

Luckily my iron is good and optimal after an infusion a year and a half ago

Iron is good had infusion a year and half ago

I e had ectopic beats my whole life. It’s never been a concern for the cardiologists. It gets picked up every time I’m pregnant and I’m re reffered, have the 24 hour ecg and cardiologist says it’s fine and discharges me. I can definitely feel it sometimes and I can see if i hadn’t had it all my life how that would be scary. Only affect on me is I don’t take anesthetic or epidural well it messes up my blood pressure

I also had them when I went into perimenopause. HRT has stopped them but it took quite a while for them to settle down after I started on the gel. I was also told they’re harmless/nothing to worry about. They don’t feel very nice though and when it’s your heart it’s obviously going to worry you.

Yeah all the time my 24hr monitor showed about 800 ectopic beats but they said their fine and are only concerned if there in the 1000s. When they say they haven't looked at your ecg they don't mean they haven't looked they will have quickly looked at it before triaging it if that makes sense and they will look at it properly again at a later date if nothing obvious or dangerous is on it. Instead of focusing on the cardiologist who is going to tell you everything is fine I would focus on getting some basic blood tests from gp that can cause this such as anemia and hyperthyroidism. Also anxiety is probably one of the main causes of this so stop monitoring yourself and try not to focus on it ectopic beats are completely normal and rarely dangerous.

Oh sounds familiar. I was diagnosed with gastritis last dec. definately have digestion issues. Did you do anything else to help it?

Thanks for your reply. I have had recent bloods but may have thyroid checked again as had half removed in 2022. It does cause me anxiety when it happens but good to know that it can be harmless

That’s reassuring to read. Oh after epidural/ spinal my heart was racing!!

Maybe I need to give it longer then. It does feel unsettling and hard to concentrate. Guess I’ll have to keep myself busy when it happens

from an anaesthetist PoV.... having some ectopics isn't going to make any difference at all to how a spinal/epidural or GA go - all of them cause vasodilatation and whatever heart rhythm you're in that can make BP drop and heart rate speed up. We do all of those techniques for people with way more abnormal rhythms than just ectopics.

I get gastritis too. I have found that a spoonful of manuka honey first thing in the morning calms my stomach and for flare ups in the day I chew DGL liquorice tablets from Holland and Barrett. I don't like PPIs (Lansoprazole, esomeprazole/Nexium) as they give me stomach pains). It's a nuisance!

I had this and was repeatedly fobbed off by doctors and told it was anxiety. Paid for a private echo and I have a problem with a valve in my heart (mitral valve) which means I am much more likely to get ectopic beats, something to do with ‘mechanical stretch’ I think they said. It’s a heart murmur I think.

Mine are worse around my period, worse after alcohol. Some days I hardly get any some days it’s all the time. I do have propranolol which helps a little. It’s worth trying a beta blocker if you haven’t already.