Health anxiety/Ectopic Beats

[Zee_]

Hello,

This is my first post on this forum and I probably will have a bit to unpack here on what’s going on with me over the last 1-1.5 years or so. I lost my dad suddenly almost 3 years ago and that has definitely caused massive anxiety (already suffered with it prior). Then the pandemic hit and then I lost my aunt to cancer at the end of 2020. I started to notice my health anxiety spiral out of control in 2020 causing me to get some PVCs/PACs. Went to a cardiologist and had an echo and month-long event monitor. Was experiencing a few a day, but then they eventually got better.

Fast forward to one day in early Jan 2021 and I began getting them constantly throughout the day. This TERRIFIED me and I saw a couple more cardiologists…again said they’re benign. I wore a 24 hr holter monitor and said I had <1% extra beats. I’ve tried every remedy I could think of. I even tried Metoprolol and it made me tired/low bp so quit. Some days I know I have probably 1-3k extra beats and not the few I happened to have while wearing the holter monitor.

Eating meals is a big trigger for me and anything that makes me anxious, bending over, hormonal fluctuations (ovulation/pms), etc. I used to be a daily coffee drinker with no heart issues except for the occasional racing heart and jitters…but nothing like this. Now, it’s like I can’t tolerate caffeine. What has changed?

**EDIT: I have switched to decaf over the past year (which I still drink now). I have tried half-caff occasionally and even no coffee whatsoever with little improvement or change.

I just don’t understand why they’d come on suddenly and not disappear like they have before. It’s so hard for me to believe that these could be caused by anxiety when in fact they themselves cause me anxiety. I’m only 30 years old and I feel like my life is over because of how debilitating they are.

Any advice or recommendations are welcome. Also, sorry for the rambling!

[b1b1b1]

I have a modest and not serious number of PVCs. The first thing my cardiologist told me to do was to immediately switch to decaf coffee and tea. I believe it is generally considered important to stop drinking regular coffee as it can be the cause of irregular heart beats in and of itself. Of course you should ask your own cardiologist about this and follow his/her instructions.

[Zee_ in reply to b1b1b1]

I have switched to decaf. Forgot to mention that above. No major difference unfortunately.

[ElephantsHear in reply to Zee_]

Okay, I wish I could take my own advice but…: drink lots of water (even if your urine is a nice straw color- most of us don’t drink enough water), keep a log of how much water you drink because you may not do this all the time. Also, I’m not sure if this will help- you have to ask your doc, but when I had to take blood pressure med (atenolol is in the same family as the metoprolol) I had to take it at night because it made me so tired. Mornings might be better so you don’t forget, but for me it was more important that I took the med versus the time of day I took it. Buspar- low dose- worked for me. It’s usually scheduled like two or 3x per day to have a consistent level in your system. Good luck.

[Agora1]

Hi Zee_ I'm sorry for the loss of both your father and your aunt. I remember when I lost my own father suddenly in a fall. I suffered the

same unbelievable frightening irregular beats as you.

Bending over, lying on my left side, eating dinner and of course being stressed

caused the fast and skipped beats. How can you not feel anxious when feeling

the irregularity of your heart beat?

Like you, cardiologists diagnosed anxiety as the culprit. I can tell you that looking

back now, I can see that hormonal disrupt contributed to these weird beats as well.

I believe you. This won't be forever. Keep searching for some answers You so

deserve it. xx

[Zee_ in reply to Agora1]

Thank you so much for the kind words! I am relentlessly searching for a solution. What helped you when you went through the same thing? How did you overcome them?

[Agora1 in reply to Zee_]

Hi Zee, It's something in how emotions we keep inside of us can play a bigpart of our physical symptoms. I worked through my grief, my loss and my

guilt of "what if" I did something differently to avert my father's passing.

My therapist had me make a little memory box of pictures of my father and

focus on the good times we had as a family. Talk therapy helped immensely

but it did take time.

Whenever I would feel the physical sensations in my heart, my therapist used

relaxation therapy to calm down my emotions. I began to understand more in

how my heart was reacting to my sorrow.

When I ate, I would eat more slowly, in a more relaxed manner. When we are

nervous we tend to eat fast, swallowing more air with each bite. This air plus

the food ingested causes the stomach to push against the heart causing these

sensations. Same thing when bending over. Our nervous system is so sensitive

that anything we do or think gives a reaction mainly our heart.

It doesn't mean something dire is wrong with the heart, As a matter of fact,

my cardiologist suggested water therapy in getting me to move and not just

sit at home waiting for the next palpitation. (of course always check with your

doctor regarding physical exercise)

Besides gentle exercise, medication (which at that time was benzos) and

talk therapy including self hypnosis, I was able to overcome my anxiety.

It wasn't an overnight thing..I continue to meditate and use breathing exercises

each and every day. I see my cardiologist ev 6 months and am doing well.

I do not drink coffee except for Decaf but I do like my Chocolate.

Never give up and believe that you will be okay. xx

[Zee_ in reply to Agora1]

Agora1, thank you for sharing a bit of what you’ve done to help heal! I am hopeful that I can overcome this just as you have. I also think I need to find the right therapist for me since the one I did have a few months ago never felt like the right fit. I really mean this, but you’ve really helped me see this difficulty I’m facing in a different way…perhaps realizing that I am bottling up trauma and that it’s manifesting physically. Again, thank you! 💛

[fromzerotopanic]

You did the right thing in getting it checked by a cardiologist. Because now, though your anxiety won't let you believe it, you have been cleared of anything ominous. When you feel like you're in what I like to call my 'rational mind', think back...you've had some very serious triggers in your past. And your Aunt's passing (I'm very sorry for the loss of both your Dad and your aunt) seemed to be the latest trigger for your heart issues. So it would seem logical the heart issues/anxiety provoking issues are related. I ended up with a monitor last fall due to a triggering event. Eventually, the anxiety finally settled down and the heart issues resolved not long after. No, wait, they didn't resolve per se, I just didn't pay attention to them as much. But my tests showed nothing was wrong, so I just kept taking myself to my 'rational mind' (often that part is hard to find!), and reminding myself it was my anxiety. Every bodily function is greatly exaggerated during times of anxiety, so you will definitely notice them more then, even if they've always been present, but just in the background to all the other everyday 'noises' in our lives.

[Zee_ in reply to fromzerotopanic]

Thank you so much! You’re right, it’s so hard to convince your mind what may actually be happening. It’s a vicious cycle. I just want some relief and to feel normal again more than anything right now.

[Jeff1943 in reply to Zee_]

Zee, you have been given good advice here. I believe you are making your life a misery through unnecessary worry. I have had the same problem as you but if the medics tell you that your missed/irregular beats are benign then you must believe them. If they suspected anything more serious they would have given you a pacemaker but they haven't.So long as you have an occasional check up (and even if one day you should need a pacemaker) your life expectancy is normal.

There is definitely a connection between anxiety and arrhythmia but it's a case of what comes first the chicken or the egg🤗.

Some people say that 400mg of Magnesium Citrate prevents missed beats and rhythm problems, it works for some but not for everyone.

I'll just say it again for your reassurance: what you describe is benign. Accept that you have it and get on with your life.

[Zee_ in reply to Jeff1943]

Thank you, Jeff. I am trying my best to get better. Anxiety is certainly a tricky thing to navigate. 🙂