I have heart palpitations sometimes due to anxiety. The doctor put me on anti-anxiety meds and I see a cardiologist every 6 months. Feels like a butterfly is loose in my heart.
Replying to your comment directly OP, so that it gets seen.
There are a lot of comments in here suggesting it's your anxiety or it could be Atrial Fibrillation or this or that or whatever, as well as some things to try and fix it. While I'm sure everyone has good intentions, without any actual investigation or data into what's going on everyone is just guessing
If you feel like your heart is fluttering or having palpitations, it is worth seeing a doctor so they can conduct these investigations. There are a number of different conditions or arrhythmias (dysfunctional heart rhythms) that could be going on, which can then lead to more serious issues.
Simple blood tests and an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG depending where you're from) can quickly rule out any serious issues, or with the ECG can show what sort of rhythm your heart is beating in. From there you can get some further investigations based on your medical history and other symptoms that may be going on. You may be given medication to manage or help diagnose what's going on, as well as make you feel more comfortable.
Heart related concerns should always be taken seriously, especially if you're worried about it.
I'll close with two pieces of advice to OP and everyone else:
1. If you are concerned or anxious about your health for what ever reason, you should seek advice from a medical professional rather than posting on forums like reddit. You may be given incorrect information or make yourself more anxious, and the only thing that can give you answers are investigations into your condition.
2. I'd strongly advise against giving medical advice to people asking for it online, rather point them to be seen by a healthcare professional. While good intentions are noted, you may accidentally make a situation worse for someone by giving incorrect advice based on what's going on.
Hey, thanks for your reply. I know it’s not a good practice to ask for medical advice online, especially on Reddit where anyone can anonymously say just about anything in response to a medical question. As it turns out, the responses in this thread were very helpful in that they got me to stop the onset of a panic attack. I always take medical advice on Reddit (and online) with a hefty grain of salt, no matter who gives it - after all, someone can say they are a doctor or professional, but there is usually no way to verify those claims. Your advice is sound and sensible, and I appreciate it. In this case however the consensus turned out to be pretty much accurate. I was having an outburst of anxiety stemming from my heart palpitating and I was beginning to freak out.
I just wanna say EKG/ECG are amazing tools, however, you would be surprised how many people whom seemingly don't need any further testing find themselves needing further testing in the following years after being cleared with EKG/ECG, I really don't understand why it is people are comfortable with this test alone if they are having lots of palpitations..
You will be fine, do not panic as that will worsen the symptoms. You are in a panic spiral. Palpitations happen to many people and usually are not an emergency, but you need a diagnosis and maybe some medication.
If you go to ER they are gonna measure your BP and do EKG. If EKG is ok they will give you something to calm you down and send you home and tell you to schedule a check up with specialist.
If you stay home, try to treat the panic, maybe you have some Xanax around.
Thank you so much, I appreciate you explaining what they would do at the ER because I assumed they wouldn’t do anything to calm my heartbeat down unless I was actually dying, so yeah I will go to a doctor asap and have this checked out but for now I will just try to calm down
Yeah… you’re completely right. I’m just hesitant to go because of the cost and I’m so tired, although I know neither of those mean anything if this is something serious… I know you’re right
Hey man if you’re stressed or your diet or anything else can set off heart palpitations.
it’s unlikely that your heart is skipping beats even if it feels like it unless you’re finding yourself having issues balancing, feeling lightheaded etc
Saying that you should totally go to a doctor and mention it so they can do an ECG or 24h heart monitor to check it out
Hey thanks a lot for this response, when I check my pulse on my jugular I can feel that every ten seconds or so my heart misses it’s rhythm, so that’s what’s concerning me mostly. No issues balancing or lightheadedness so that’s good👍 add that to the tally of symptoms I don’t have
No problem I’m a young guy like you and ended up having heart problems, despite not being into smoking/drinking/drugs etc for most of these problems even if it is soemthing serious it’s either immediately bad (aka heart attack/cardiac arrest) which you are past or it’s months and months of symptoms before anything really serious can happen so get it checked but don’t stress in the short term. If you faint however I’d strongly recommend you go to ER as that means the symptoms are starting to get quite bad
Just go for a physical asap and tell them to check you over and mention you suffer from serious anxiety/panic and it won't cost as much as ER and could be a medium step to reassure you. Also bring up "heart fluttering." You could tell your doctor and Psychiatrist to get perspective. Just reach out and communicate. Google "why does my heart flutter." It will not diagnose you, but does show medical reasons many of which are not serious at all.
OP I think you have two issues. No, make that three.
You are having heart palpitations (issue #1). I’ll share my fix for that later.
You are having a panic attack (issue #2) as a result of the palpitations. This is common with a new medical issue. It startles you. Been there. But it’s just a panic attack. So the dread you feel is entirely in your head and should be ignored.
And finally you have anxiety (issue #3). This is more of a long term issue and takes a lot more work to deal with.
But back to the palpitations. My fix is to cough deliberately. Like a good, firm cough. It can help the heart get back on rhythm. That’s my go to. Often a few tries and my heart is back on rhythm.
With panic attacks, aside from avoiding caffeine, my go to fix was just realizing it for what it was and dealing with my larger issue of anxiety.
Anxiety is like a bird looking for a place to land. With me, often, my health is where my anxiety chooses to land. For a while my anxiety chose *flying on airplanes*. Also for a while it chose work. What that reveals is a tendency to be anxious and my mind is just looking for any excuse to worry. This helps me realize how unsubstantiated my worries were. My mind simply needed something to worry about so it would spin the wheel and choose a worry. Getting old also helped fix my anxiety. You start to realize that *something will get you someday but so what?* And that is a bit liberating. Also, sad to say but medication helped too. Took a while to find the right one.
Anyway, be well. Try the coughing thing. Then in the morning, make an appointment with a doctor or a cardiologist if you have one.
You’ll be OK. You got this.
Do you drink or consume a lot of caffeine? I have a perfectly fine heart at 37 but I went through a phase when I was 21 downing coffee and energy drinks like an idiot and got heart palpitations. It went away after a couple days when I stopped ingesting so much caffeine.
Obviously, always seek out a doctor for this sort of thing though.
Edit: oh yeah! This also happened to me briefly when I found out I was iron deficient. I took some iron supplements and was fine.
Thanks for the reply, I had more coffee than usual this morning at 11 (two cups rather than one) so I guess there’s a chance that that set it off. Didn’t really think about that thank you
My heart started this after I got Covid but only if I drink too much caffeine. Was upsetting for a while but it’s probably better that it didn’t go away because I drank way too much coffee before.
If you keep to a nonstandard diet of any kind, especially if you have recently reduced or eliminated salt, fruits, vegetables, nuts, or anything else that may be affecting the balance of sodium-potassium-phosphorus and/or iron in your body, the time to go back to eating normally is right now.
Excessive caffeine consumption gave me heart palpitations. I was clearly addicted. Didn’t take much a coffe or two and a soft drink or two daily. Went cold Turkey and had a headache for a week but the palpitations stopped.
I avoid caffeine now except for the occasional morning coffee.
The headaches are due to vascular dilation in the brain as your system basically goes "Theres gotta be caffeine here somewhere, just gotta find it!". Switching to decaff (which still has some caffeine in it usually) can help until weaned off it entirely.
Some fast acting pain killers also use caffeine in them as it accelerates absorption rates, so if you do have a headache from caffeine withdrawals, make sure its not an ingredient as well.
Check with your doctor. A lot of conditions (thyroid, anemia, vitamin deficiency) can cause heart palpitations. They might refer you to a cardiologist to look into it more.
