Heart skipping a beat

[JNM566]

Does anyone get symptoms of their heart actually skipping a beat? I was in the gym the other day and I kept getting a weird flutter feeling so I felt my pulse and every time I felt the flutter then my heart stopped beating for a second. Freaking me out. I also have the fear my heart isn’t beating fast enough but then sometimes I fear it’s beating too fast. Feels like my heart is just working hard to function, my complexion can go pale when I’m have bad palpitations and I feel woozy through the day, hard to stand up and then struggle to sleep because I keep feeling dizzy. Doctors think it’s nothing serious but my brain keeps worrying.

[Eilidhmac]

Hi, I have had ectopic beats for many years. It is doing it right now! It is actually an early beat which gives the impression of a missed beat because of the extra gap. I would say a couple of things…. First make sure that your Dr has ruled out any heart concerns. Then please check out an article called ‘ A Dance in My Heart” … you can find it on line . I hope this helps. Take care

[JNM566 in reply to Eilidhmac]

It’s such a worrying feeling, I struggling to sleep cause I feel my heart doing weird stuff and then get worried. I can wake up feeling woozy aswell. I can’t find that article I did try and look though! It’s just trying to accept that it’s ok and nothing bad is going to happen, it’s so strange how it comes from nowhere

[MFM008]

i get them all day anywhere from 30 to 80 PAC, PVC and tachycardia every day. They dont even bother treating it. Anti anxiety meds might help but i hate taking medications. I hate that I cant be normal without chemicals.

[Sam1109]

Exercising can cause that and it's very normal. I've had this fear last few months. It became the main reason for my anxiety to flare up. Did all the tests, no problem with my heart. It just makes an extra beat now and then, which is pretty common too. I thought my problem was a beat being skipped too but turned out to be the opposite. An extra beat. See your doctors, gets tests done, it will ease your mind. Health anxiety seems to be a big issue these days, no idea why it's getting to so many people. Don't let it get worse. Now my anxiety is at an all time low after getting these tests done on my heart.

[JNM566 in reply to Sam1109]

aww that makes me feel a bit better. I’ve had bloods done and had a heart monitor but not had any results back yet. I used to love going to the gym and had no anxiety or fear and then out of nowhere I started having really bad anxiety and palpitations, weakness and dizziness. Now the gym is somewhere I feel worried and scared to do cardio but also worried doing weights now as my heart started doing weird things. So hard to get it under control and just ignore it. I get the fear something bad is going to happen and then nothing bad ever does but can’t get rid of that feeling. Thanks for replying, it’s nice I guess to hear someone who can relate.

[Sam1109 in reply to JNM566]

Yep same thing was happening to me. It's all anxiety and nothing real. I had holter and echo done. No problem. I'm sure your heart is fine too. After I got those negative results I started teaching myself to ignore my anxieties. For sure I've learned anxiety has a real physical effect on you. My chest used to feel like a bass drum was beating inside. Now that's gone just from walking again and ignoring whenever I felt like my heart was not working right.

Did you take a break from going to the gym? If so, that can make your heart work harder when you start working out again after a break. Nothing to worry about. Weakness, dizziness, I've had all that too.

That's the thing, nothing bad ever happens. There's a quote in stoicism, "don't suffer in advance". That says it all lol people with anxiety think themselves dead few times a day but nothing real ever happens. The trick is to make your mind believe nothing bad is going to happen inside you no matter how bad you feel.

If you can, get echocardiogram done too. It's an ultrasound test. So that's visual confirmation that your heart is fine. These extra beats and missing beats start naturally as you get older. I think most people feel it now and then but they ignore it. After developing anxiety in 2005 I've noticed that most people don't get worried even if they are experiencing a real problem. But us with anxiety imagine the worst when nothing is wrong. That's another thing I've started teaching myself. To achieve a mental state where nothing can get to you.

