Aa
Wish I knew more about the sorts of things that can cause the heart to stop
I don't know ... I have had the feeling that my heart is going to stop suddenly and without warning. I feel like my heart will seize up due to a reaction to something I eat or drink, such as caffeine, or that a PAC will last longer than normal and my heart will fail to regain its rhythm. Or that something will mess up in my bloodstream and cause my heart to stop, or that an attack of anxiety will shock it into abandoning its task of keeping me alive! I hear so many stories about people who die suddenly and without obvious cause, and am convinced that the same thing could happen to me at any time. I don't know how well-founded these fears are, and I just wish I knew more about the heart and how it retains its momentum or ceases to do so. Maybe I should go to medical school ...
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I often get a sharp tightening feeling in my chest, always on the left just above the breast. It hurts to breath in but only lasts a minute or so. Also get the odd hard thump of a hard beat that kinda takes my breath away. I'm 27 and I'm a smoker. Have been since I was 17. Any thoughts on what this could be?
You're very welcome:)
I didn't say you sounded selfish at all :) The problem is just that when you are getting cured from this "cardiophobia" (in lack of a better word) your interest for medicine may go away if you don't have another motivation for that education.
If you liked the answer, you could read it again if you feel afraid. You could also ask a doctor just to get it verified, or ask a doctor to write something similar (he will probably do it better) which you can print and carry with you when you get anxious.
Take care :) and by all means just ask if you have further questions. We are here for you!
I didn't say you sounded selfish at all :) The problem is just that when you are getting cured from this "cardiophobia" (in lack of a better word) your interest for medicine may go away if you don't have another motivation for that education.
If you liked the answer, you could read it again if you feel afraid. You could also ask a doctor just to get it verified, or ask a doctor to write something similar (he will probably do it better) which you can print and carry with you when you get anxious.
Take care :) and by all means just ask if you have further questions. We are here for you!
your worries, check out an inexpensive little book called "Hope and Help For Your Nerves" by Dr. Claire Weekes.
Goth, in all probability, your heart is not going go stop because you are nervous or because of anything you eat or drink. Unless you are run over by a bus, smoke like crazy, or engage in risky behavior, you will almost certainly live to the now- standard age of 80 or so for women, no matter what else you do.
Even if your heart's major pacemaker fails (very unlikely), there are two other backup systems that can and will take over:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_pacemaker
It sounds to me as though one of your major problems is worry. Believe me, if you get help for your anxiety, your heart will take care of itself very nicely. If you cannot afford to see a specialist about
Even if your heart's major pacemaker fails (very unlikely), there are two other backup systems that can and will take over:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_pacemaker
It sounds to me as though one of your major problems is worry. Believe me, if you get help for your anxiety, your heart will take care of itself very nicely. If you cannot afford to see a specialist about
Once again, you have given such a thorough and informative answer that I cannot help but be reassured! I will have to read over your explanation of the sinus node a couple of times to make sure I have understood and remember it the next time I start to have these irrational fears. And from reading what you write, I can see that they are irrational. The death statistics you provide are especially interesting and helpful to remember that 99% of the time, death doesn't come out of nowhere. (I did hear about the 80 people killed at the camp in your country, as well. Such a horrible event that made me so sad for them and their families.)
In terms of anxiety, you are right, it can be reassuring to know that my heart can beat hard, even if it is because of fear: I shall try to think of it that way next time I get nervous. I do indeed feel like I'm in a high-risk group: if anyone else I know said that they feared their heart was going to stop suddenly, I would tell them it was highly unlikely, but for myself I feel very differently. I guess I also need to remember how many tests I've had done, and how they showed that the structure of my heart is intact. It may take some effort to change my thought processes, but all I can do is keep trying.
And I certainly didn't mean to sound selfish with my last comment: if I went to medical school, my primary goal would of course be to help others, which I would love to do! Unfortunately, I am studying Arts right now, so probably would not get in ...
In terms of anxiety, you are right, it can be reassuring to know that my heart can beat hard, even if it is because of fear: I shall try to think of it that way next time I get nervous. I do indeed feel like I'm in a high-risk group: if anyone else I know said that they feared their heart was going to stop suddenly, I would tell them it was highly unlikely, but for myself I feel very differently. I guess I also need to remember how many tests I've had done, and how they showed that the structure of my heart is intact. It may take some effort to change my thought processes, but all I can do is keep trying.
And I certainly didn't mean to sound selfish with my last comment: if I went to medical school, my primary goal would of course be to help others, which I would love to do! Unfortunately, I am studying Arts right now, so probably would not get in ...
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I can try my best to answer your questions (seems like there are three of them).
1) The sinus node can't stop as long as it gets blood supply. I will try to explain; it fires, and the cells build up "energy", which, when reaching a certain threshold, will make the sinus node fire again. This process can be measured and if you did an EKG of the sinus node alone, it would look like a sine wave (that's why the name is sinus node). It's technically impossible for the cells to hold their energy for a long time, so they have to fire and trigger a heart beat. Your heart can't stop this way. In rare cases there may be a somewhat long pause, but eventually the sinus node will trigger a heartbeat.
After a PAC, the PAC itself spreads through the atria to the sinus node and triggers it. The sinus node spends time on firing a (wasted) beat and needs some time to recharge just as if it triggered the beat itself. That's why you get a pause afterwards. Several factors affect how long this pause is, it may be long or short, but it doesn't matter at all.
2) As strange as it may seem, you are never so alive as you are during anxiety attacks. Try thinking like this:
- I feel my heart beating hard. That's a sign that my heart is strong and healthy. (people with heart failure can't get their hearts to beat hard)
- My heart rate is rapid. That's the opposite of no heartbeats, isn't it?
etc.. Try to think positive.
3) I can refer to the death statistics in my country. We have about 750.000 citizens at age 20-35 years. Last year, 8 of them died due to cardiac causes. 6 of the deaths were related to congenital heart diseases (holes in the heart, etc) one of them caused by a serious infection that spread to the heart and one of them related to CAD at early age (caused by cholesterol above 15).
To compare, 14 were victims of homicide (this number will increase 6 times on next year's statistics because a madman killed 80 young men and women on a youth camp...) 300 died from accidents, most of them traffic accidents. What you need to understand is that you're not immortal but your fear of heart diseases is irrational. You should be 300 times more afraid of driving a car, but you are probably not.
Something is telling me that you believe you are in a "high-risk" group. It seems the reason you place yourself in this group is PACs (benign and normal) and sinus tachycardia (benign and physiological). 70% of us have PACs through 24 hours and 100% of us have sinus tachycardia through 24 hours. The heart is supposed to vary its rhythm. If the heart beats like a metronome, that's when you are in a high-risk group because the autonomic nerve system has lost its influence on the heart.