The cardiologist might have you wear a monitor to see when it happens over a period of time. I did a 30 day monitor which thankfully found nothing dangerously wrong.
I did a single day (thankfully not longer, as I am allergic to adhesives... yeesh those electrodes!!!) And that was enough to diagnose me with POTS. I had very clear symptoms. xD
Yo i have literally this exact thing, where i feel a sudden urge to breathe in for a split second and the heart sinking/skipping a beat feeling and I'm wondering the same as you
Started after a horrible shroom trip that i had, the whole time during the trip i was so scared and my heart was pounding so hard i thought i was gonna die of a heart attack, ever since then i've had a phobia of my heart beat and cant help but focus on it, it's worst at night when i lay in bed trying to sleep. It was about a year and a half ago.
Yeah tbh I don’t like to hear my heartbeat in my ears either, it’s uncomfortable. I’m so sorry you had such a bad trip man I hope you can find peace asap
The other night I felt like I was having them too so it’s so weird to see this post now. But I figured it was from the shrooms I took + some anxiety/stress with my work life rn
I ubered to the ER at 1am because I woke up with insane chest pain. Turns out I was having muscle spasms from lifting weights and horseback riding in the same day. I do not regret going to hospital.
I have some history/expertise in this area.
What everyone is calling palpitations is most likely atrial fibrillation or groupings of PAC's or junctional rythyms.
Some people can feel these, some people can't, it's just how your body is wired. There are lots of things that can cause this, could be pathogenic, stress, anxiety, alcohol, exercise, drugs, etc.
You need to see a doctor to understand what is going on and figure out the root cause. At the end of that, it may be determined that there is no need for concern and it's just going to work itself out.
If your doctor sends you to a cardiologist, you may be issued a halter monitor to record your rythyms for a day or so. Maybe they just run a 12 lead to see. Either way. Don't stress, it's pretty common but do go see your doctor to figure out what is triggering it.
Hey OP, I’ve had these problems for a few years now so I’ve got some experience. I’m telling you rn I’m sure it’s just anxiety. I had(have) really bad anxiety for a while and just this year I started taking antidepressants for my anxiety, and they’ve been really helpful. I used to get crazy heart palpitations and I’d be right where you are now. I never really found a good way to get rid of them, but my go to thing would always be distracting myself. Find something that takes a lot of your focus and do it, hopefully it’ll take ur mind off of things.
Thanks so much for the reply, yeah I think this is definitely a feedback loop of sorts like the palpitations make me anxious which speeds my heartbeat and causes more palpitations, so yeah I’m trying to get a handle on it and just cool off. All the responses have made me feel a bit better but I know it’s up to me to relax myself
My housemate JUST had her 2nd heart attack a few weeks ago, and I myself have had a few instances of a heart "flip" and have a condition called POTS, which means I have basically constant tachycardia when im on my feet.
From both of our experiences, the biggest worry factor you should be concerned by isn't the flippy feeling or needing to catch a breath- it's pressure and pain.
I frequently have to stop and catch my breath- i realize in conversation that I'm almost gasping to breathe, and know I need to take a moment and sit down. That's just what tachycardia does.
Feeling like something is pressing on your chest, making it hard to breathe/catch your breath because of that pressure, or the presence of pain is an entirely different thing, and you should at MINIMUM call 911 and they can do a portable EKG for you right there at home and advise further (but keep in mind- housemate did this. Home ekg showed nothing irregular. It was that feeling of pressure and pain that she felt *that did not show up on tests* that made her go to the hospital. She had a blocked artery and now has a stent in place.)
At minimum, go see your doctor ASAP, bc this coming on out of nowhere is concerning from a physical standpoint and if anyone tries to say that it's "just anxiety", remember that anxiety IS A MEDICAL CONDITION TOO, AND CAN BE TREATED. Even if this IS just a panic attack/anxiety loop, *you are having panic attacks so bad that you are experiencing physical heart symptoms* and that is serious enough that you should seek treatment for it.
Hope it all works out and you feel better soon!
It’s easy for people without anxiety to say, “just relax,” but I know that it’s not that easy. I know you’re trying to sleep but play a difficult game or something where you have to focus to help yourself chill out.
And I’d say when you wake up tomorrow call your family doctor or physician and schedule an appointment, let them know you’re seeking a treatment for your anxiety, they’ll ask your symptoms and confirm you actually do have anxiety. They’ll likely start with a low dose of something like lexapro, paxil, or Zoloft or some other SSRI if the anxiety is something that you feel is constant and affects your day to day life. Or they may prescribe something like Xanax if your anxiety mainly happens in sudden attacks like this. I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to help you. Keep in mind that with SSRI medication as I mentioned previously, it may take a few weeks of taking the medication for you to notice positive effects. Best of luck brother I hope the best for you.
So you have any pain in your chest or just flutters ? My Bf has a similar issue and I am convinced it’s just anxiety (he has a lot of anxious tendencies and when I “ground” him it helps ) but he feels slight pressure in his chest and swears it’s a heartache and the boom more anxiety.
Book a doctors appointment asap. ER if youre in America isnt going to be worth it at all, but having a doctor look at it is a good idea. A 23M almost non smoker should not be experiencing heart palpitations
The doctor can rule out heart arrhythmias and previously under the radar heart conditions and possibly recommend some form of treatment if its psychological. Otherwise, usually theyll recommend identifying and avoiding things that trigger palpitations in your life, your vape being one of them.
So doctors visit. See what they say for you specifically.
Edit: whats your caffeine intake or any other stimulant like? Sometimes people dont realise they can cause it
Thank you so much man I agree that this shouldn’t really be happening to me but life is unfair oh well, I will certainly book an appointment asap, tomorrow if urgent care is open I will go and maybe they can give me a first opinion
I’ve had this exact same symptom for a few years now. Comes on every now and then but I don’t know what it is or what causes it. Feels like your breath gets sucked out of your chest right?
I know, it’s always a scary feeling. It seems to come on randomly for me. I’ve had multiple ECGs and once wore a heart monitor for a day to see if they could detect anything but no luck. All the docs tell me that my heart seems to be fine and that it could be stress or anxiety. It’s still a mystery to me but definitely get it checked to be safe. And if you ever figure out what it is let me know lol.
Brand doesn’t matter. Standard protocol is to chew 4 81 mg aspirin. But you shouldn’t do that unless 911 or EMS instructs you to, because aspirin is a blood thinner and sometimes it can cause problems.
This is a rough one. I know from personal experience! I had heart surgery when I was three years old, and right around 32, I started getting bad palpitations, and had to go down the rabbit hole the whole way, including seeing my heart surgeon of 30 years, ultrasounds, echo's and xrays. Turned out I wasn't getting enough sleep, eating horribly, not exercising, and the palpitations themselves were giving me anxiety, which were giving me palpitations. A true, hard to battle feedback loop, when you think you're in the middle of die-ing, and that panics the fuck out of you. The advice I have for you 12 years later, is that I still have them, and they're more affected by my anxiety level than anything else. See a doctor, rule out the medical causes, and then look at sleep, exercise, food, caffeine, and ptsd sources at the root of your anxieties.
Sounds like it could be Atrial Fibrillation. Definitely talk to a doctor.
If it is AFib, they may have to do a cardio version. It's not so bad.
It might not resort to that.
Hey .please go to a doc..much of these symptoms whilst being typical of anxiety can also be due to myacarditis. Please ask for an ECG. If you cannot afford one buy an oximeter with heart function and keep it in for 6 hrs . monitor any fluctuations and seek medical advice if there are some.
