Been a long time..

[RNRita]

Hi, everyone.  I am not sure if anyone remembers me because it has been a long time since I've been here.  I have been working full time and in school full time, not to mention having had two new granddaughters on top of the three grandkids I already have.  I have been doing well up until a few weeks ago.  My PVCs were barely around except for a few incidences but it didn't really worry me.  So...about a year ago, the hospital took over our practice and what used to be a very busy job, is now sitting and tied to a computer.  That is also what I do at home with school.  Add an exhorbitant amount of stress and very poor weather (aka no walking), and you have a recipe for deconditioning and disaster.
My weight has gone up about 10 pounds and every time I eat less or better (I'm juicing now on top of eating right), I actually get worse. My PVCs, PACs, and some bonus arrythmias have come back full force.  It started with taking fish oil three times a day.   By the third day, I remembered why I don't take it.  So I stopped.  My heart seemed to go back to normal.  So, now, it started up with a vengeance.  When I leave work and cross the parking lot (and walk two flights of steps to my car), I feel like I'm going to die.  No lie.  Heart starts skipping in a weird way (new and not-improved), rush of adrenaline, and now - shortness of breath!  I feel like I can't move.  Sometimes I have to stop and rest and I look like a fool.  Especially, when I'm walking with the other nurses who smoke, drink, etc....what?
I had an EKG which was normal. It always is for 6 seconds of stillness.  Now I will have a holter again.  And so it begins.  I am worried about the SOB and the fact that I am so deconditioned and have no way of every getting back into any kind of shape since walking 50 feet causes this.  It is awful.  I know I probably need a stress test, but I have always failed them as being made to exercise in front of someone gives me anxiety and that makes me SOB to begin with.  I am too deconditioned for a treadmill....
This is weird cuz when these things happen, I really feel like I'm going to die any second. I understand this feeling but it has been so long since the arrythmias have had any affect on me mentally.  I have the opportunity to start a really great new job, and if I turn it down (it will be for the second time so I will burn bridges), but I am petrified as the drive is 20 minutes of highway in uncharted territory and I get many episodes while driving!!!  AND the new job is all about the unknown.  I am no longer feeling capable and this is really upsetting.  I already have anxiety probs, and the fibromyalgia has gotten so much worse in the past two years.  Tired of pain, tired of feeling different than everyone else.  Tired of feeling like an incompetent fool afraid of my own body.  I am excelling in school, but failing at life....

[is_something_wrong]

Sorry to hear that your hearts are acting up. Yes, I think anxiety is a major trigger (and when palpitations are causing anxiety it sort of maintains the problem). What I do find strange, is that only fear of heart disease is causing palpitations. When I had a fear of mental illness, I was extremely anxious (didn't eat well, didn't sleep well, constant worry) but I didn't feel one PAC for almost a year. Now that my fear of palpitations is back, I feel weird stuff in my chest several times a day..

[Elli126]

How weird is it that we're all back, with our ectopics in full force after most of us have had an increase in our anxiety?! I'm also have severe intestinal spasms which feel like my hearts being squeezed and although I know it's my GERD, that triggers even more anxiety, then more symptoms. Round and round we go.

[itdood]

we're all back!!   weird.  I know people with PVCs off this board saying the same thing.  It's bizarre.

I mean, I was PVC FREE! for like the last several years.  a blip here and there, but I thought it was all behind me!

I get the same thing RNRita, I could be just feeling perfect one minute, then it all goes to hack.  

Stress is a big part of it, I just know it is.  But we have to put food on the table, and we can't live forever, so damn the torpedoes.

[RNRita]

Congrats!  Weirdly enough, mine started again after a severe bout with anxiety and depression intitiated by stress.  Job changed after hospital takeover, and am in school full time, as well.  Even worried about mental illness for which I was reading all the time....(coincidence?)
So, fast forward.  I had a holter on for 24 hours and I am completely sure that it will show thousands of PVCs even though I know they are benign, it has been so long that they feel terrible, all over again.
I also notice that sometimes my heart beats in NSR and my energy is up and it is like I don't care.  A few minutes later, my energy drops and they start...which comes first?  Energy drop or palps?  It is weird to feel, to say the least.  
I am starting to think about ablation again.  They said they couldn't do one years ago because they originate in the left side of the heart, however, I have read about people that HAVE had ablation for these.  Who knows.  Tired, though.

[is_something_wrong]

I'm back as well! :-)

Sad to say, so are my PACs, they have been for almost a year, after trying to quit beta blockers. The sad part is that I've had to increase the dose. I'm on metoprolol 150 mg now.

My anxiety has been switching between different topics. Autumn 2012 I started worrying about mental illness (and I read almost as much about psychiatry than I used to read about cardiology). I had a major fear of somehow being a danger to myself (like acting on an impulse and jump out a window or going crazy - even though I had no reason to - I fear death more than anything and love my life).

