Palpitations making me miserable. (please read)

[Cinnamonspider]

My heart has been skipping beats on and off for over a week now, and today it started thumping possibly over 200 bpm for about 3 seconds? then slowed back down, felt like bombs going off in my chest but wasnt painful. This was this morning and it's now the evening and my chest/arm feels numb.

blood/ECG's/X-rays = normal. but beats wasn't happening at the time of the ECG.
I have to wait months to see a cardiologist and get put on a 24 hour heart monitor. I really don't feel like I can wait that long, It's keeping me up at night, I have no appetite, and I constantly think i'm going to just drop dead.

I did think it was anxiety to begin with, but today my mind wasnt on it at all when my bp increased suddenly. so I don't know whats wrong with me.

Btw I think i get this more at rest. It will come in waves and vary in the amount of palps, and the time between beats. it's not a nice feeling. it's like sudden suction on my chest when my heart thumps again, It's hard to explain.

Anyone give me some reassurance or knowledge? I'm 20, male, and from the UK btw.

[Cinnamonspider]

Thanks for the replies, information is appreciated. :)

[sams619]

i had similar problems over the coarse of 10yrs and my doctors told me anxiety. however no antidepressant or anxiety pill warded off the attacks. 5 yrs ago i ended up in the er after an episode that had been going on for 1 1/2 hours. i went to work and 1 of my doctors that i work for told me this isn't anxiety i was in svt. supraventricular tachicardia and when i admitted to the er my pulse was 234bpm. i had several more episodes and finally the cardiologist did a cardiac oblastion and i have no had no troubles since. this might give you a place to start. fyi--this is not life threatening but very scary when it occurs. you might want to do some research and try to see the cardiologist sooner if possible.

symptoms--i would feel my chest tighten, my pulse would very rapid and bounding. i would occassionally become short of breath and sometimes dizzy but thtat was due to the intense high pulse rate. my blood pressure would remain low and sometimes hard to get due to being faint.
'i hope this helps

[NikkiJean]

This is indeed a trigger from anxiety, i've been to Cardiologists plenty of times, they never caught it but it definitely is not harmful, so stop your worrying. It could have something to do with your thyroid, low levels of magnesium and essential vitamins. Eat salt as it helps keep the heart in regular rhythm and dont worry because stress can be a trigger too.

[Ricobord]

I was having a very similar problem and my regular doctor gave me a prescription for a beta blocker (metaprolol succinate).  She put me on a fairly small dose twice a day (instead of the usual once a day) to keep an even level in my blood.  It worked really well at slowing down my racing heart and lowering my BP.

You would probably have to go off the medication for a few days before a halter test but you can ask the cardiologist about that.