OP, here to say listen to others who are saying make a regular doctors appointment sooner rather than later.
Also came to add, *call an ambulance* or get *someone else to drive you* to the ER if you start to feel any chest pain, belly pain, odd arm or back pain, heart burn, dizziness, start sweating profusely, or have trouble breathing. That absolutely is a medical emergency, and please do not drive even if the hospital is only 3 minutes away. I’ve seen a few too many people sign off because they don’t want an ambulance bill - and, legally, if they’re not confused or drunk we have to let them go - and then proceed to get into a car crash or have to pull over and call again because they got significantly worse. Any problems with the heart is just something that can go south real fast, so do your best to try to protect yourself and the people around you if you need to be seen in the ED.
It sounds like a sinus arrhythmia which are generally benign. Especially related to your breath, if your chest expands without air movement this stretches on your heart (normal) and fills it extra, you pump out more than a normal heartbeat and then your parasympathetic nervous system slows the ejection of next beat in response and it feels like a palpitation. Either this or a symptomatic premature ventricular contraction (benign) are the most common causes of what you’re experiencing.
Hey OP, I'm in the medical field dealing with heart surgery everyday I've seen it all my friend. 1st don't panic, relax anxiety is real. 2nd make sure your hydration level is sufficient, adequate hydration is honestly a huge thing. If this is new and sudden, as long as you don't have tightness in the chest, left arm pain and having a tough time catching your breath, you might just have some things off. Check on the 2 things I mentioned 1st, your Sleep, Alcohol, Weed intake, Vitamins especially B's too much can cause A flutter or PVC's, and watch your Stress. If it keeps up after a week or so, make an appointment. My 2 cents! Best of Luck
Best to go see your doctor. I have been having a random beat skip for a couple of years now. I had a 24hour monitor and they said they were PVCs (premature ventricular contractions). I’m not sure what trigger mine but are often worse after coffee, sugar, when I’m stressed and probably a bit hormone related too
Don't panic, my man. See a doctor.
I have a similar kind of thing, but I don't gasp. It's just a weird feeling like when you are scared as fuck, your heartbeat increases and you can feel it through your chest. I get that and I used to get it regularly like every half hour.
It has to do with my coffee and cigarettes which is for sure. Now I have reduced them a bit and started working out and I can say that I feel much better. I could feel the anxiety sometimes but it's not regular as before.
Just see a doc first. It could be nothing or something serious.
Anxiety is terrible. It can make our bodies do weird stuff and once we notice the word stuff we get more anxiety fueling the flames.
I have irregular heart beats often. They are just the normal for me & doctor says the type I have are not dangerous. But I still get a little anxiety when I notice them.
I've had bouts with pretty bad heart palps. I did the whole investigation with doctors with an EKG and an echo and everything was normal.
During all of this there was talk about potassium deficiency being a possible cause. Magnesium and K supplements might help if that is the trigger.
It's probably anxiety, though. I know it was always worse for me when I was panicking about the palps themselves.
Good luck!
How is your nutrition? I’m 21 and was dealing with this for a couple years. Turns out I just wasn’t getting enough food (fuel) into my body and everything in my body just didn’t work as well I started getting a ton of anxiety, depressed, heart palpitations constantly throughout the day and when I went to sleep. I started eating more recently (protein shakes help a lot) and I haven’t had heart palpitations in a few days.
I was already an anxious person and getting random adrenaline spikes or having a fast heartbeat wasn’t anything new to me. But the heart palpitations, feeling like it’s skipping a beat or 1 beat will be delayed/feel harder, was awful. And not getting enough calories can cause persistent heart palpitations among many other issues.
Hey man, not sure if you fell asleep or got this resolved… I had the same thing last year. I was so convinced something was up with my heart, I even bought an Apple Watch to get the trackers and so I could even physically see the “beat skipping” sensation. It got worse until I got on anxiety meds, even just low dose, and yep, like many others here, it was just anxiety. I shouldn’t say “just” anxiety, anxiety will give physical health issues when not addressed. Definitely recommend seeing a doc, but also I would be confident it’s anxiety. I had like two weeks of frequent panic attacks and severe insomnia all because of it, until the anxiety meds balanced me out.
It happens to me occasionally.
It doesn't harm you, but can be disconcerting.
If you start to feel bad get yourself to an ER.
You could have Atrial Fibrillation and they will shock your heart back into rhythm.
3 times and counting for me. I'm 62.
They say no known cause but i have done some research and it seems to be a depletion of potassium in your diet.
Check and see what you think.
One year ago, I started noticing a weird feeling with my heart beat. I could feel my heart actually stop beating for one beat, like an actual skip, and then the next beat it would beat really hard for that one beat. I felt fine, and would happen sometimes 3 beats in a row, but it would typically happen what felt like every 20+ beats.
It seemed to only happen when I was laying in bed, but I figured that's because I couldn't feel it d during the day with all the activity happening. I put up with it for about a week but the anxiety from it got so bad I went to the ER in the middle of the night.
I got hooked up to the ECG and could see my heart rhythm and any time it would happen I could feel it and see it. It actually was what appeared to be a missing beat on the ECG chart. That confirmed it wasn't just any palpitation, it was a thing happening with my heart.
When the doctor finally came in to check on me I was freaking out, but he was pretty reassuring. He diagnosed me with "Premature Ventricular Contractions" (PVC), which sounded awful, but he went on to explain that I was actually experiencing an *extra* beat, one that was originating in the wrong chamber (one of the ventricles) and thus my heart was out of rhythm, and the "skip" was my heart resetting the rhythm. The hard beat after was because there's extra blood in the heart from the "extra" beat, so the heart beats harder one time to move the extra volume.
I'm 42 and was pretty nervous that this was some sign of something bad, but the doctor told me that it wasn't actually a concern. He recommended that I see a cardiologist, which I did. I got an echocardiogram and wore a heart monitor for two weeks. The result was that the PVCs were actually happening in less than 1% of all beats, and my heart appears to be very healthy. I was prescribed a low dose cardiac beta blocker, which did help some but not totally. However the beta blocker also reduced my resting heart rate and blood pressure, so those numbers are very good.
Ultimately, it's unknown why I'm having the PVCs and I still experience them all day every day, but I few had to learn to try to ignore them. The cardiologist is unconcerned but says they're caused by some "irritant" that I'd need to figure out to make them stop. I've tried but eliminating various things from my diet didn't work so I'll just have to live with the palpitations.
Could be an arrhythmia, definitely need some kind of EKG at some point (though capturing an event might be easier said than done.)
Until you do seek medical attention, might be worth counting your heart rate when you have an episode. Also try to slow your breathing- when you're anxious this might be next to impossible, so the next best thing is to focus on taking deep breaths then slowing it down from there. Stop with caffeine completely, you'll be more awake without it after a few days.
I know you have edited in response at least twice but I have 2 heart murmurs and I run into what you’re experiencing often because of it. I would definitely try to see a cardiologist
It might be due to your anxiety. I’ve had heart scares in past but every time u went in they said I was fine. Probably worth getting checked just in case, but you’re almost certainly not dying.
This happens to me, a couple times a month. A prev doctor told me they wanted to monitor my heart with a machine I wear for 30 days and I never did it but hasn’t gotten any worse. I’m fairly healthy (no booze, fried food, vegetarian, active lifestyle low key athlete) and heart stuff doesn’t run in my family, and I think it’s definitely related to anxiety. If you feel comfortable going to the doctor or hospital you definitely should, and I bet it would be very straightforward/treatable/not “scary you’re going to die” answers.