However, my heart rhythm fear is somewhat back. I don't really understand why, I know PACs are benign and that my heart is completely healthy. Normal echo, I'm running 4 times a week without problems. Even my recent 48h Holter is excellent, here is the report:

"Good quality recording with few artifacts. Predominant rhythm is sinus, heart rate range 46-180 bpm. Max heart rate was seen during running and minimum heart rate was seen during sleep. Except during exercise the heart rate never went above 130. There is barely any ectopic activity, except a few narrow complexed premature beats, no wide complex ectopy. No pathological bradycardia or tachycardia, and no sign of intracardial blocks"

[RNRita]

Yup.  Here, as well.  Another fun thing today.  Out of nowhere I felt like my chest was empty with a kind of "tickling" feeling.  Felt slightly lightheaded.  Now, everyone knows I've had it all. Not this. It would NOT let up.  I am at work with nurses and an AED and thought it was the big one.  Lasted about 20 minutes.  All the while, my pulse felt steady, although a little fast for me. This was really concerning because my mental rhythm strip was not being activated. lol  I, sincerely, thought it was IT!  
Went to clinical.  BP went up to 146/75, and still pulse was regular.  I understand PVCs, PACs, PAT, AF, SVT, tach.....what was THIS?  The feeling and symptoms without arrythmia?  It wasn't anxiety, I'm pretty sure. Anxiety and panic are funny to me, now.  So....did it morph?

[DeltaDawn23]

I remember you well -- you gave me solid advice over the years and I so appreciate it.  Sorry you are faced with these issues again.  Meditation has helped me a lot.  Also Xanax.  I know it has fallen in popularity with doctors of late, but my family doctor always said it cut the adrenaline.  Beta blockers got me thru a lot of years of afib, but after chest surgery my afib worsened and I have had 2 ablations.  Don't want to tempt fate, but the 2nd one seems to have done the trick.  Michellepetkus always says, "do what makes you feel most peaceful."  It's good advice.  Good luck with this -- keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

[Elli126]

Oh and my Fibro, RA, and IBS have all been in a major flare lately too.

[Elli126]

Boy do I remember you!!! You were the voice of sanity when I first got here in 2010! My story is exactly the same as yours and many of the other "old timers" here. Not around much in the last couple of years, all quiet on the arrhythmia front, with an exacerbation of symptoms in the last few months or so. Stress has quadrupled in the last year but I have had another complete cardiac workup and all is good plus I got a calcium scoring test which was also pretty good. I'm going to the EP next week and will probably wear another monitor. Wonder why we're all flaring at the same time?

[itdood]

good to get checked when that happens. A friend of mine had the same and ended up being an MI.  He was a smoker and overweight.

I struggled for years trying to figure out a pain I would get.  Bad chest pressure that radiated up through my neck and into my left arm.  Started in my 20s.    No MI.  long story short, I'm lactose intolerant and it was referent GI pain.  and no, I didn't get any other symptoms like farting or the trots, lol.  cut out milk, been fine since.  you might want to look into that, GI pain being "referred" into the chest/back area is common.  

[RNRita]

Funny you should say that. I had an appointment with the guy who taught George Harrison how to meditate on Saturday. I was really excited. Then.....I started having chest pains.  No palps.  Legit chest pains radiating to my back. I waited 2.5 hours.  No relief from position, eating, bathroom, anything.  Just constant pressure.  No other cardiac symptoms.  However, I thought I should get it checked out.  Spent 8 hours laying on a gurney while my back got worse.  They put nitropaste on and after 1.5 hours I told them it had to go because I got the WORST headache and dizziness.  It was awful.  EKG was normal.  Troponins negative times 2. They wanted to keep me overnight, but I wanted out.  It was very busy there, lots of traumas, screaming, and sounded like a horror movie....and I'm a nurse.  I was getting really panicky because I felt trapped.  When you lie in a bed for 8 hours, it is bad.  I left. Had a good night and no pain on Sunday.  I have pain today.  Have no idea what it is, though.  As long as it's not cardiac, I don't care.

[itdood]

I'm trying to chill on it.  I've been through workups 3 times.  35, 29, and 42.  and every time it was the same thing.  Benign.  then they settle down for months or years, then flare up for some reason, blah blah blah.  

I'm going to see if I can avoid it.

I already know there's nothing they can do.  

If someone isn't symptomatic, it would be stupid to mess with it via meds or surgery because those could make matters worse.  

Anywho, at the risk of sounding like a corny dufus, I started doing meditation to get stress under control.  I'm telling you, it works.  

[RNRita]

Oh, and since I've had anxiety for 45 years, you bet I've been in the care of MANY shrinks....no help.  Sorry.  What I've done for myself, I've done myself...with a lot of help from this community.

