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Posted 4/6/2007 5:55 PM (GMT -8)
please someone help! i have been experiencing palpitations (fluttering sensations/skipped beat or extra beat sensations) randomly. These episodes really scare me. Is it possible for my heart to just fall completely of beat and to the point where I will just pass out and die? For some reason every time I have an EKG they say its insignificant changes in the EKG. I don't know what they mean by this.
Posted 4/7/2007 7:51 AM (GMT -8)

Have you been checked out for these palpitaions? Do you have a structurally normal heart? If so, then they will not harm you.

Ask you doctor what insignificant changes in your EKG means and ask why you should not worry about them. Then listen, believe and let it go.

My EKG also comes out abnormal but it is nothing. These things are often spit out by a computer and it takes the cardiologist to look at it and say whether it is a really something or not. An EKG is just a diagnostic tool.

When my daughter was 9, an EKG suggested that she had a very serious inherited problem with her heart. I can't remember the name of it now. She had to have an echo to see if this was REAL. The echo was the definate exam for this condition. The echo revealed that what the EKG suggested was not true! She had to go back the next year for another exam just to make sure and again she did not have this condition. Now I could have decided that the EKG said that she had this and not believed her doctor. I could have worried endlessly about it and taught her to worry also. However it would have been a waste of time and life.

There are alot of people whose EKG reads like that but in reality nothing is wrong with there hearts. Let the doctors tell you when you need to worry about something.

Posted 4/7/2007 7:00 PM (GMT -8)
Hi Neurogurl

I usually post in chronic pain but thought I would check this board out also. If I may offer an opinion here:

I would see a cardiologist. A Family physician or a GP cant really look into this the way a Cardio can. It also sounds like the anxiety/fear this is causing you is making it worse for you. For several years I had the heart pounding and racing but never really knew what it was. In 2001 I ended up in the ER in terrible pain & had to have emergency gall blader surgery. Anyway coming out of the anesthetic the recovery nurses didnt like my heart rhythyms as I was waking up. To make a long story short, I ended up having several tests by a cardiologist & now have a defibrilator. Apparently I am an anomaly. LOL

Anyway all that means is I am in the 30% of the population with no known heart conditions or problems that suddenly surface. Its not a pace-maker but if my heart rate goes screwy bad enough it will send an electric shock to regulate it. The theory behind putting it in was "its better to have it and NOT need it then to need it & NOT have it."

At first it was rather scary and I was afraid of doing much of anything. I remember I kept almost waiting for it to go off and every little thing that seemed out of place was so magnified, but after a couple of months I got to the point where it was on "ignore" and I started living my life again. All I mean by that is I was still aware of it, but didnt focus so totally on the defibrilator, if that makes any sense? I had to make a decision because being in the house, in a chair in my pj's WAITING for something to happen was NOT living. That was the fear.

My point is in the 5 years now that I've had it, its gone off once. This was about 2 years ago.
I have no idea what it felt like because I fainted. Since I have NEVER fainted in my life I had no idea what caused this. I do remember at that time I was under a whole LOT of stress. When I went in to have it read, (which you do every 3-6 months depending on your condition) the technician said "Wow, I see you had an episode" I was like really. He said yes, your HR went up to 300 BPM. If you hadnt had the defibrilator you probably would have died." I was like allrighty then!! LOL

I guess the point of this post is to tell you this: I know these things can be VERY scary, but you CAN'T let the fear overwhelm you. Be proactive and either make an appointment with a cardio DR -OR- get a refferal to one. Maybe if YOU are doing something about this, you will feel better and more in control. I know that's how it seems to work for me. That way you can find out whats going on in your body and put some of this fear to rest so it isnt so crippling. I really didnt mean to post a novel, but hope this information helps you.

Sassy
Posted 4/8/2007 6:25 AM (GMT -8)
Neuro, I dont know if this is going to help lay your mind to any rest here or not.  But when I first started to develop problems with my heart and blood pressure I had no idea what was going.  I wasnt clued into my body to know or even realize that my heart was skipping beats and falling dangerously low.  One day I just passed out in the middle of my living room floor and luck for me that my mom was coming by that morning to pick up my cat to take to the vet for me.  I had been laying there for over 30 minutes like.  When the ambulance came my heart rate was 21 and BP was 52/30....I could of easily died the doctors said BUT the body is an amazing thing and protects it's self.  Thus the passing out gets your body flat to make it easier get blood flow to your brain where it needs it most.

I think since your so clued into what is going on within your body and can feel these sensations that is a good thing to some degree.  However, when you see your doctor you need to be proactive and have a list of questions that you want to have answered. 

Posted 4/8/2007 7:24 AM (GMT -8)
Thank you so much...all of you!
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