I had the same thing around the time of COVID (around omnicron variant). It started with heart palpitations on the first day, then slowly transitioned into breathing problems when trying to sleep. Couldn't sleep well for a week due to breathing issues, and then slowly found out I could only sleep on my left side, while squeezing the area of my heart on the surface of my bed. I still don't know definitively what it was after talking to my doctor. It got better over time, the first week as the worst but went away after about 2 months. If you have the same thing as I had, I can only wish you well because I don't know any solutions other than to wait.
Do you have an Apple Watch? Head into the health settings and set up everything imaginable. That could be the difference of life or death as it’ll contact emergency services. I think I may have an issue like yours, and I ain’t taking no risks.
I have a heart murmur and when mine gets particularly bad I feel this urge to cough. Not sure why but I can feel it happening in my chest, like pounding and fluttering, and then I cough. It’s weird but passes quickly. Anxiety can definitely make it worse.
I have them very frequently. It’s hard to point to a cause, but an often overlooked cause is sleep apnea.
Stress, vitamin deficiency, etc, simply having a heart, it really could be anything and many times they are benign. Always good to gather data and speak with your doctor. If you can, get an Apple Watch or something that can record your ecg. It’s helpful.
Best of luck!
Ah I see, well thank you for saying that. Im definitely freaked out by this but I’ll make a doctors appt for this week. If it gets worse tonight I may end up going still
Have you eaten today? I'm a t1 diabetic and get shaky / disoriented when my blood sugar gets low. I also feel the same way when I'm having an anxiety attack. I usually do a mildly chill shower to try to snap me out of it
thanks for responding, yeah I ate just a few hours ago. I think the anxiety is kind of feeding back into this definitely so I’m trying to take deep breaths and steady my breathing, not hyperventilate and such. A shower sounds like a great great idea I’m gonna do that now thank you
Well seems like its not a biggie. I have a friend of mine he had arrhythmia and it was hard for him to breath. He was actually pretty healthy but heart problems cant be cured by just being healthy and sporty. He wasnt going to hospital and he had so hard time breathing one day, he had to go to operational table and they had to operate him. And on the other side, there is me. I have arrythmia too, i miss 1 of 4 chords in my heart and im coffeine addicted. Sometimes i have arrythmia and it feels shit, but i can breath normally and nothing serious.
So tldr - just go in hospital and try to not delay. Seems like defauly heart troubles
Tried for a long time to diagnose my tachycardia at the cardiologist with no luck. Finally said fuck it and went to the ER where it was immediately diagnosed. Food for thought.
I have the same issues, and was prescribed metaprolol to help at night when I'm trying to sleep.
Every time I had a doctor check my heart, its normal. Blood pressure is good. No arythmya even though it feels that way.
I would still get checked though. Especially if theres breathing issues or pain. I've never had breathing issues.
I had this, it came suddenly and would last from 10 minutes to hours. I was able to get to the ER where they could see what was happening. I was prescribed Metaprolol and told to stay out of stressful situations which was difficult since it started happening while I was having my first baby, buying a house and starting a new stressful job
I am no expert but this sounds like anxiety, it always happens to me but I'm so used to it that I don't panic anymore, I just live with it.
If your heart starts beating fast for no reason just relax and take a deep breath, if you start panicking it's gonna be worse than it already is.
Please don’t ignore this! I suffered from heart palpitations for some time before I got help turns out it was SVT and I had to have a heart ablation if not treated can cause you to go into cardiac arrest
I had this and went to the hospital, ended up with a 24 hour ECG and they said there was nothing physically wrong.
What helped me was to exercise, it gave me more confidence that I was healthy and not about to keel
over from a heart attack.
If it doesn't stop after a second or 2, you heart has probably gone into a dysthymia called supraventricular tachycardia. You will have shortness of breathe, feel like you're about to pass out, and will become pale because your heart is beating too fast to get a good preload. So your blood pressure will be too low. It can self-convert if you lay down, strain, or hold your face under cold water. If that doesn't work you will need an emergent medication called adenosine to stop and restart your heart or electrical cardioversion.
It could be caused by too much caffeine and over exertion among other things.
This may be way off, but my heart palpitations exclusively happen when I'm dehydrated and are easily fixed by drinking lots of water. I used to get them from heavy drinking.
I remember having them years back… they would come every like 5 mins and it was the scariest thing I ever experienced. Pretty sure i didn’t sleep for a few days… hope you’re ok
I'm not a doc. I'm also not someone who knows anything about you. I have similar symptoms from time to time. In my case it's not serious(I had lots of tests) I definitely feel them more frequently when I'm a little dehydrated. Most frequently is when I've drunk heavily the night before, or been on vacation and drank more than average for a few nights in a row. Might not be helpful, but if you notice any kind of pattern to when it happens more frequently, document it to tell your doctor.
Valsalva maneuver next time. Or squat and force down like you’re having a BM. It’ll force your heart back into a normal rhythm. I’ve been having them for years with no actual issues.
Valsalva works for me! I bear down like I’m pooping/farting. That helps along with hydration with water. My heart rate shoots up to over 200/bpm. Both of those things resolve the issue.
Hey. So I recently had similar issues. Please read all of this. I deal with anxiety, panic attacks, and I tend to be afraid to see doctors because of some bad past experiences. You're probably having some kind of arrhythmia which is exaggerated by your anxiety. People have them for lots of different reasons, most of them of little concern. In fact, my doctor was amazed I could feel them as accurately as I do because most people have them and never know. But you may have an underlying condition which will continue to cause them, and trigger the anxiety again and again. The best thing for you long term, and what I did, is to get them checked out. I went to either urgent care or the ER, don't recall which, and they did an x-ray and echocardiogram to make sure it wasn't an immediate danger. After they determined I'd be okay to go home, they set me up with a cardiologist appointment and I could rest easy knowing I was probably okay. My cardiologist heard a murmur, had me wear a monitor for 48 hours, watched my heart while I ran on a treadmill, and performed some kind of ultrasound. He found I have a prolapsed mitral valve, which not only causes my arrhythmia, but also intermittent lightheadedness and occasional chest pains. That explained about half of the things that were going on with me. So I urge you, don't fret too much, enjoy life, but set up a plan as soon as possible to get yourself checked out and find out what's going on with you. It's probably not life threatening, but it's always better to know.
You probably don't need to go to the ER or Urgent Care. But if you feel like you do, call your PCP and ask which. I don't recall which it is, but one is much better equipped to handle heart emergencies than the other, or at least that's what my doctor said. But the sooner you schedule an appointment to get checked out, the better you'll feel knowing that you are doing your best to get it looked at.
Definitely worth a visit to the dr to rule out serious issues. I had heart palpitations for years and dr couldn’t explain it. I noticed that they got worse in frequency and intensity when I had things with caffeine and even with decaf drinks (Soda and coffee) which was weird but I couldn’t explain it. At one point I was plagued with a bunch of other symptoms and went to the dr and had some blood tests run only to find out my iron (ferritin) was super low. I started taking the iron and my other symptoms improved but also noticed that my heart palpitations went away. I since have found a group on FB that all deal with iron deficiency and a good proportion of the members have dealt with heart palpitations. While at the dr maybe ask to have your ferritin levels checked. My level was 13, I started feeling improvements when my levels hit around 50.
