weird breathing heart sensation

[Adamj]

So this has happened before but it’s random I’ll be sitting there and bam I start feeling like I can’t breath like it feels like something malfunctioning in me then I get this weird feeling that comes over me and my heart starts to race then it’s over and done with my heart doesn’t race fast just enough that I can feel it in my chest for a bit. I’ve brought things up like this to my doctors they basically shrug it off or say maybe you felt a skipped heart beat sometimes i get this where my throat like spasms shuts and I can’t breath or talk then gasp for air but this is different. It’s so strange and scary because I just get told everything is anxiety and stress. I’ve had a 24 monitor which showed nothing I’ve had an echocardiogram which was unremarkable. Currently trying Diltiazem and it’s yet to lower my bp but sure am having some crazy side effects. And after months of fighting for it finally got a doctor to order a 7 day monitor but have to wait for insurance again

[meadfoot]

I have no medical training whatsoever but I can identify with the symptoms you mention. In my case my cardiologist says they are a form of ectopic heart beats.

Sometimes it feels my heart pauses for several seconds my throat and chest and stomach tightens for a few seconds too, I can feel faint, then I gasp, my heart races at speed as though its trying to catch up after the pauses then it all settles down again. I also feel gas growl in my tummy before the breathing normalises again. I have these horrid things often and I hate them, they make feel dreadful and the feeling of doom accompanying them is awful.

It helps to know what they are but the fear of them is a spectre constantly in my life. I have atrial fibrillation and atrial tachycardia but my heart muscle is sound and in excellent order, its my electrical activity which is shot. I have been diagnosed with this since 2009 and its not fun but life goes on albeit with this demon on my shoulder. Life could be far worse though so I soldier on.

I was told I had anxiety and stress by medics for years before diagnosis. If the strange sensations don't happen while wearing a monitor that adds to the length of diagnosis medics cant make a diagnosis. An implantable heart monitor running for sometimes a couple of years will catch them but a 24 hour or seven day one is pot luck whether or not they happen. Sods law says they wont as these little critters just love hide to not be discovered. Plague your doctor for more tests, you know your body the best. Dont be sidelined. A sound diagnosis helps. Best wishes.

[Adamj in reply to meadfoot]

yeah I’m 22 and everything is always chucked up to anxiety and stress :/ even though it doesn’t feel right to me

[meadfoot in reply to Adamj]

Dont take it Adam, fight your corner. I was disgnosed with anxiety in my teens and yes I did have symptoms that could be anxiety and stress based. The trouble is medics read that on your records and forever more its a hurdle you have to get over because if they cant easily find a physical issue there and then then a good old anxiety diagnosis is a fair bet for them. I have had a lifetime of it so stand your ground. Anxiety can always play a part in health concerns but it doesnt mean thats the full and only story. Good luck.

[Qualipop in reply to meadfoot]

I had the same problem identifying ectopic beats; a 24 hour monitor, numerous ECGs all failed to catch them. It was only by chance, after I had a stress test that they left he electrodes attached while I sat down to recover and bingo,they happened and could be identified as harmless. It was a full year before they were found. Like you I was told at first it was anxiety.

[meadfoot in reply to Qualipop]

So pleased you got a definitive answer and your mind put at rest. Good old ‘anxiety’ a medics best friend when all else fails!

[Qualipop in reply to meadfoot]

Especially if you're young or female. After 30 years of excruciating, chronic pain in my spine; all put down to "anxiety, not coping well with it", finally a CT Scan report by a neurosurgeon got me an apology from the GP. An apology doesn't fix 30 years of ruined life and constant pain.

[meadfoot in reply to Qualipop]

Too right it doesnt fix things. I had excruciating pain for four solid years, saw numerous medics all said things like “there isn't always an explanatiom for pain we just have to live with it” through to perhaps CBT might help as painkillers won't”. Oramorph, Tramadol all of no use.

I researched for myself and paid to see a neuro gastroenterologist in London he diagnosed me with ACNES Anterior Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment. A rectal sheath injection deep into my epigastric area solved it immediately. Four years of my life wasted, virtually housebound in pain including having my gall bladder out as a maybe “solution”, which is wasnt, leaving me with bowel issues thereafter. Makes us want to scream doesnt it. Best wishes. We fight on regardless.

[Qualipop in reply to meadfoot]

I spent 10 years telling them exactly what was wrong and being ignored or told off for googling it. I have more sense than to believe the rubbish on the internet and knew I was right. Eventually changed pain clinic and within 3 questions and less than 5 minutes had a diagnosis, exactly what I'd been saying but the nerve was too badly damaged to do anything then. I did get an apology from my GP. Sadly many more problems now that no one will treat; not bad enough for the risks of surgery; too many areas of my spine gone so keep taking opiates unless I become incontinent or paralysed . After 20 years opiates are now paralysing my bowel and can't now be increased. They have nothing else to offer.

[meadfoot in reply to Qualipop]

Its dreadful. Wishing you well.

[BC-10]

Yep, sounds just like ectopic beats and the fact that you can’t exactly put your finger on what this sensation is, sounds very much like it imo. The heart will seemingly stop for a split second, then you’ll get the THUMP - if you can feel it - accompanied by this head rush, throat tightening sensation.

Trouble is with the Docs is they don’t empathise with the event cos they’ve never had it - so a diagnosis of Anxiety or Stress is all they can come up with cos it fits the bill. It’s not. But it can be stressful IF your getting these beats that’s for sure.

It’ll get easier as your system gets used to the meds and more than likely the Diltiazem will cool things down and these episodes will be far and few between.

Don’t worry. Your heart is just doing what it’s supposed to be doing and that is responding to an extraneous electrical activity.

IF your heart wasn’t working correctly, you’d either really know about it OR wouldn’t at all. ie you’d be passing out and going into some kind of irregular rhythm. You would not be aware of this cos you’d be OUT.

Take care and take your time. Best of health to you ❤️

[Hdev]

I’ve had incidents as you describe off and on since 2001 or so,,,,been to the ER many times for this,,but it’s always over by the time I get to the hospital,,,it always hits when I am sitting quietly,,,never a thought about anything in particular,,it comes out of nowhere,,,the sudden stillness of the heart,,,the weird feeling of a faint,,,warmth flowing all over and then a rush of fear and inability to breathe or swallow,,,,it might last several minutes,,,then the heart pounds away quickly and the blood pressure soars,,,I’ve been diagnosed with possible coronary artery spasm to anxiety,,,nothing ever definite,,but I would not wish this on anyone,,,there is. Nothing I can do but practice deep breathing and concentrate on relaxation until,it passes,,,not interested in any of the mood altering drugs,,,I don’t feel depressed nor can pinpoint an event as a trigger,,,,I have afib and a pacemaker these past 5 years,,,does.not seem related,,,,hope all who suffer can learn to appreciate all the time we have that is NOT upset by these occurrences