Etopic heart beats and feeling lightheaded.

[Hildestj]

am a 30 year old woman that has bern struggeling with etopic heart beats since I was 15 years old. They still scare me, and I have been to heart speasialist 3 times. They say my etopic are harmless. But, sometimes it feels like I get 3-5 of them in a row and I get a dizzy/ varm/ numb- feeling in my entire body. I also get pale, but not sure if this is because I get so scared. The feeling never last long, maybe 1-10 seconds. And this is not something that happens often, once a year I will say. Is this normal? I do have low blood pressure, and many times I forget to drink enough water. Maybe there is a link there? Anyhow, I am scared my heart will stop. On the other hand, I have never fainted in my life. I.. Hope to hear from someone who have some experience with this. ( I am Norwegian, in case you think my english is poor )

[Hidden]

I have had ectopics beats from age 28 so that is 44 years, I learnt to live with them but they still scare me sometimes. It is not easy to live with these and when I,m upset or stressed I can feel my heart beating all over my body. I have never fainted but been a little light headed at times when there’s a long pause. My blood pressure is low too and always has been but of course it increases when I,m nervous like going to the doctor. I always felt it goes hand in hand with anxiety and depression which I suffer with.

[starlight26 in reply to Hidden]

I was so sorry to read about your experience of ectopics and especially your anxiety and depression- I do feel for you. I too started with bouts of irregular heartbeats when I was young which over the last year has become permanent ectopics, and like you I sometimes feel a bit light-headed and find it scary. As you say, it's not at all dangerous , although at times it certainly does feel that way, doesn't it?! It takes some getting used to and feeling reassured is part of that I'm sure. I do find anxiety makes it worse, or perhaps we just become more aware of it when our hearts speed up due to tension. I also found taking magnesium over a few months helped. Good luck- there are lots of us out there and knowing it's nothing to fear can really help.

[Polski]

Drinking more water will raise your blood pressure, so keep a bottle of water with you - and use it!

You could also try taking a good multi-vitamin-and-mineral taablet from a health foodshop, daily for at least three months, to enable your body to replace any essential vitamin/mineral you may be short of. Alongside this try taking magnesium (not magnesium oxide, and not enought to cause diarrhea) for at least six months. (People with ectopics are usually short of magnesium, but the shortage won't show on a blood test)

Also, make sure you eat as healthily as possible - lots of fruit and veg, and few processed foods.

Your heart is much stronger than you think, but anxiety will make all the symptoms feel worse, and add a few extra ones! Doing the things above could make a big difference. Meanwhile get on and enjoy life. The doctors are quite right - Those scary ectopics are not serious, just thoroughly unpleasant!

[Faraday954]

I get the same feeling when I get a few ectopics in a row. It’s scary, but not dangerous. Taking a daily magnesium supplement has helped me

[Contra21 in reply to Faraday954]

What your of magnesuim im scared to start worried they will get worse

[Hildestj]

Thanks for your replies. So it seems like getting dizzy could be normal? Everywhere I read about etopics, it says it could be something serious if you become dizzy. I try to think logical, but I haven’t slept much the last two weeks, afraid something will happen when I sleep. And this morning I woke up, having several etopics, luckliy not in a row. I know it is stupid to be so scared of this, but at times it hard to think they are benign 😕

[Polski]

You only need to be concerned about them if they go on and on, so you are dizzy for several hours, of if you pass out for a few seconds. In those cases go to A & E and they will be able to see what is happening and what they can do to help you.

The ectopics are unlikely to go from 3 -5 at a time, to several hours at a time in one step, so there is no need to be concerned at present. They really are harmless, and are less likely to happen when you are relaxed (and will probably wake you up if they do, as you have discovered, so there is no need to worry at night) So relax, and sleep!

[Hildestj in reply to Polski]

How can a person differ between normal etopics, and non sustained vtach? I google alot these days, knowing very well how stupid this is...

[Polski]

Sorry - You've gone beyond my understanding now, but the doctors will have checked for that. They check all sorts of things which they don't tell us about, so if the experts at the hospital say 'it's benign' then it really is! This applies in many other situations too: we want to know 'what it is', they want to know 'what it isn't'. So if they've decided 'it isn't' then believe them!

[Heartsbdonna]

Hi

I am 34 and Male I also have suffered since I was 13 years old but mine are more frequent thans yours at least every couple of weeks I've learnt to live with them but finally got an answer from a specialist other week who has said they can cure it but would need to go in and court arise the small hole that makes these happen. Which he also stated that if it was o the right side the procedure is more simple bit if it's on the left it's more difficult and them went on to say I could have an heart attack o the operation table. Since then I asked for advice on this group and got some very useful advice changing my diet and drinking water cutting out anything triggers which over the years have found to be sugars in drinks and foods they haven't stopped but have reduced the specialist told me I could live with it for the rest of my life and it wouldn't kill me but the option is always there to have it cured for good but there is that risk.

Hope this helps you a little

[Hildestj in reply to Heartsbdonna]

Do you also get dizzy sometimes? And have several missed beats in a row?

[Heartsbdonna in reply to Hildestj]

Hi yes I get light headed and also skip beats or have slow and fast flutters