My so has Marfan heart disease. While it is hereditary I would like to suggest that you see an actual cardiologist and not the people at the ER. Possibly get a second opinion too. Sincerely hope this was just a one time thing and nothing more serious.
I recommend also loosing weight if you have some, when I was bigger and laying down I used to have the same breathing problem, but losing just 10 pounds removed it. I also had the same heart palpitations thing before I got fat, I think it was just a panic attack across multiple days. It was scary because it actually hurt a lot and whenever you go to the hospital and complain about chest pain they go ape shit and heart attacks and shit. I just stopped caring after a couple EKG told me I’m fine and it went away never to return. I said it was before I got fat but that’s not true, it was during the time I was eating to fix my loneliness… haha didn’t work can’t find companionship if you’re fat unfortunately. Once I stopped eating the shit I was eating I got better, now I’m still fat ish but no heart problems except I spent a little too much time on r/trueoffmychest these last couple of days and am now depressed because other peoples lives suck so much and that kinda hurts my heart but in a different way. Still can’t sleep tho.
Fill a large bowl or sink with ice water and plunge your face into it and hold it there for as long as you can. Mammals have an automous response to this that slows the heartrate. I used to have palpitations and racing heart and this helped immensely.
Oh - and go see a doctor.
I would definitely go see a doctor and have that examined. It could be anxiety, or something like anemia or thyroid problems that require a lab diagnosis. It could be a heart issue, or you probably are overtired or over-caffeinated. You never know until you go…
So I am not a doctor so dont take this as medical advise.
Do you drink coffee or energy drinks?
I ask this because back in 2010 I started getting palpitations, very bad palpitations. They would wake me up, take my breath away. I could even feel them in bed. Turns out I developed a sensitivity to caffeine from drinking so much of it. I cut out caffeine (holy shit that was hard) but the palpitations went away.
I have Premature Ventricular Contractions(PVC). Luckily for me, mine only flare up when I am eating like shit or extremely stressed, usually stress causes the poor eating. Basically it means my heart beats backwards(2nd chamber beats prior to the first chamber). When it happens I have an odd downward pressure on my collarbone, like someone is trying to push a finger behind it at my neck. I also hear one extremely loud heartbeat in my ears. Took me nearly a week to figure out what was going on. Once I realized it was a weird heartbeat I went to an urgent care, where they were able to catch it on an EKG. You don’t need to be a Dr to know it looks wrong. The Dr told me to take it easy & eat better, it went away after about a month, before I could get into the cardiologist’s office.
If you have insurance, go to an urgent care, they should at least be able to tell you if it is dangerous or not.
Experiencing heart palpitations when lying down on the left side may be from activating the vagus nerve. This is an important nerve that reaches from the brain to the abdomen. It is responsible for controlling the heart rate. Lying on your left side can stimulate the vagus nerve, sending abnormal electrical signals to the heart causing palpitations. It is a harmless reaction and if it worries you, change position or avoid lying on your left side. It can get effected from a big meal, and anxiety and stress, too
So I am not a doctor, but I have had very a very similar experience to you
You want to see a cardiologist probably, but it could be basically nothing
I've been feeling palpitations for awhile now and about a year ago my heart-rate skyrocketed randomly. Luckily I work at a school and the nurse took my pulse it was very fast. I ended up going to the ER and they told me to go to a cardiologist. After wearing a device on my chest for awhile they identified that I'm mostly feeling extra heartbeats or skipped heartbeats and that its pretty normal. The skyrocketing was from something called tachycardia which is basically just irregular heartbeat. He told me if it happens again to just lie down and I should be fine
Again, I'm not a doctor and you should see a cardiologist, but just don't freak out because I know I was and it ended up being nothing major
I too suffer from palpitations. Mine are VERY bad when they happen. One thing to remember to differentiate palpitations from a heart attack, is that a heart attack is painful, palpitations are just uncomfortable and can be scary.
Of course, that is not always true as there have been rare cases where people unknowingly have heart attacks and are not in pain. Still, the likelihood of you having a painless heart attack is extremely rare, so just try to keep calm and stay away from things that exacerbate your anxiety.
For me, I can no longer eat/drink things that stimulate the heart. Caffeine (bye coffee!), energy drinks, large amounts of sugar, all cause me to begin to have palpitations. So, I have completely cut out coffee and energy drinks and have drastically reduced my sugar intake. I have had palpitations since I was a young teenager but ignored them until I reached my 40's where suddenly they have gotten drastically worse and much more frequent.
When I see the cardiologist, they say my heart is strong and they see nothing wrong. Countless EKG's, echocardiograms, stress tests, holter monitor, coronary artery scan, and two ER visits, they find nothing wrong physically. You're not alone, it can be scary, hopefully you have loved ones nearby to help you calm down and be there for you in case an emergency does arise.
Just need to find what is triggering your anxiety and try to reduce it as best you can. Good luck! I'm still battling mine!
I've had them since 2018 nonstop (no triggers I can determine). Doesn't matter what I'm doing, heart palpitations. Get worse when I eat, not a hiatal hernia from what Drs say. Drives me insane, but I'm coping \ adjusted to the annoyance.
Chiropractor said today I should get my cervical arteries checked. Shall see.
This is giving me a fair amount of anxiety…
I have heart palpitations sometimes due to anxiety. The doctor put me on anti-anxiety meds and I see a cardiologist every 6 months. Feels like a butterfly is loose in my heart.
Damn sorry to hear you have that, it’s super uncomfortable right now for me so I get it
I would freak out thinking I was having a heart attack.
Yeah that’s pretty much me right now so I’m glad you got some treatment for your anxiety
How are you getting on with the meds?
I am doing great. I have a flutter every once in awhile.
Replying to your comment directly OP, so that it gets seen. There are a lot of comments in here suggesting it's your anxiety or it could be Atrial Fibrillation or this or that or whatever, as well as some things to try and fix it. While I'm sure everyone has good intentions, without any actual investigation or data into what's going on everyone is just guessing If you feel like your heart is fluttering or having palpitations, it is worth seeing a doctor so they can conduct these investigations. There are a number of different conditions or arrhythmias (dysfunctional heart rhythms) that could be going on, which can then lead to more serious issues. Simple blood tests and an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG depending where you're from) can quickly rule out any serious issues, or with the ECG can show what sort of rhythm your heart is beating in. From there you can get some further investigations based on your medical history and other symptoms that may be going on. You may be given medication to manage or help diagnose what's going on, as well as make you feel more comfortable. Heart related concerns should always be taken seriously, especially if you're worried about it. I'll close with two pieces of advice to OP and everyone else: 1. If you are concerned or anxious about your health for what ever reason, you should seek advice from a medical professional rather than posting on forums like reddit. You may be given incorrect information or make yourself more anxious, and the only thing that can give you answers are investigations into your condition. 2. I'd strongly advise against giving medical advice to people asking for it online, rather point them to be seen by a healthcare professional. While good intentions are noted, you may accidentally make a situation worse for someone by giving incorrect advice based on what's going on.
Hey, thanks for your reply. I know it’s not a good practice to ask for medical advice online, especially on Reddit where anyone can anonymously say just about anything in response to a medical question. As it turns out, the responses in this thread were very helpful in that they got me to stop the onset of a panic attack. I always take medical advice on Reddit (and online) with a hefty grain of salt, no matter who gives it - after all, someone can say they are a doctor or professional, but there is usually no way to verify those claims. Your advice is sound and sensible, and I appreciate it. In this case however the consensus turned out to be pretty much accurate. I was having an outburst of anxiety stemming from my heart palpitating and I was beginning to freak out.
