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ectopic heartbeat
im 24 old and i have suffered from health anxiety for 6 months, ive been to a and e because my heart was skipping too many beats the paramedic said nothing serious though, got hospital did about 5 ecgs when heart was beating 150 per min then it would skip beats even skip constantly 3 hours later the nurse said i was fine to go home, ever since then ive had ectopic heartbeat either occassionally or now and then, how do i stop worrying over them?
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only had ecgs, only one was normal on the way to hosp. then when got there my heart was racing skipping beats and couldnt get normal ecg, i was in for 3 hours and the doctor said i was fine to go home, ive seen a heart specialist when on beta blockers and ecg was fine he said its definately anxiety, ive asked my doctor what they are she explained and said because heart specialist was happy with ecg she was too they are normal, its taking time to get used to them, i think if anything was wrong they wold have kept me in.
PVC is premeture ventricular contraction PPPPPPP being premeture as in early not late or not existant.
You can't be 100% certain, of course.
If you count your heart rate, and it's like:
1---2---3---4---5---6--------8---9---10 (just nothing where the 7th heartbeat should be, and beat 8 is where you would expect it to be, as if nr 7 was there) it's possibly a PVC.
1---2---3---4---5---67-----8---9---10 = PAC.
1---2---3---4---5---6------8---9---10 = PAC (beat nr 8 happens before you would expect)
Again, do not get obsessed with this, you can never be sure and it really doesn't matter if it's a PAC or PVC.
If you count your heart rate, and it's like:
1---2---3---4---5---6--------8---9---10 (just nothing where the 7th heartbeat should be, and beat 8 is where you would expect it to be, as if nr 7 was there) it's possibly a PVC.
1---2---3---4---5---67-----8---9---10 = PAC.
1---2---3---4---5---6------8---9---10 = PAC (beat nr 8 happens before you would expect)
Again, do not get obsessed with this, you can never be sure and it really doesn't matter if it's a PAC or PVC.
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Ectopic heart beats are (as you probably know) heart beats that origin somewhere else than your sinus node. They are almost always benign, but feels really scary. I would recommend you to read my post "facts about PACs and PVCs" that I wrote a couple of weeks ago.
In my opinion, worrying about cardiac events is worse than, i.e, worrying about cancer. The problem is; you feel an increased heart rate and/or skipped beats, your worrying will cause higher heart rate and more skipped beats, more anxiety, and eventually you will feel like going crazy or having a heart attack. A minor underlying condition (such as stress at work) can trigger this, and it's greatly elevated by your anxiety about symptoms.
I can give you some useful advice:
1. You need to accept that your symptoms are caused by anxiety and not heart disease. Always. It's a bit strange, because ectopic beats don't necessarily (though they can) occur during an anxiety attack. They usually appear after you've calmed down (or you believe you've calmed down since you in fact haven't completely). Your adrenaline levels are still high, making your heart believe it has to beat faster than it does. Since it doesn't, other spots in your heart would like to "help" as well, causing those extra/ectopic beats. I get mine after, not during, a stressful day at work, or before sleep.
2. Anxiety won't harm you. You won't faint, your blood pressure during these events is far too high (not dangerous).
3. Trust your doctors and avoid reading cardiology (believe me, I've got burned on this one)
4. If you get high heart rates, focus on counting backwards from 400. Do not count with the speed of your heart rhythm :)
5. Trust the fact that in a structurally normal heart (without congenital heart disease or heart attacks / MI), ectopic beats will not cause more dangerous arrhythmias.
Good luck:)