I've been told that my ability to feel almost every one of my irregular heartbeats is not the norm. One doctor made me look away from the monitor and tell him when I felt an irregular beat - didn't miss one. Anyway, since I am well aware when they happen I often try to figure out what they are but honestly they have become increasingly more difficult to sort out. Starting out back in my 20s there were just some PVCs and then at 39 afib along with tach showed up (over 200 bpm laying on the table). Two months after my ablation this past December the doctor told me my EKG showed aflutter. Some years ago there was another type of irregular beat in there too but cannot recall the name. I am now off flecainide for 1.5 weeks and have had three episodes in that time, always converting on my own in 1 to 3 hours. The one that I have felt the most often over the years consists of a strong beat followed by a series of weaker but fast smaller beats, then repeat.
Does anyone have a good description of how each arrhythmia feels, tips, etc. that may help me figure out if I am having PVCs with tach, aflutter, afib or whatever else they may be?
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Jafib
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I can recognise AF - impossible not to really as it is so prominent and easily identifiable by the rhythm or lack of. Fast, fast, fast, fast, pause, slow, slow, fast,fast,fast,fast. I don’t always recognise Flutter as it is a regular, irregularity and I sometimes get both AF with AFl but I am always way more symptomatic and my HR is normally much higher than with Lone AF.
Ectopics feel like a skipped beat and as if my heart has tripped. Tachycardia - I just notice my HR up and can feel the muscle pumping more. I sometimes feel like the old Popeye cartoon - when the heart jumps out of his chest and pumps super fast.
Like you I feel and ‘hear’ every unusual beat and believe it is not that unusual. I have learned just because doctors don’t often come across things it doesn’t mean it is unusual - just unusual for them - but then again - have they ever asked the question?
After I awoke from my 1st ablation I thought I had died - because I couldn’t feel or hear my heartbeat which indicates for just how long I must have had unusual rates and rhythms - probably from childhood as I really could not remember ever not feeling/hearing my HR.
I got used to the peace and quiet eventually, but it took a few weeks and now I am again super sensitive to any change - happening as I write as my HR hasn’t been between 80-112 most of the morning.
You are not alone in feeeling every "error" in your heart and I really do not understand why doctors do not accept this as the norm.
If you scroll Utube there are some great videos of a doctor or two acting out a series of arrhythmias as a dance with arms as the atrium and legs as the ventricle. Could not begin to explain it any better.
I feel mine too I’m very very sensitive to my heart beats/rate like you I have a right mixed bag AFib AFL SVT and ectopics; and very low blood pressure and I have a pacemaker. I never know which is which all I know is it’s not right. Had ablation for flutter a year ago next week and only when I went for Autonomic function tests did it kick off again oh yes it did it’s took 2 weeks to settle down again and had 1 episode of 30 seconds of AF recently (I know this as pacemaker records all my heart activity and I was at my annual check last week) loads of ectopics recorded and runs of them too!! I hate feeling it all the time no peace at all if it’s not One its another but I keep plodding on!! I have too!! Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m heard but my consultants all know my sensitivity and so in the pacemaker clinic they always apologise to me as they have to fast pace me to check thankfully I’m not ridiculed and after 14 years they all accept I feel my heart activity!! But your dr should not have dismissed you like that you are the patient you know your body better!! Be insistent and consistent and adamant!! Good luck with it all xx
Great descriptions...and basically I share that experience. Took a bit over two years to get diagnosed, went through pulmonary testing for breathless over slight exertion and was keeping records on my wild and crazy pulse and BP readings before a friend convinced me that there was a serious problem and Dr. set up a study with cardiologist. First tests were normal but then I had the Holter monitor for a week and was in afib 70% of the time; quickly moved from Multaq to ablation when Rx helped but was still having episodes, ie. at EP cardiologist appts. everytime I went it! The ablation appears to have fixed the problem areas, all quiet for six months now! My FitBit was a great help in showing patterns and would be blank during the pauses... Now I have run a resting heart rate of 85 or higher but feel fine. Mild sleep apnea diagnosed over this same period of time making me wonder how closely these two problem are connected/related?
Started to feel my beats in 2008- (probably my start of AF is what Dr said after my first ablation) My first cardiologist I visited said lay on the right side so you don’t feel the beats. Do I did and kept on with coffee, beer and wine, biking dancing. Until 2014 when my first event occurred
Now I feel it lying flat, in my ears, bending over
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Alivecor Heart Monitor. - Very helpful !
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