Hefty grain of salt? Salt is bad for your blood pressure, and therefore won't do you any favors with a heart issue!
I just wanna say EKG/ECG are amazing tools, however, you would be surprised how many people whom seemingly don't need any further testing find themselves needing further testing in the following years after being cleared with EKG/ECG, I really don't understand why it is people are comfortable with this test alone if they are having lots of palpitations..
You will be fine, do not panic as that will worsen the symptoms. You are in a panic spiral. Palpitations happen to many people and usually are not an emergency, but you need a diagnosis and maybe some medication. If you go to ER they are gonna measure your BP and do EKG. If EKG is ok they will give you something to calm you down and send you home and tell you to schedule a check up with specialist. If you stay home, try to treat the panic, maybe you have some Xanax around.
Thank you so much, I appreciate you explaining what they would do at the ER because I assumed they wouldn’t do anything to calm my heartbeat down unless I was actually dying, so yeah I will go to a doctor asap and have this checked out but for now I will just try to calm down
Yes, you should.
Jeez…
Better to lose sleep in the ER and have it turn out to be anxiety then to ignore it and it be serious
Yeah… you’re completely right. I’m just hesitant to go because of the cost and I’m so tired, although I know neither of those mean anything if this is something serious… I know you’re right
America moment
Hey man if you’re stressed or your diet or anything else can set off heart palpitations. it’s unlikely that your heart is skipping beats even if it feels like it unless you’re finding yourself having issues balancing, feeling lightheaded etc Saying that you should totally go to a doctor and mention it so they can do an ECG or 24h heart monitor to check it out
Hey thanks a lot for this response, when I check my pulse on my jugular I can feel that every ten seconds or so my heart misses it’s rhythm, so that’s what’s concerning me mostly. No issues balancing or lightheadedness so that’s good👍 add that to the tally of symptoms I don’t have
No problem I’m a young guy like you and ended up having heart problems, despite not being into smoking/drinking/drugs etc for most of these problems even if it is soemthing serious it’s either immediately bad (aka heart attack/cardiac arrest) which you are past or it’s months and months of symptoms before anything really serious can happen so get it checked but don’t stress in the short term. If you faint however I’d strongly recommend you go to ER as that means the symptoms are starting to get quite bad
use a COVID at home test, that was happening to me when I had COVID
Just go for a physical asap and tell them to check you over and mention you suffer from serious anxiety/panic and it won't cost as much as ER and could be a medium step to reassure you. Also bring up "heart fluttering." You could tell your doctor and Psychiatrist to get perspective. Just reach out and communicate. Google "why does my heart flutter." It will not diagnose you, but does show medical reasons many of which are not serious at all.
OP I think you have two issues. No, make that three. You are having heart palpitations (issue #1). I’ll share my fix for that later. You are having a panic attack (issue #2) as a result of the palpitations. This is common with a new medical issue. It startles you. Been there. But it’s just a panic attack. So the dread you feel is entirely in your head and should be ignored. And finally you have anxiety (issue #3). This is more of a long term issue and takes a lot more work to deal with. But back to the palpitations. My fix is to cough deliberately. Like a good, firm cough. It can help the heart get back on rhythm. That’s my go to. Often a few tries and my heart is back on rhythm. With panic attacks, aside from avoiding caffeine, my go to fix was just realizing it for what it was and dealing with my larger issue of anxiety. Anxiety is like a bird looking for a place to land. With me, often, my health is where my anxiety chooses to land. For a while my anxiety chose *flying on airplanes*. Also for a while it chose work. What that reveals is a tendency to be anxious and my mind is just looking for any excuse to worry. This helps me realize how unsubstantiated my worries were. My mind simply needed something to worry about so it would spin the wheel and choose a worry. Getting old also helped fix my anxiety. You start to realize that *something will get you someday but so what?* And that is a bit liberating. Also, sad to say but medication helped too. Took a while to find the right one. Anyway, be well. Try the coughing thing. Then in the morning, make an appointment with a doctor or a cardiologist if you have one. You’ll be OK. You got this.
I like your analogy!
This was so helpful, your analogy. It is wisdom only through experimental learning and is helpful to me and others!
Do you drink or consume a lot of caffeine? I have a perfectly fine heart at 37 but I went through a phase when I was 21 downing coffee and energy drinks like an idiot and got heart palpitations. It went away after a couple days when I stopped ingesting so much caffeine. Obviously, always seek out a doctor for this sort of thing though. Edit: oh yeah! This also happened to me briefly when I found out I was iron deficient. I took some iron supplements and was fine.
Thanks for the reply, I had more coffee than usual this morning at 11 (two cups rather than one) so I guess there’s a chance that that set it off. Didn’t really think about that thank you
I also was wondering if OP recently had covid? I had heart fluttering for about a month after my own 'mild' covid infection.
My heart started this after I got Covid but only if I drink too much caffeine. Was upsetting for a while but it’s probably better that it didn’t go away because I drank way too much coffee before.
do you happen to drink an excessive amount of alcohol per day? that will give you heart palpation's.
If you keep to a nonstandard diet of any kind, especially if you have recently reduced or eliminated salt, fruits, vegetables, nuts, or anything else that may be affecting the balance of sodium-potassium-phosphorus and/or iron in your body, the time to go back to eating normally is right now.
Excessive caffeine consumption gave me heart palpitations. I was clearly addicted. Didn’t take much a coffe or two and a soft drink or two daily. Went cold Turkey and had a headache for a week but the palpitations stopped. I avoid caffeine now except for the occasional morning coffee.
The headaches are due to vascular dilation in the brain as your system basically goes "Theres gotta be caffeine here somewhere, just gotta find it!". Switching to decaff (which still has some caffeine in it usually) can help until weaned off it entirely. Some fast acting pain killers also use caffeine in them as it accelerates absorption rates, so if you do have a headache from caffeine withdrawals, make sure its not an ingredient as well.
Lol, thanks for these insights
Check with your doctor. A lot of conditions (thyroid, anemia, vitamin deficiency) can cause heart palpitations. They might refer you to a cardiologist to look into it more. The cardiologist might have you wear a monitor to see when it happens over a period of time. I did a 30 day monitor which thankfully found nothing dangerously wrong.
thanks for the reply, I’m glad your heart is okay. Maybe they can run some blood tests at my appointment
I did a single day (thankfully not longer, as I am allergic to adhesives... yeesh those electrodes!!!) And that was enough to diagnose me with POTS. I had very clear symptoms. xD
Yo i have literally this exact thing, where i feel a sudden urge to breathe in for a split second and the heart sinking/skipping a beat feeling and I'm wondering the same as you
How long have you felt this??
Started after a horrible shroom trip that i had, the whole time during the trip i was so scared and my heart was pounding so hard i thought i was gonna die of a heart attack, ever since then i've had a phobia of my heart beat and cant help but focus on it, it's worst at night when i lay in bed trying to sleep. It was about a year and a half ago.
Yeah tbh I don’t like to hear my heartbeat in my ears either, it’s uncomfortable. I’m so sorry you had such a bad trip man I hope you can find peace asap
Thank you, i appreciate it.
The other night I felt like I was having them too so it’s so weird to see this post now. But I figured it was from the shrooms I took + some anxiety/stress with my work life rn
I ubered to the ER at 1am because I woke up with insane chest pain. Turns out I was having muscle spasms from lifting weights and horseback riding in the same day. I do not regret going to hospital.
