Ectopic Beat, gas or adrenaline?

[xssc32x]

Hi,

Looking at getting some advice, insight and some overall thoughts on what I’m experiencing at the moment. I’m not sure if I’m experiencing ectopic beats or just a rush or excitement/anxiety or something else.

I’m a 43 year fit male, plant based diet , gym go’er 5-days a week non smoker and light drinker, resting heart beat is usually 55-64. I recently had an ECG which came back fine and also blood test which was all well within range with cholesterol ratio at 2.7.

I have been feeling very anxious about my heart hence going to the doctors and hearing that there was nothing wrong made me feel very reassured. However just to monitor my heart regularly I purchased a Kardia and recorded several 2 min readings. The one’s in the evening when I was relaxed were fine. However, I took one when I first got up for work and felt anxious and it looked very sporadic so I made an appointment again to see GP, prior to seeing Dr I took several more. At Dr I showed him my results from the evening when relaxed and this he said was perfect and also the others from the AM and he said that I had quite a few Ectopic beats during 2 minute reading. But other than this my readings were completely normal. BPM on the tests I done when anxious were 68 and second one was 74 which I would of expected to be higher due to anxiety.

I came away from the GP reassured (I thought) but a day or so later the doubt came back, and I am now worried a little. It not helping that I keep feeling little ‘pangs or rushes in my chest’ every time I think about my heart health. Sometimes when I lean forward or sometimes sitting down I feel a little pang or rush in my throat and I automatically go to test my pulse which is usually beating at a consistent beat and around at about 60-65 bpm. I have on occasion been testing my pulse when I get this feeling and heart beat seems regular and not speeding up or skipping. On the odd occasion I can feel a beat that is ‘weaker’ than the others not by much followed by a regular beat and certainly not a thud or much stronger. On occasion I do burp which seems to relive a little ‘pressure’ in my chest and I wonder if this feeling I’m getting regularly is the gas travelling up my wind pipe? It driving me a little crazy is it an Ectopic beat? Gas? Or an adrenaline rush brought on from anxiety. Has anybody any experience of this and can offer some advice, recommendation ??

Most Appreciated

Si

[Buffafly]

I'd go for adrenaline rush brought on by anxiety which might also be affected by gas but of course I....am....not....a....medic!

[Hidden]

I would ask the GP for a 3 day Holter Monitor which would provide more information than is available at present. In the meanwhile try to address the anxiety and any indigestion issues to see if this makes a difference. Continue to take Kardias - maybe more extended ones for, say, 3 mins , when you experience the symptoms so that you can show the GP more evidence. There are many possibilities here- I think this will take time and careful diagnosis to get to the bottom of.

[Hidden]

Another suggestion - avoid the gym until this has been resolved as a precautionary measure.

[Shcldavies]

There is a theory that everyone get ectopics but few feel them, if you do feel them then your heart is irritated. I do not know if this theory is true but in my experience it does answer a lot of questions. If it is true there are a lot of things that could be causing your irritated heart and some are difficult to measure.

You could check this out yourself by stopping intake of caffeine alcohol and sugar, taking magnesium supplement and ensuring your iron levels are OK, drinking more water and have 7 hour (min) sleep - there are many other thing but these tend to be the main culprits. After a week or two, if you improve then try resuming the caffeine, alcohol and sugar in turn to see if you can pinpoint which are causing your condition.

[Danlovell]

It could just be that your symptomatic to your ectopics, like me. I feel every single one and they are horrible, almost knock the breath right out of you, But they are harmless 99% of the time, maybe try a magnesium supplement like mentioned above as that has helped limit mine to a lot fewer

[KMRobbo]

The weaker beat could be the extra ectopic beat, and the heart is not full as it is beating too soon after the last beat.

The next beat can feel big incomparison. However I believe there are circumstances where the heart can get fuller than normal and that does give a big beat , but I cannot remember how thus happens. If you look for ectopics on the web I am sure you will come across it.

I had afib and then an abation in jan 2018. After some issues with flutter I have been off all drugs since May 15 2018and i do not bekueve i have been in afib since. I do get lots of ectopics. I try to ignore most of them and I can go months hardly noticing them then I can have a long run of frequent ectopics that unfortunately grab my attention.(is afib back???) I had this prior to Christmas . The trouble is after 3 years and 13 afib attacks, which where always asymptomatic but at high HR, I can hear my heart rate and once I start listening you hear everything. I suspect I always had ectopics but never noticed until i got hypersensitive with the afib. My EP was not worried about the ectopics when I described them last July to him so I am not. I an not medically trained but from my experience ,worry in things afib is a problem. Worry causes the fight or flight response as you are afraid. But you can't fight or run away from your own heart! So do the investigations you are doing and if nothing untoward is found, forget it and try to ignore it. Worry also does not a lot of good for you blood pressure and your heart rate. I suspect the worry and the lack of sleep it causes ignore damaging than the ectopics.

Best wishes.