First, it is a Holter Monitor, named after a scientist named Norman Holter.
Second, even though you and I and others are totally freaked by numbers like these, 1200 extrasystoles (funny beats) in a 24 hour period is nothing, My heart is structurally normal. I run about 5k per day, and no doc, on seeing my EKG, even turns a hair.
What you are describing sounds lie the classic PVC, or premature ventricular contraction, one of the minor but very common irregular beats that everyone--everyone--experiences. The interesting thing is that not everyone feels them.
To be more sure, we need to know your age and family history, but the odds are that are you are experiencing this quite normal phenomenon, which is disturbing but not dangerous.
I'm 20 years old healthy weight 215 6'00 tall no history of heart arryhtmia in my family
My pause lasted 3 seconds I counted 3 mississipii
Since you are young, your weight is generally OK, your family history is clean, and your heart has been tested several ways and found to be in good shape, then what you are experiencing and describing is probably harmless but scary premature ventricular contractions. Everyone--that is, *everyone*--gets them, but not everyone feels them. Those of us who do can become needlessly frightened or even obsessed by them.
This is what happens in a PVC:
Every heart cell is naturally contractile; that means that each little bitty heart cell is perfectly capable of contracting all by itself. By common consent, however, they 'agree' to contract at the rate of the fastest cell in the heart, the 'Pacemaker.' That agreement determines our basic heart rate.
However, each cell still has the capacity to contract on its own, and for some reason not yet understood, this does happen in perfectly normal hearts. A few cells 'decide' to fire off when they want to, causing the heart to beat a little earlier than usual.
But the chambers of the heart are elastic, and when there's an early beat, the chambers haven't had a chance to get a huge fill-up. As a result, the 'premature ventricular contraction' is weak. Generally, it is so faint that you cannot feel it with your finger on your pulse.
After any heartbeat, there is a natural pause while the heart's electrical system re-sets itself, and when there has been a PVC, that natural pause is just a tiny bit longer. That faint, early beat PLUS the pause that follows are what you perceiving as your heart 'pausing.' In a sense, that is what it happening, but it's not 'stopping.' That pause allows the heart to get a somewhat larger than usual fill-up, and the normal heartbeat that follows is a big, strong BOOM!
The BOOM is what most people feel and what frightens them. But it's just the heart doing its usual job, which is pumping out all the blood it receives.
The sensation is disturbing to people with very sensitive nerves, but it is not harmful when the heart is healthy. It becomes a matter of understanding and accepting that, which can be difficult. Some of us here have benefited from psychotherapy and medical treatment of our anxiety about this matter.
There is a good online explanation of PVCs and other weird heart sensations. Just copy this into your google search box:
cardiology/forums/backup/topic-24286.html
and look for John Kenyon's answers to the discussion, " Do PVCs lead to v-tach?"
Thank you for the very informative response.
I very frequently feel my PVCs and its only scaring me because the pauses I'm feeling are getting longer and longer and I also get pain in my chest when the PVCs come in clusters
I get them in clusters when I get up quickly to go do something or when my heart rate is slowing down from excersize I also get them when my heart is beating fast during excersize I'll feel my heart pounding in excersize and the pause and start again and that makes me out of breath
I've been scared to excersize like I used to before I started having arryhtmia for this reason
First, it is important--very important--to understand what is going on. It is NORMAL, perfectly normal, for you to feel more of these when your heart is slowing down after exercise.
Even though it is hard to take information in when you are worried, I urge you to read what's in the link I gave you. Again and again, until you get it.
Second, the more worried you are, the more adrenaline you generate and the more frequent these odd beats are going to be. Fear is your worst enemy.
From the health standpoint, given that your heart is healthy, about the worst thing you can do is to stop exercising. You are not an invalid. The problem is that you feel these beats more intensely than is warranted. They mean nothing. It is like a hiccup of the heart.
I strongly suggest that you return to your doctor and tell him that your anxiety over your ectopic heartbeats is interfering with your life. Ask him for a referral to a psychiatrist who deals with this kind of thing. I have found that the shortest route to reclaiming a healthy, normal life is talking with a good shrink and maybe using a low dose of an anti-anxiety drug like Zoloft plus maybe a small amount of Xanax to get you over the hump until the Zoloft kicks in, which takes about two weeks to a month.
You do not have to live like this. The hardest part is picking up the phone and making that first appointment with a shrink.
So I forgot to mention when my heart starts to beat irregular I get really lightheaded and out of breath
The best way I could describe the arrythmis is
Thump thump thump th__________thump thump______thump thump THUMP THUMP THUMP. And then back to normal