severe ectopics lately: Hi all. Lately... - Atrial Fibrillati...

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severe ectopics lately

Dogluvr95 profile image
14 Replies

Hi all. Lately I’ve been having a LOT more ectopics than I normally due. The only differing factor I can think of is that I’m super stressed due to work. Can stress really attribute to ectopics? They haven’t become a giant burden on my daily life but I’m worried that they will. They tend to come out of no where and paralyze me with fear. The anxiety that comes because of them is almost debilitating. How do I move past this? I went and saw a second cardiologist, wore a halter monitor for 3 days and of course those 3 days were the best I’ve had in a long time. She said everything looked completely normal, but I feel anything but normal. I feel unbelievably unmotivated and depressed, like I’ll never live the life I lived before my ablation. I desperately want answers. Is this just going to be my entire life?

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Dogluvr95 profile image
Dogluvr95
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14 Replies
BobD profile image
BobDVolunteer

Only if you let it. Relax. Do the slow deep breathing trick and understand that everybody gets ectopics. Only those who notice them worry about them.

Your fear and anxiety are your biggest problem .

Jalia profile image
Jalia

Sorry to hear how you are suffering. I have to go along with what BobD has said in reply to you though.

I have a close friend who suffered similarly to you. Ectopics came out of the blue ( no AF) . It was only after a battery of tests that she gradually came to accept that there was nothing radically wrong but it took some doing !

For what it's worth I seem to have SVT ectopics multiple times every day for months on end but I'm an old hand at this arrhythmia game and frankly have other things to worry about. Nevertheless it will be brought up when I hopefully speak to my EP next week.

I'm wondering whether your GP might be able to assist with the anxiety aspect ? Anxiety plays a big part for many but you mustn't let this take over your life.

Good luck!

jeanjeannie50 profile image
jeanjeannie50

You know that happens to a lot of us that when we wear a heart monitor our heart behaves perfectly. I've given this a lot of thought over the years, because when I wear a monitor I could honestly climb mountains. I think it shows how big a part our mind plays in causing our AF. We feel safe with the monitor on and really hope that our heart will play up and show the EP cardiologist just what we are experiencing and suffering. What we are unwittingly doing is relaxing. I wonder if you are holding tension in your heart at work. Think about that area and try to consciously relax it. Take a deep breath in, right to your stomach - let it puff out (not your chest). Let your body go limp as you breathe out.

I see that you are only in your 20's and I don't like to hear that you have already had an ablation.

Look to your diet and try hard to not eat any foods containing artificial additives or sugar. This is important if you want to lead a normal life again. If you need to lose weight do that too - just cut out fatty foods. You will be amazed how much better you will feel.

Do you supplement with magnesium and have you listened to Dr Sanjay Gupta's of York cardiology YouTube presentations on ectopic beats?

My daughter used to have heart rhythm problems when she was younger, she brought them on by having to do things she didn't want to do. Like listen to a boring persons conversation. We had to ask for her to be excused morning assembly at primary school. It disappeared for a few years and then came back when she was in an abusive relationship. She's now married to a really lovely, caring man and feels so much better

Feel free to private message me if you think I can help. Always here for you.

Jean

Dogluvr95 profile image
Dogluvr95 in reply to jeanjeannie50

Thank you so much, Jean. I truly appreciate your kind words. I actually have that same theory. I felt completely at ease and relaxed when I wore the heart monitor because I was almost wanting it to show up. I will absolutely look into cutting out artificial additives and sugar (although I have a massive sweet tooth so that may be hard!)

I am on the thinner side however so no need to lose weight. I have seen many of Dr Sanjay Gupta’s videos, he helps to calm me down a lot. I asked my cardiologist about magnesium and she said she only recommends that when someone has a severe heart arrhythmia (?) so I’m not sure about that, but I will look into it more.

It’s funny you say that about your daughter as I am in a pretty toxic relationship right now, so not only is my work life stressful but my home life is as well. I’m just a ball of constant anxiety - can’t be good lol. I feel if I can get my anxiety in check, it will be much better. However it’s a bitter cycle because the ectopics cause the anxiety. Again, I really appreciate your words. You’re always so helpful and kind! ❤️

jeanjeannie50 profile image
jeanjeannie50 in reply to Dogluvr95

I think it's time in your life to make plans to move on. Your heart health may depend on you doing that. When in a situation like yours we (and we all go through these stressful times) find it difficult to take chances. Do you have family nearby or away that could help.