[RNRita]

Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't clear.  I am a nurse and pretty much consider myself a nutrition buff.  When I say I am juicing, I don't mean fruit.  My normal is green:  kale, celery, Swiss chard, lemon, spinach, ginger, turmeric, cucumbers and I will add other colors like carrots, beets, and things like that.  I don't do sugar.

[RNRita]

You got that right!  Thought I would never let them bother me again.  Oh well.  I started reading more and found some interesting things about the causation of SOB, so I stopped being afraid and guess what?  They settled again.
I'm due for a holter next week, but not sure if I need one.  ugh.  These things!!!!
I also noticed that I am having a lot of fatigue.  I'm starting to see a correlation between fatigue, SOB, palps, and stress.  (also allergies for some.

[RNRita]

Sorry to hear of your troubles.  As mine are horrifying, as so much has happened and not much of it was good, I understand why we are going through things now.

[achillea]

Gee, Gerby, If you look carefully, my response was to another poster.  I don't believe I've had the pleasure of chastising you for anything, but oh, yes, I will disagree with you.

"...drugs are never the answer," huh?

Tell that to any diabetic or to any other sufferer of an endocrine disorder.  You might want to reflect that substances like the neurotransmitter adrenaline are technically hormones, and like all hormones, depend on both the proper number of molecules manufactured by the body, as well as the proper number of usable receptors.

A defect in any such area is a deficiency disease, and if the body can no longer produce what is needed, supplementation or augmentation medications are required.

This is not religion.  It is physiology.

[GerbyAlan]

You chastise her for, of all things, juicing, then go on to speak of the wonders of drugs (excuse me, anti-anxiety "meds").  Not trying to be rough, but come on, drugs are never the answer in my view, which I'm sure you will disagree with.

[GerbyAlan]

I've read several of your posts itdood.  You remind me a lot of myself.  I've got LBBB so I envy you and others who don't in that regard, but I know my situation could be a lot worse.  I actually don't have any symptoms of it that I know of and am in good physical condition.  I do get PVCs which is what brought me here a few weeks back.  I don't get nearly as many as you and some of the others, but they still bother me, especially with the anxiety of the LBBB.  Mine usually are brought about by eating (while eating, not so much after), during sex, and sometimes when I first sit down after just walking around, and also after an aerobic workout--a few minutes after initial cool-down..  They are usually singles and very few but still bug me.  I've always had a pounding heart and can feel every PVC clearly.  I've had these things for over 30 years, but they seemed to tick up after my LBBB diagnosis in January (anxiety? lol).  I've also lost 30 pounds since late Dec. and have been increasing my workout intensity since then, after years of being an overweight, slogging, ex-real runner.  Anyway..didn't mean to ramble, and hope your situation clears up some again.  Hell dood, it hasn't killed you yet, it probably never will.:)

[itdood]

To follow up, if you are drinking OJ that could be a factor.  OJ is one of the few triggers I've been able to identify.  

[achillea]

Aaaack!  Juicing is *not* part of 'eating right.'

If you drink one cup of fresh orange juice, you have just taken in the straight sugar calories of four oranges.  From nursing school, you must remember what kind of message your pancreas gets from that:  You're heading for a crash as your body gets the message you have just taken in a load of sugar high enough to require a BIG shot of insulin.

In addition, when you juice, you lose not only the very healthful fiber of every plant, but also the 'mouth-feel,' the sensory satisfaction of eating.

So, by all means, eat right, but remember what that truly means, and try to avoid getting sucked into food trends.

Second, it sounds as though your heart has been repeatedly checked out and found to be essentially healthy.  What really troubles you, they, are the sensations of your ectopics, and the terror they generate.

I don't know if you have ever sought the care of a specialist in anxiety, but I can tell you that in my own case, a really good shrink with a knowledge of cardiac anxiety (plus a lot of sophistication with anti-anxiety meds) gave me my life back with regards to PVCs.

[itdood]

p.s., any thoughts on getting the stress and anxiety under control?

[itdood]

Mine flared up about 4 weeks ago after about 5 years of manageable issues. Another friend of mine, who is a marathon runner, also flared about the same time.  We don't know why.

I'm starting to think I may need to go through a full cardiology workup again to check things out.

Very sad time. Didn't think I'd ever get another major flare up again.

[SassyLassie]

Welcome back.

I remember you. I, too, have not been here much at all the last few years. So much has gone on. Back in 2012, my daddy died, really upset me, still does, then, I got married and moved over to New Zealand, lovely country, but well, not home, and I do not like the medical care, especially when I complain about the "skips" My marriage is not great, so, I am under massive stress. We are planning on moving back to the USA this May or June, he is a "Kiwi", born and bred, so, it will be interesting to see how he likes my country.

I am sorry your skips and other issues are acting up so badly, that is sure no fun, I hope they settle down for you soon.

Nice to see you again, but sorry it is under unfavorable conditions for you.