Ectopics or A-Flutter/A-Fibs

[courtneyazeem]

My symptoms have been what feels like extra beats/skipped beats generally when my heart rate starts to lower after being very rapid. For example jogging for a bit when I stop it normally starts.

If someone is experiencing afib is it a constant throughout the day only being picked up on a ECG.

I am 24 years old 183pounds 6ft1

I have had a echocardiogram and was told my heart is strucally normal. And okay I don't experience any of symptoms other then when I get these extra beats but they completely put me off doing cardio until something is done or at least I am told they are harmless.

I never got them until recently which is really annoying.

Currently I sent back a cardio loop recorder to the hospital with some recording of the symptoms I had to induce. But I think it would be easier to just have a stress test.

If someone could help I would be very appreciative.

[Finvola]

It's very good news that your heart is structurally normal but any arrhythmia is miserable. I cannot obviously say what you are experiencing but can tell you what I have had. My PAF episodes normally lasted about two hours but I also had short runs lasting for only a few seconds, so it is possible to have short bursts of AF. Skipped beats (ectopics) can come from the atria or the ventricles and are 'normally' thought to be harmless. I found them very hard to cope with as atrial ectopics (PAC's) can start AF off and ventricular ectopics (PVC's) made me very breathless and weak. Atrial flutter produces a very fast, regular heartbeat.

Have you had any results from your loop recorder? I would advise you to see a specialist cardiologist called an EP (Electrophysiologist) to get full diagnosis and a treatment plan in place. There is a lot of information on the main AFA website and you can do a keyword search on this forum for previous posts where various topics have been discussed in the past - lots of information!

If you have any questions or need more advice please ask - someone will know the answer.

Best wishes

[courtneyazeem in reply to Finvola]

Thanks for the reply. No i still have not received the results from the loop recorder, the rude receptionist told me it will take up to 4 weeks i believe. its been just under 2 weeks. And yes I will probably go see a EP but i just want to see what my results say 1st. I visited the website yesterday and found it interesting, however when i clicked on forum it took me back to here.

What had me thinking is what you said "its possible to have short bursts of it" and "Atrial flutter produces a very fast, regular heartbeat."

Cause before i spoke to a cardiologist specialist and she advised me to sort my wheezing out and if my problems still persist come back. (by problems I only told her when I walked up any slight incline or stairs my heart rate skyrocketed and I was out of breath) didn't mention about the extra beats I thought it would stop when I got better.

However since taking the brown inhaler I can climb a lot more stairs and hills much easier but still get the extra beats if i push myself too much, which can occasionally make me anxious which of course makes my heart rate beat faster which then causes the symptoms.

All I can do is wait for now.