Heart Palpitations

[baigent87]

Hi Everyone,

I’m 32 years and considered myself relatively fit and healthy before my unexpected heart attack 3 weeks ago.

For the first 2 weeks after my heart attack and having a stent fitted I tended to just find myself feeling tired all the time which I guess is perfectly natural, it’s now week 3 and I’m beginning to take longer walks and have even been riding my bike for the past few days.

I don’t feel anywhere near as tired in my 3td week but have adopted some relatively frequent heart palpitations, they aren’t painful and don’t stop me from doing any physical activity but I am slightly concerned.

The doctors have assured me that this is all very normal and it could be my stent settling in or my heart recovering.

Has anybody else experience anything similar?

[Kristin1812 Heart Star]

It’s such a worrying time, that if it was me, and I was unsure of new symptoms I would book another call with my GP. You are getting on so well with your activity, too, that I might want reassurance I’m taking it at the right pace and not pushing it!

[baigent87 in reply to Kristin1812]

Thank you Kristin1812! I’ve started wearing my fit bit to track my steps and also mapping my bike rides to see the distance I’m travelling. I guess that this information may be useful for my rehabilitation nurse to see whether I’m pushing it to much or doing the correct amount of daily exercise.

[Kristin1812 Heart Star in reply to baigent87]

Good idea. But no point in pushing it if you have new symptoms, or feel uncomfortable. The Trainers always said to me, do enough to get tired, but don’t get so breathless that you struggle to talk when exercising.

You’ll get there!

[baigent87 in reply to Kristin1812]

Thank you 😀 that’s a good rule of thumb that’ll I’ll certainly remember

[Applezebra]

I also had a heart attack and stents fitted. And I also started experiencing odd heart beats at about the same time as you. The odd beats were very frequent, uncomfortable, and very frightening. I was already hyper sensitive about every feeling in my chest, and I was an emotional wreck.

Just last week, about three months after heart attack, I wore a heart monitor for two days. The doctors analysis is that my heart occasionally beats early, both the upper and lower chambers. This will not hurt me and can be controlled with meds (metoprolol). It is not an arrhythmia and he was not concerned at all. I bet you’re feeling the same thing. The best I could describe it was a hiccuping heart, followed by a hard thump, and sometimes a gassy feeling in the heart.

I started taking the metoprolol and that has helped a lot. It also helped my anxiety knowing that it is only a nuisance, and not dangerous.

[baigent87 in reply to Applezebra]

Thank you for taking the time to share your personal experience with me! It sounds almost identical to what I’m having on pretty much a daily basis.

I’m going to bring it io with my rehabilitation nurse and see if she can refer me to have doctor if these palpitations continue.

I feel so much better knowing that someone has had similar problems, very reassuring.

[Applezebra in reply to baigent87]

I was a nervous wreck the first 6 weeks. Every day was a struggle and I’d break down and cry most days. That wasn’t like me at all before the heart attack. I always had some health anxiety but it was off the charts. After about six weeks the recovery pains started to fade and I started meditating every day. That’s made a huge difference and I highly recommend it. I downloaded an app called ‘Calm’ and I use it every day. It’s saved me from anxiety.

I’m 47 and feel like I’m too young to go through all this and have to deal with it the rest of my life, so I’d imagine you feel the same way, yes? We don’t have a choice now though, and the thing is, we can get even healthier now than we were before the heart attack. With the stents our arteries are better than they have been in a long, long time.

As for your exercising, I’ve been told multiple times that as long as I feel fine doing it, there’s no limit to how long or how hard I can exercise. I highly doubt you’re overdoing it. Sounds to me like you’re doing great.

[thumpthump]

Hi it could be the heart healing from the operation, it’s likely taken a bit of a bashing. I got plenty of palpitations after my catheter ablation.

[baigent87 in reply to thumpthump]

Makes sense thumpthump, I think I may just be expecting to much to quick, it has only been 3 weeks after all but I’m really eager to get back to “normal” whatever that is these days!!!

[Astronomyrules]

Hi I hope your palpitations settle down. I'm so glad you posted . I came out of hospital last week having had two stents fitted in a previously 95% blocked vessel, (no heart attack). I have experienced palpitations exactly as described here though not in the past two days since I slowed down a bit. I feel most reassured, although I will of course mention them to my GP after the Bank Holiday. Thanks to everyone who added their experiences.