Not sure what to call it.

[DougSchmidt1979]

I am a 38 yr old male and I have been diagnosed with agoraphobia gad and social anxiety disorder. Just recently prolly like 3 days ago I had a slight panic attack and noticed that my heartbeat pauses once in a while between beats for only about a second and I can feel this in my chest and throat. When I think about it which is constantly due to my anxiety they just get more and more frequent like every 3 to 4 beats. I am not sure what is going on but I lay on my couch day after day scared of whatever this might be...

[Hidden]

Hi Doug...this sounds as though you are experiencing what is known as Ectopic beats - anxiety can predispose one to this. They are normally completely harmless.

You can read up more on this on the Atrial Fibrillation Association website ( which is much more active than this site) and you will see from posts on that forum how common it is.

Yes it can be scary and you need reassurance which you should seek from your GP.

I hope this helps in some way.

Best wishes

Sandra

Ps have a look at Ectopic Beats on NHS Choices website...very useful.