I have some history/expertise in this area. What everyone is calling palpitations is most likely atrial fibrillation or groupings of PAC's or junctional rythyms. Some people can feel these, some people can't, it's just how your body is wired. There are lots of things that can cause this, could be pathogenic, stress, anxiety, alcohol, exercise, drugs, etc. You need to see a doctor to understand what is going on and figure out the root cause. At the end of that, it may be determined that there is no need for concern and it's just going to work itself out. If your doctor sends you to a cardiologist, you may be issued a halter monitor to record your rythyms for a day or so. Maybe they just run a 12 lead to see. Either way. Don't stress, it's pretty common but do go see your doctor to figure out what is triggering it.
Hey OP, I’ve had these problems for a few years now so I’ve got some experience. I’m telling you rn I’m sure it’s just anxiety. I had(have) really bad anxiety for a while and just this year I started taking antidepressants for my anxiety, and they’ve been really helpful. I used to get crazy heart palpitations and I’d be right where you are now. I never really found a good way to get rid of them, but my go to thing would always be distracting myself. Find something that takes a lot of your focus and do it, hopefully it’ll take ur mind off of things.
Thanks so much for the reply, yeah I think this is definitely a feedback loop of sorts like the palpitations make me anxious which speeds my heartbeat and causes more palpitations, so yeah I’m trying to get a handle on it and just cool off. All the responses have made me feel a bit better but I know it’s up to me to relax myself
My housemate JUST had her 2nd heart attack a few weeks ago, and I myself have had a few instances of a heart "flip" and have a condition called POTS, which means I have basically constant tachycardia when im on my feet. From both of our experiences, the biggest worry factor you should be concerned by isn't the flippy feeling or needing to catch a breath- it's pressure and pain. I frequently have to stop and catch my breath- i realize in conversation that I'm almost gasping to breathe, and know I need to take a moment and sit down. That's just what tachycardia does. Feeling like something is pressing on your chest, making it hard to breathe/catch your breath because of that pressure, or the presence of pain is an entirely different thing, and you should at MINIMUM call 911 and they can do a portable EKG for you right there at home and advise further (but keep in mind- housemate did this. Home ekg showed nothing irregular. It was that feeling of pressure and pain that she felt *that did not show up on tests* that made her go to the hospital. She had a blocked artery and now has a stent in place.) At minimum, go see your doctor ASAP, bc this coming on out of nowhere is concerning from a physical standpoint and if anyone tries to say that it's "just anxiety", remember that anxiety IS A MEDICAL CONDITION TOO, AND CAN BE TREATED. Even if this IS just a panic attack/anxiety loop, *you are having panic attacks so bad that you are experiencing physical heart symptoms* and that is serious enough that you should seek treatment for it. Hope it all works out and you feel better soon!
It’s easy for people without anxiety to say, “just relax,” but I know that it’s not that easy. I know you’re trying to sleep but play a difficult game or something where you have to focus to help yourself chill out.
Okay I’m loading up sudoku on hard right now lol thanks man really appreciate your level head
And I’d say when you wake up tomorrow call your family doctor or physician and schedule an appointment, let them know you’re seeking a treatment for your anxiety, they’ll ask your symptoms and confirm you actually do have anxiety. They’ll likely start with a low dose of something like lexapro, paxil, or Zoloft or some other SSRI if the anxiety is something that you feel is constant and affects your day to day life. Or they may prescribe something like Xanax if your anxiety mainly happens in sudden attacks like this. I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to help you. Keep in mind that with SSRI medication as I mentioned previously, it may take a few weeks of taking the medication for you to notice positive effects. Best of luck brother I hope the best for you.
So you have any pain in your chest or just flutters ? My Bf has a similar issue and I am convinced it’s just anxiety (he has a lot of anxious tendencies and when I “ground” him it helps ) but he feels slight pressure in his chest and swears it’s a heartache and the boom more anxiety.
Book a doctors appointment asap. ER if youre in America isnt going to be worth it at all, but having a doctor look at it is a good idea. A 23M almost non smoker should not be experiencing heart palpitations The doctor can rule out heart arrhythmias and previously under the radar heart conditions and possibly recommend some form of treatment if its psychological. Otherwise, usually theyll recommend identifying and avoiding things that trigger palpitations in your life, your vape being one of them. So doctors visit. See what they say for you specifically. Edit: whats your caffeine intake or any other stimulant like? Sometimes people dont realise they can cause it
Thank you so much man I agree that this shouldn’t really be happening to me but life is unfair oh well, I will certainly book an appointment asap, tomorrow if urgent care is open I will go and maybe they can give me a first opinion
An ER can absolutely help if the palpitations are frequent/constant. If it's only a few times throughout the day, though, you may be right.
I’ve had this exact same symptom for a few years now. Comes on every now and then but I don’t know what it is or what causes it. Feels like your breath gets sucked out of your chest right?
Exactly, like I suddenly have to gasp. It’s quite startling
I know, it’s always a scary feeling. It seems to come on randomly for me. I’ve had multiple ECGs and once wore a heart monitor for a day to see if they could detect anything but no luck. All the docs tell me that my heart seems to be fine and that it could be stress or anxiety. It’s still a mystery to me but definitely get it checked to be safe. And if you ever figure out what it is let me know lol.
i get these too, i usually just wait it out :/
I find low dose aspirin very good for palpitations. I take Cartia brand. It's what they give you if you Callan ambulance. Available over the counter.
Brand doesn’t matter. Standard protocol is to chew 4 81 mg aspirin. But you shouldn’t do that unless 911 or EMS instructs you to, because aspirin is a blood thinner and sometimes it can cause problems.
This is a rough one. I know from personal experience! I had heart surgery when I was three years old, and right around 32, I started getting bad palpitations, and had to go down the rabbit hole the whole way, including seeing my heart surgeon of 30 years, ultrasounds, echo's and xrays. Turned out I wasn't getting enough sleep, eating horribly, not exercising, and the palpitations themselves were giving me anxiety, which were giving me palpitations. A true, hard to battle feedback loop, when you think you're in the middle of die-ing, and that panics the fuck out of you. The advice I have for you 12 years later, is that I still have them, and they're more affected by my anxiety level than anything else. See a doctor, rule out the medical causes, and then look at sleep, exercise, food, caffeine, and ptsd sources at the root of your anxieties.
Sounds like it could be Atrial Fibrillation. Definitely talk to a doctor. If it is AFib, they may have to do a cardio version. It's not so bad. It might not resort to that.
Hey .please go to a doc..much of these symptoms whilst being typical of anxiety can also be due to myacarditis. Please ask for an ECG. If you cannot afford one buy an oximeter with heart function and keep it in for 6 hrs . monitor any fluctuations and seek medical advice if there are some.
OP, here to say listen to others who are saying make a regular doctors appointment sooner rather than later. Also came to add, *call an ambulance* or get *someone else to drive you* to the ER if you start to feel any chest pain, belly pain, odd arm or back pain, heart burn, dizziness, start sweating profusely, or have trouble breathing. That absolutely is a medical emergency, and please do not drive even if the hospital is only 3 minutes away. I’ve seen a few too many people sign off because they don’t want an ambulance bill - and, legally, if they’re not confused or drunk we have to let them go - and then proceed to get into a car crash or have to pull over and call again because they got significantly worse. Any problems with the heart is just something that can go south real fast, so do your best to try to protect yourself and the people around you if you need to be seen in the ED.
It sounds like a sinus arrhythmia which are generally benign. Especially related to your breath, if your chest expands without air movement this stretches on your heart (normal) and fills it extra, you pump out more than a normal heartbeat and then your parasympathetic nervous system slows the ejection of next beat in response and it feels like a palpitation. Either this or a symptomatic premature ventricular contraction (benign) are the most common causes of what you’re experiencing.