Deep slow breathing is a vital tool. It helps more than you can imagine when anxiety or any worry is getting to you. It's my first tool in killing a panic attack before it gets a hold of me. I don't get panic attacks now. I tell myself ok so this crap happened many times before. All it can do is make me freak out for a while then it goes away. I'm not going to freak out this time no matter what. It works every time. A fighter mentality is very much needed to beat any sort of anxiety, because the first natural response to anxiety is flight. Since you can't escape your own body and mind, it then makes you feel trapped and then panic starts. Brain can really get used to this chain reaction. You have to fight to keep it from happening and become a regular thing.

[JNM566 in reply to Sam1109]

Wow you have no idea how much this helps and makes me feel better! I really need to start trying harder to fight the feeling that something bad is going to happen.

I think I’ve been in this anxiety loop since my friend passed away and it’s like a constant state of distress. I think because my friend was young too it has made my anxiety worse.

I’ve made a plan this week to go to the gym 4x and just do something! I have been going a lot less than I used to so my fitness will have definitely decreased. I went from doing 15,000 steps a day and gym 4x a week to sitting on my sofa crippled with anxiety and going to the gym 1-2 a week max!

Thanks so much for all your help it has really helped me and given me a kick up the bum to start fighting harder and not just letting this take over me!

[Sam1109 in reply to JNM566]

Very glad I could help. Everything I said it's all from very real experience from the last few months and also since 2005 when it all started first. But here's the weird thing!

I've also lost a friend, my best friend on July 28th. He was 70, much older than me. He was more like a father to me. He had bi-polar and Parkinson's, had a silent heart attack and passed away within few days. The grief made me feel physically sick. I always research things so I looked it up. Turns out grieving can make you physically ill. My anxiety got worse. My whole body had a tremble like feeling and weakness. For over a weak I felt like I couldn't breath enough. Chest felt heavy and tight. I think most of August I felt physically sick from losing him. I've cried but tried very hard not to, so it wasn't simply because I cried too much. Grief makes you sick. It's a fact. (Apparently dying from a broken heart is also a real thing. It is probably what happened when you hear about someone dying soon after their spouse passed away. If they had a really good marriage and all that. It happened to my grandma. She was totally healthy but she died just after a week after grandad passed away. She just couldn't deal with it. They had a beautiful marriage.)

So I'm pretty sure now the same has happened to you. It's not easy to deal with the loss of someone close.

Also you should be taking it easy when you return to the gym after a break. I'm sure you'll get a handle on it very soon. The key is to be a badass lol sometimes I wish I had a soldier's training. That always toughens you up to for life. Those people never freak out like we do over very little things. 15000 steps a day 4 times a week sounds like a lot. You should know running a lot is not a great thing for humans. Marathon runners cause a lot of damage to their bodies. Bodybuilders same thing. Our bodies are best with moderation in everything we do. From food to exercise to anything else you can imagine. Do some research on this and adjust your workout accordingly. It takes surprisingly less exercise for us to stay fit, if we also eat healthy and sleep well. No reason to push your body, it only does more harm in the end. Somehow it became a huge thing in fitness culture to push push push. Most of the things in popular culture is wrong lol. Doctors will never tell you to workout like athletes do.

Anywho, I just had to tell you about me losing my best friend after you mentioned losing your friend. Crazy coincidence!

[beinganon]

JNM, I’ve experienced this but without the palpitations. You said it’s freaking you out; is the freak-out thing the main problem? Or the other effects?

In my case, I’d feel the skipped heartbeat —> become hyper-aware —> anxious —> check my pulse and feel my chest —> get worried because “there doesn’t seem to be much of a pulse” —> anxiety —> rapid heartbeat —> now more anxious —> and so on.

I broke out of that just by convincing myself there might be something wrong with my heart, forcing myself to get an ECG (which turned out normal), and then each time reassuring myself that nothing’s actually wrong.

So well, for what it’s worth... if actively remembering what your doc said each time you feel the skipped beat doesn’t help, it’s the anxiety /obsession you’ll need to address. And thinking of it as “I have a moderate anxiety / obsession problem” might take your attention away from the heart thing—which in turn might just resolve the anxiety itself. [I’m not sure if this makes easy sense!]

[Niki_]

I have these they are called PVC’s or PAC’s … usually benign as long has you have a structurally normal heart and no other heart conditions. 💛