Jean

HANDY1 profile image
HANDY1

DONT WORRY!!!!!!!!Ectopic beats are quite normal. Unless you have some underlying heart condition that has been diagnosed, ectopic heartbeats are quite normal. Yes ectopic beats can come from nowhere and some days they could be horrific. Stress can cause them and so can certain types of foods and they can also come out of the blue, out of nowhere for no reason at all. Some nights I wake up and it feels like my heart is going to come out of my chest, even though my pulse is 45/50 bpm but I can really feel the ectopic beats. The problem is you are aware of them and you can feel them. Many people get them but they cannot feel them. Breathing exercises really help. They can really calm the ectopic beats.

Samazeuilh2 profile image
Samazeuilh2

It's should be reassuring that the Holter monitoring hasn't indicated a problem. You could request an echocardiogram as an additional check. It would be worth keeping a diary of when and where the ectopics occur to see if you can identify any patterns, triggers. They can certainly be caused by stress; I have found that they are much worse after poor sleep. This article discusses ectopics: medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

KMRobbo profile image
KMRobbo

Fear causes palpitations. NOT MEDICALLY trained but ectopics are palpitations or certainly feel the same. So if worry ( fear) causes the palpitations If you worry about them you are in a vicious circle!So don't worry, ignore them and do this by getting on with your life. Concentrating on some task is a good way to ignore them. I found that an ectopic beat less than one on 15 good beats is easy to ignore but if you get them more frequent than one in 10 are more difficult , but still possible with practice.

Has your EP/consultant commentated on your ectopics?

RG72 profile image
RG72

Yes! They can certainly be aggregated a lot from stress. Agree with the advice here, relaxing (as difficult as it can be with ectopics) will help. If small things aren’t working, try big things. Take a break from normal routines, maybe even take a sick day from work and do exactly what you would like to do (or need to) for your well-being.

My ectopics spiked at the most intense time after a prolonged period of stress at work. As soon as I fully realized how much of an impact work was having on my health, I stopped caring as much about it. That doesn’t mean I was trying less at work, I just managed to realize that I could still work hard but leave some of the negatives at work and not take them home with me. From this point on, my ectopics started clearing up. It was gradual and I also cleaned up my diet, made some lifestyle changes, and took medication, but the ectopics came down to a manageable level where they no longer dictated my life. Ultimately I also changed jobs (which I know is not easy for everyone).

There are things you can do to cope with stress, but I think the biggest gains can come from removing some of the stressors from your life, if this is possible.

Breathing and relaxing are excellent start points and don’t under estimate the impact of sleep. Sleep is often the things that allows you to make progress in everything else on the list.

belindalore profile image
belindalore

With the hot weather, many here have complained about extra palpitations ((ectopics). Is the heat wave where you live. Seems to be all over the world. The heat has bothered me too. And stress certainly causes more palpitations. Hang in there. Slow deep breathing helps some of us.

Dogluvr95 profile image
Dogluvr95 in reply to belindalore

Yes, the heat has been brutal. I definitely notice them more in the summer 😣

Buffafly profile image
Buffafly

Agree with everyone one else but one thing I want to repeat advice on is breathing. Exercises are good but I am talking about everyday breathing. When you are tense or concentrating hard on something you can forget to breathe or breathe shallowly or unevenly. I have trained myself to notice when that happens because it usually leads to ectopics. I used to notice that working above my head set off my arrhythmia and eventually I realised that instead of breathing deeply with the effort I was holding my breath!

Best wishes ❤️‍🩹

likestosing profile image
likestosing

I certainly know relationship toxicity can hurt us in many ways. As far as the ectopics go and since you have a sweet tooth, I find a banana milkshake helps me. I put a banana and a cup of milk in a jar and whip it up with an immersion blender. I add nothing else but it is full of potassium and I find that calms things down. Alcohol precipitates ectopics for me. All the best wishes to you.

Mugsy15 profile image
Mugsy15

I agree with all previous posts, especially about sweeteners and sugar. Those of us who have hundreds of ectopics many days and have had for decades, have slowly come to realise that they don't kill you or indeed have any power over you except to cause fear and anxiety because they feel 'wrong'. Once you realise that they don't matter so much any more!

Next time they start kicking up a fuss, tell them they're harmless so you don't care. I only notice mine these days if I make the effort to stop and listen. They're part of me and I accept them on that basis.

I hope you can do the same in time.

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