I'm BEGGING people for feedback, im SO scared!

[PleaseRead]

Almost EVERY time I have sex with my girlfriend lately either RIGHT before we're finished or RIGHT after we're finished (usually after) i get SEVERE tachycardia. My heart starts fluttering at a HIGH rate of speed. (i havent tried to count as i'm usually freaking out thinking I'm going to die) but its easily above 150. It feels like it's pounding out of my chest and they only feel like "half beats" and completelyyyy out of rhythm.

I am 28 years old. I am 5'11 200 pounds of all muscle. I have never done any drugs in my life. I eat healthy every day. I get on the treadmill for a half hour a day and I lift weights 4 days a week.  I used to drink alcohol heavily when I was younger but have not in a few years now.  Last year I had an EKG, an echocardiogram, a chest x-ray and I wore an event monitor for a month.  

The doctor told me that I was "Perfectly healthy" and to "forget about it" but this is IMPOSSIBLE. I know my own body. i was an ELITE athlete my entire life. I used to sprint a quarter mile in 46 seconds in track... a hundred yards in 10.2 second.  Have 80 yard kickoff returns in football and NEVER had heart palpitations or anything. I was perfectly healthy.  I neverrrr had these problems having sex ever in my life. I used to have marathon sex at a fast pace with all my girlfriends NO problem.  

Now I cannot have REGULAR... SLOW sex with my fiance without my heart going absolutely CRAZY for about 2 to 5 minutes afterwards. And it is SCARY. Today when it happened I felt like I had just run a marathon.  I wasnt out of breathe at all.... i could breathe fine and I didnt feel like i was going to pass out but my heart was RACING in a manner that didnt coincide with the amount of exertion. In my upper chest during the episode i THINK my chest felt a little like it was burning like if i had just run outside in the cold. But that is the first time I noticed that and I may have been imagining it as I was having a panic attack once it started. The episode lasted about 4 minutes and then my heart was back to normal. This is the 4th or 5th time it has happened in the last few weeks and probably the 9th time altogether in the last year. It is SOMETHING... it is not NOTHING. it never did it before and now it is... So the doctor HAS to be wrong.  I called him back to tell him that it is getting worse and he brushed me off like it was nothing. PLEASE give me some advice on what I should do next and what it could possibly be.... I do NOT want to drop dead after having sex... and it is to the point now where i'm scared to have sex!!! at 28....

Now all day since then I've been getting skipped beats constantly. my pulse is up in the high 80s. (normal for me is about 65 or 70) but I'll admit i'm having some anxiety because I'm scared that I had a heart attack or something earlier. SO PLEASE.... what should i do next... how do I find the cause of this.... i can deal with it if i KNOW its not going to KILL me... i just need to know WHAT IT IS!!

[Fawadk]

This happens
You need to relax
Next time when such thing happen
Take a deep breath and slowly slowly exhale
Do this 3,4 time
Its easy and while doing that stay relax and trust me you will be fine and your heart will be back to normal

[Thecousin]

I don’t know if you found a solution to your simptoms. I have to tell you I went thru the same exact problems as you were. My problem was my stomach was leaking gut and that was going to my bloodstreams which gives you palpitations. Take some good bacteria for your stomach to seal any leaks and the problem will go away.

[PleaseRead]

that's not necessarily true.... i'm saying it is documented even by doctors. that doesnt necessarily mean that I am lacking magnesium... it's just a thought. I would have to get blood work to see.

[achillea]

With so much well-documented evidence for the efficiency of magnesium, you really owe it to yourself to start consuming large quantities.

[PleaseRead]

as for the supplements... that's not true at all. There's is TONSSSSS of evidence that supplements help with a variety of different things. I SPECIFICALLY spoke to a doctor who told me magnesium deficiency can cause arrythmias and that most people do NOT get enough magnesium in their diets because there's not a lot of foods that have sufficient amount. go to ANY emergency room and when someone comes in with a heart condition or heart attack they immediately put them on a magnesium drip....  

As for the anxiety... yes... I'm not sure if me THINKING i'm going to have these problems the whole time i'm having sex is causing them. I can barely e njoy the sex cause i'm just WAITING for the tachycardia to start. and then... it does. lol

[PleaseRead]

I have contemplated myself if the "valsalva maneuver" is what was causing it. Often times men do this alot during the 'activity" for several reasons.  No it does not happen on my back. seems to be only when I'm in control.

[tom_h]

I'll offer another idea. Could it be a positional or vasovagal response.  I know because I can occasionally ellicit a brief run of SVT or more commonly, PVC's during sex.  I can even throw a few PVC's if I have to "hold it" when I need  to urinate very badly.  You don't realize if, but in the throes of passion, you're probably doing Valsalva maneuvers which abruptly alters internal pressures.  I've worn the Holter before during those "activities", and have even had to press the button, and write in the log what I was doing during the arrhythmia event.  Have you ever tried a position where you're not doing the "heavy lifting", but are on your back, and in a relaxed state?

