Missed heartbeats

[raine1712]

Hello, I'm worried something might be wrong with my heart. I'm 23 years old, female, with no medical history apart from asthma that developed maybe two years ago, and gastritis. I am taking meds for both.

I had my first "skipped heartbeat" maybe a year ago. I laid down and it went away but scared me to death. It didnt happen again until about a year later. Now it happens once a month maybe, sometimes once a week. It varies.

I had a really bad episode last time and feared I was having a heart attack. I was at work, had chest pain, and suddenly i get this missed heartbeat that was very strong, i had trouble breathing, felt like i was going to faint as I was awfully lightheaded, my heart was beating awfully fast and hard. Is thought I was dying. I got taken to the ER, they performed an ECG, chest x-ray and urine tests.  Everything came back perfect.

But I am still getting the palpitations. Sometimes when I lay down weirdly, and most commonly while I'm sitting at the computer , as my job is a desk job.

What should I do? Should I go further into this? Should I go get it checked?
I am awfully scared something might be wrong with me.
Also, I've had panic attacks in the past, the first one being in a plane a year ago in which my whole body pertified and my bones ached, i got taken to the ER, they gave me some meds and It stoppped.
Could this all be related to my panic attacks? Or should I look more into it?

[itdood]

Talk to your GP about it.  Get a physical.  Probably will do an EKG there.  If there's an issue they will send you to a cardiologist for more workup.

[raine1712]

Thank you so much for your reply... well generally whenever I get them I'm okay, nothing really happens apart from a shortage of breath, probably because I get startled. The time I was taken to the ER though, it was very intense, I was about to faint and had difficulty breathing. It's this episode that scared me, not the palpitations themselves. For the longest time I believed it was my esophagus suddenly contracting or something, due to my gastritis.

[is_something_wrong]

Your anxiety can contribute to more "skipped beats" (they aren't skipped beats but early heartbeats which doesn't produce a pulse wave, as the heart isn't full of blood yet, so you don't notice them. After the early beat, the heart takes a little pause, and during that time it fills up more than usual, so the next beat may feel stronger.

As mentioned, anxiety can contribute to more of them. But even in non-anxious people, they occur. They are simply a fact of life. Everyone get them, in fact if you monitor the heart rhythm of 100 healthy individuals through 48 hours, almost all of them will have premature ("skipped") heartbeats.

If you otherwise feel OK (except the anxiety and the feeling of a skip or strong heart beat) and you are healthy, there is no need to go to the ER, it will only cost you time and money. If you need to talk to a doctor, get an appointment with your GP, but if you don't have symptoms, there is no need to rush or worry. As I said, everyone have them.