How do I know when skipped heart beats are dangerous?

[iAmEllen]

Over a week ago for absolutely no identifiable reason my heart started skipping way more beats than usual.  I can go hours with none and then have several hours where I'll have 2 or 3 a minute.  It's setting me over the edge.  I don't know if it's dangerous or not.  I went to the ER the other day and they basically didn't care at all and just had me take Ativan and sent me home.  Today I panicked and called the paramedics who came and did a 12 lead and they said normal sinus with one ectopic and so I didn't go back to the ER.  I had a normal echo 3 years ago.  I already don't eat caffeine or sugar.

Please reassure or sympathize with me.  I'm going insane and have no idea what's causing this out of the blue.  Why would they suddenly increase for no reason whatsoever?

[JMM82]

I forgot to mention, and this is a little embarassing, but the other thing that seemed to bring an end to my palpitations attack last night was a bowel movement. What is the correlation between the two?

[JMM82]

Thanks for the aspirin suggestion. I will have to try it.

[JMM82]

I'm new to the forum, 48 year old male and have been having palpitations for the past 8-10 years or so. I suffer from generalized anxiety. I've been doing research on the subject and recently bought potassium tablets. I've been taking magnesium pills for about the past 4 years.

I do not smoke. I drink alcohol very little now, especially after a very bad attack of palpitations occurred back in March of this year after only drinking 1-1/2 beers, which never happened to me before.

Last night I had a bad attack of palpitations right before I went to bed. So I went to bed, but these were very strong and I couldn't get to sleep. I tossed and turned and finally had to get up about 20 or so minutes later, unable to sleep. I took 2 potassium pills, prayed awhile and finally the palpitations died down and I was able to go back to bed, about an hour after I had gotten up. I've had some weak palpitations today, but not nearly as many as I was having yesterday. But I fear their return.

I was taking magnesium pills almost on a daily basis but over the past 4 or 5 weeks it seems as though the palpitations continue to occur, so I'm not sure if the magnesium has lost its effectiveness or what. The potassium pills, so far, seem to help better.

What I don't understand is WHY are some palpitations very strong and others feel weaker? These stronger ones, like I had last night, really scare me. I've read past comments on here about ignoring them but that's easier said than done. And I've definately noticed that they keep coming if I have an "attack" of them and the anxiety builds up.

I have not been to the doctor, as I have had no symptoms whatsoever. I have trypanaphobia, which is a phobia to hypodermic needles, and it's bad! I avoid going to the doctor to get shots, and I know this is not good. But if you have no fear of needles or don't like them, admit they hurt a little but get shots, blood tests, etc., anyway, you're lucky that you're not cursed with this phobia. So this is what stops me from going to the doctor to get these palpitations checked out.

Anyway, these are not fun to have. Like many of you, when they're not occurring it's a good day. But the second that they return and I have a few in a row, it's the anxiety that hits me and the seem to continue to occur.

[PaulMac37]

Hi great to find a relevant forum, as Im writing this I've had the worst day ever with very scary and odd heart skipping beats. Ive suffered with panic attacks and anxiety for just over 3 years now. They all started just as I was in the middle of my degree which was stressful enough with having to move back into my mums house at the age of 34. All this came at a time when my dad was really ill and then passed away that year with dementia.

I have been really struggling with the panic attacks and anxiety again this year since about March after feeling i had a real handle on them for over 18months(and doing normal things again going on holiday and being in regular social situations clubs,pubs ect) now I feel i have fallen back into the vicious circle of staying in and avoiding all social situations which is making me really unhappy. Im a DJ/Producer so social gatherings used to be really important to getting my music heard.

This afternoon was a fairly normal day i was all set for a nice relaxing day of football on the tv, so I got up to get a shower and then my heart starting skipping really bad this carried until about 8pm today, i even got the point of ringing the NHS direct and was on my way to A&E but refused to pay a crazy amount of money in a taxi. I felt awful and really thought I was going pass out or just basically drop dead no looking back im really embarrassed that i totally freaked out and lost control but they where so frequent it really scared the life out of me. Now all i have on my mind is, is this going to happen to me again it was the worst experience Ive had so far even my first panic attack wasn't as scary as that, can anymore please give me some advice on how to pull myself back out of this slump.

[johnu56]

Wow, I can't believe what I am reading. How can so many people from so many different areas and age brackets describe the same symptoms, myself included? It's scary. The only thing that most of these folks have no control of  is the air that they breath and the water that they drink, be it bottled or tap. Could these be a factor?. I to have had a lot of missed beats lately witch have left me very frightened. I have found that for myself, taking just one regular aspirin tablet gave me almost instant relief, then one about every six hours. I will research more and I will be back!! Hope this helps somebody..

[margo56]

Hi, my father died at 41 due to heart issues same as yours. I'm 56 and I feel grateful that I'm still alive. I had a blockage and I had a four stents inserted slightly over a year ago. Recently I started having the strange sensations and I don't know if this is a skipped beat or something else. It feels like my heart stopped and everything is closing on me, kind of like a camera shutter. I usually try to breath fast quickly, move my head around and it goes away but It scares me so much. It is totally different feeling than fainting or dizziness.