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Anxiety or Heart Prob.???

Hello Everyone!
I have a question that I hope you can answer for me.  For the past few weeks, my heart has had short episodes of beating fast and "flopping" in my chest.  You know that feeling you get in your stomach when you plummet down the hill of a large roller coaster--that flopping feeling?  Well, that's what my heart feels like--like it just turned a quick flip in my chest.  This has happened to me on and off over the years but it has become a daily, almost hourly event, in the past few weeks.  Do I have a heart problem or am I having anxiety attacks?  My brother went to the ER last year for (gosh I hope I'm saying this right) "throwing PVCs" and after tests and a visit with the Card., he was basically told he was overdoing it on diet and exercise and his potassium was way too low.  So, thinking about him, I decided to eat bananas for a few days to restore my potassium level, but it didn't help, so I guess that wasn't my problem.  And no, I am not dieting and exercising.  Just normal day to day life of taking care of my 3 small children.  I could understand if all this is from stress--I mean, 3 kids, need I say more?  But we (my hubby and I) are thinking of selling our house and buying a larger one, all 3 kids have been sick at some point over the past 3 weeks with the flu or strep, and I am an anxious person by nature (that's the nice way to say it; my hubby calls me an anal retentive perfectionist).  I have made an appt. with my PCP for this Thursday-he's a good guy and I'm sure he'll be able to help or send me to someone who can--but in the meantime, I would just like to know what I'm likely dealing with here.  The episodes, though short, are frustrating and leave me shaking and nauseous for about an hour afterwards.  They are also making me irritable.  Any suggestions would be most appreciated.  Oh yeah, I'm 35, about 15-20 pounds overweight, have always had a heartrate in the low 90's and my BP is a steady 85-90 over 55-60.  I don't drink caffiene--atleast not often; maybe 3 times a week at most. THANK YOU!
3 Responses
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213375 tn?1202403800
The flip flops are very unsettleing and it can take a long time to accept them a benign syptoms of anxiety.  I have had anxiety for almost 8 years now, with palps (heart pounding/racing) from the very beginning, and develpoed the flip flops about 3 years ago.  Have had all the approprite tests and keep being told that, however scarey they are,  they are benign.  

You could go into my profile and look under my posts.  There you will find many threads centered around this very issue, as I have been on here asking/responding to questions about heart palps/flip flops for almost a year now.  I think it would be of great comfort to you.  I hope this helps you and that you felt better today!

Cori
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Avatar universal
WOW, all you people feel just like me!  Just went to the doc today and he ordered a stress echo.  Feeling pretty lousy this afternoon.  

I have chest pain and an occ flip flop, less than weekly though.  I also have lots of stomach issues, GERD andgastroparesis.  I am 37 with 2 boys almost 8 and 12.  Feeling like this is horrible!  And scarey!
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212161 tn?1599427282
hi, yes anxiety can cause that and yes pvc/pac do run in the family. i have had them for years and some times they are a few here and there than some times i have them for 10 weeks 24/7 ,so i know how you feel , do go get a holtor and wear it for a month maybe it will catch them, i do that everytime they start up for weeks at a time and it makes me feel better knowing they are seeing what my heart is doing. try and relax and no they wont kill you they just make you anxiety and feel unsure at times its happening.am 48 now and been having them since i was 23.am still a live and there were times i just knew i was going to die, so get that dr appt and feel sure that what you have is nothing. good luck
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