[achillea]

First, as is_something_wrong suggests, get yourself another monitor so your heart's misbehavior can be observed in the, um, problematical activity.

Second, don't waste your time or money with supplements.  Most of us get everything we need from our regular foods, and there is no evidence that supplements of any kind help arrhythmias or the perception of them.

Third, you are now dealing with a situational anxiety problem, one that--as you can see--is only going to get worse if left unattended, and once established, will probably continue to trouble you even if the results of your heart monitor show that your heart is perfectly OK.

It is time to make an appointment with a doctor who specializes in treating anxiety, so that you can learn various ways to not be anxious about your ticker, but also to UN-LEARN any scary associations between heart sensations and sex.

[munk1958]

I have had had PVC's etc for 30 years. They sometimes feel different than at other times, sometimes when working out, the latest twist is they kick up when I sit or lay down. I'm 53, and was a state champion powerlifter, hockey goalie, etc. I'm in great shape except my pump has a mind of it's own. I hate the irregular beats as much as you do, and everyone else here. But I am learning after a gazillion visits to the doc, that these things won't kill me, they just stink. I hope you will be one of the fortunate ones who they will disappear
from. If not, don't let them bother you, and get on with life. Mark

[MichelleP_3811]

Beyond the advice given to get a monitor and try to trigger the episode do indeed go and get your electrolytes checked and also watch how you breath during exercise.  Try to avoid shallow fast breathing and see if that helps. Also work on the anxiety you are feeling over this. It definitely could be making things worse.  The odds of you coming to harm over this are likely very rare so try to go with the flow as best you can.  Keep on top of this but try to take it in stride.  Good luck.

[PleaseRead]

thank you all for the replies. It's good to know other people have these. I just wish it happened any other time besides sex!!! it's a big part of our relationship and I now feel like an old man who cant perform.  I kinda go at a steady pace now to try to keep from having this (which doesnt stop it) and I feel like i'm not getting the job done as i should!! (shes says all is well though) SO I guess i'll keep truckin until I figure this out

Anyone recommend magnesium??? I eat really healthy every day... but I've heard depleted magnesium can cause heart palps.  I used to drink alcohol excessively and I heard that it can deplete storages of B vitamins and Magnesium... so even though I'm eating healthy right now There's a good chance i'm not getting enough of certain vitamins every day...

Anyone agree or disagree? thank you!

[PleaseRead]

Yeah I'm going to try that again. The month long event monitor didn't catch anything because it was about a year ago and they weren't happening as often at the time.

[PleaseRead]

No. no religious holdup about it.  we have 2 kids together and have been together over 5 years now. I love her to death but we just havent had the time or money to get married yet. WHen we first started dating I never had these problems. We used to go at it rough as can be for long periods of time and afterwards i'd feel great. NOW sex is becoming a chore for me.... the more i enjoy it... the worse my heart races after.

[George_n_Texas]

I'm no doctor but I gotta wonder if your religious convictions might be causing you stress having sex outside the bonds of marriage even if you plan to get married some time in the future.

[is_something_wrong]

I forgot to add, maybe it's not the best boost to your sex life to wear a Holter monitor with lots of wires on you.. but it you want to find out what this is, there really isn't much else you can do. It seems you don't get this problem with other exercise, and that itself is a good sign.

I did the same when I had my Holter test, and the cardiologist asked me why my heart rate climbed to the 140s at 11 pm.. :)

Note: If you had this symptom when wearing the event monitor, all is normal and you don't have an arrhythmia, but from your post it didn't look like that was the case..

[is_something_wrong]

Hi!

This is what you should do:

You should go to your doctor and order a Holter monitor (24 hour EKG). Go back to your fiance and you should have rough sex, until you get the symptoms. Then, and only then, you will get a diagnosis. I advice you to do this without any delay, so you can get a diagnosis.

You and your doctor, you are both right. Your doctor is right that your heart is healthy. But that doesn't rule out the chance of having arrhythmias that can subjectively feel devastating (but objectively are benign). Most arrhythmias happen without any existing heart disease.

You may have a supraventricular tachycardia, and you may have a normal rhythm provoked by adrenalin. We can only speculate. Take my advice and get an answer.

[Elli126]

First, you need to calm down...breathe...you are going to be fine. If the doc says you're healthy- you are. You wore the event monitor and had a workup that showed you are ok. Almost everyone has "crazy" beats...I've been dealing with them for over 20 years, and believe me, I understand your reaction-all of us here do. It causes anxiety and anxiety exacerbates the crazy beats. Your racing beats after sex sounds like short runs of SVT but you are going back to normal on your own.

Read some of the stories on here of the people who have been on here for years and have PVCs/PACs, SVTs etc. They will make you feel better and help you realize you are not alone...no where near it. It took me over 20 years to realize-you can't let this crap ruin your life. If the doc said you can run-run. If he didn't say stop having sex-have sex. Live your life, keep asking questions and read up on arrythmias. You will be fine. Oh and keep coming back here for the moral support...it has done wonders for me. :-)