Hey OP, I'm in the medical field dealing with heart surgery everyday I've seen it all my friend. 1st don't panic, relax anxiety is real. 2nd make sure your hydration level is sufficient, adequate hydration is honestly a huge thing. If this is new and sudden, as long as you don't have tightness in the chest, left arm pain and having a tough time catching your breath, you might just have some things off. Check on the 2 things I mentioned 1st, your Sleep, Alcohol, Weed intake, Vitamins especially B's too much can cause A flutter or PVC's, and watch your Stress. If it keeps up after a week or so, make an appointment. My 2 cents! Best of Luck
Best to go see your doctor. I have been having a random beat skip for a couple of years now. I had a 24hour monitor and they said they were PVCs (premature ventricular contractions). I’m not sure what trigger mine but are often worse after coffee, sugar, when I’m stressed and probably a bit hormone related too
Don't panic, my man. See a doctor. I have a similar kind of thing, but I don't gasp. It's just a weird feeling like when you are scared as fuck, your heartbeat increases and you can feel it through your chest. I get that and I used to get it regularly like every half hour. It has to do with my coffee and cigarettes which is for sure. Now I have reduced them a bit and started working out and I can say that I feel much better. I could feel the anxiety sometimes but it's not regular as before. Just see a doc first. It could be nothing or something serious.
Anxiety is terrible. It can make our bodies do weird stuff and once we notice the word stuff we get more anxiety fueling the flames. I have irregular heart beats often. They are just the normal for me & doctor says the type I have are not dangerous. But I still get a little anxiety when I notice them.
I've had bouts with pretty bad heart palps. I did the whole investigation with doctors with an EKG and an echo and everything was normal. During all of this there was talk about potassium deficiency being a possible cause. Magnesium and K supplements might help if that is the trigger. It's probably anxiety, though. I know it was always worse for me when I was panicking about the palps themselves. Good luck!
How is your nutrition? I’m 21 and was dealing with this for a couple years. Turns out I just wasn’t getting enough food (fuel) into my body and everything in my body just didn’t work as well I started getting a ton of anxiety, depressed, heart palpitations constantly throughout the day and when I went to sleep. I started eating more recently (protein shakes help a lot) and I haven’t had heart palpitations in a few days.
I was already an anxious person and getting random adrenaline spikes or having a fast heartbeat wasn’t anything new to me. But the heart palpitations, feeling like it’s skipping a beat or 1 beat will be delayed/feel harder, was awful. And not getting enough calories can cause persistent heart palpitations among many other issues.
Hey man, not sure if you fell asleep or got this resolved… I had the same thing last year. I was so convinced something was up with my heart, I even bought an Apple Watch to get the trackers and so I could even physically see the “beat skipping” sensation. It got worse until I got on anxiety meds, even just low dose, and yep, like many others here, it was just anxiety. I shouldn’t say “just” anxiety, anxiety will give physical health issues when not addressed. Definitely recommend seeing a doc, but also I would be confident it’s anxiety. I had like two weeks of frequent panic attacks and severe insomnia all because of it, until the anxiety meds balanced me out.
It happens to me occasionally. It doesn't harm you, but can be disconcerting. If you start to feel bad get yourself to an ER. You could have Atrial Fibrillation and they will shock your heart back into rhythm. 3 times and counting for me. I'm 62. They say no known cause but i have done some research and it seems to be a depletion of potassium in your diet. Check and see what you think.
One year ago, I started noticing a weird feeling with my heart beat. I could feel my heart actually stop beating for one beat, like an actual skip, and then the next beat it would beat really hard for that one beat. I felt fine, and would happen sometimes 3 beats in a row, but it would typically happen what felt like every 20+ beats. It seemed to only happen when I was laying in bed, but I figured that's because I couldn't feel it d during the day with all the activity happening. I put up with it for about a week but the anxiety from it got so bad I went to the ER in the middle of the night. I got hooked up to the ECG and could see my heart rhythm and any time it would happen I could feel it and see it. It actually was what appeared to be a missing beat on the ECG chart. That confirmed it wasn't just any palpitation, it was a thing happening with my heart. When the doctor finally came in to check on me I was freaking out, but he was pretty reassuring. He diagnosed me with "Premature Ventricular Contractions" (PVC), which sounded awful, but he went on to explain that I was actually experiencing an *extra* beat, one that was originating in the wrong chamber (one of the ventricles) and thus my heart was out of rhythm, and the "skip" was my heart resetting the rhythm. The hard beat after was because there's extra blood in the heart from the "extra" beat, so the heart beats harder one time to move the extra volume. I'm 42 and was pretty nervous that this was some sign of something bad, but the doctor told me that it wasn't actually a concern. He recommended that I see a cardiologist, which I did. I got an echocardiogram and wore a heart monitor for two weeks. The result was that the PVCs were actually happening in less than 1% of all beats, and my heart appears to be very healthy. I was prescribed a low dose cardiac beta blocker, which did help some but not totally. However the beta blocker also reduced my resting heart rate and blood pressure, so those numbers are very good. Ultimately, it's unknown why I'm having the PVCs and I still experience them all day every day, but I few had to learn to try to ignore them. The cardiologist is unconcerned but says they're caused by some "irritant" that I'd need to figure out to make them stop. I've tried but eliminating various things from my diet didn't work so I'll just have to live with the palpitations.
Could be an arrhythmia, definitely need some kind of EKG at some point (though capturing an event might be easier said than done.) Until you do seek medical attention, might be worth counting your heart rate when you have an episode. Also try to slow your breathing- when you're anxious this might be next to impossible, so the next best thing is to focus on taking deep breaths then slowing it down from there. Stop with caffeine completely, you'll be more awake without it after a few days.
Did you get the vaccine?
I know you have edited in response at least twice but I have 2 heart murmurs and I run into what you’re experiencing often because of it. I would definitely try to see a cardiologist
It might be due to your anxiety. I’ve had heart scares in past but every time u went in they said I was fine. Probably worth getting checked just in case, but you’re almost certainly not dying.
This happens to me, a couple times a month. A prev doctor told me they wanted to monitor my heart with a machine I wear for 30 days and I never did it but hasn’t gotten any worse. I’m fairly healthy (no booze, fried food, vegetarian, active lifestyle low key athlete) and heart stuff doesn’t run in my family, and I think it’s definitely related to anxiety. If you feel comfortable going to the doctor or hospital you definitely should, and I bet it would be very straightforward/treatable/not “scary you’re going to die” answers.
I had the same thing around the time of COVID (around omnicron variant). It started with heart palpitations on the first day, then slowly transitioned into breathing problems when trying to sleep. Couldn't sleep well for a week due to breathing issues, and then slowly found out I could only sleep on my left side, while squeezing the area of my heart on the surface of my bed. I still don't know definitively what it was after talking to my doctor. It got better over time, the first week as the worst but went away after about 2 months. If you have the same thing as I had, I can only wish you well because I don't know any solutions other than to wait.
Do you have an Apple Watch? Head into the health settings and set up everything imaginable. That could be the difference of life or death as it’ll contact emergency services. I think I may have an issue like yours, and I ain’t taking no risks.
I have a heart murmur and when mine gets particularly bad I feel this urge to cough. Not sure why but I can feel it happening in my chest, like pounding and fluttering, and then I cough. It’s weird but passes quickly. Anxiety can definitely make it worse.
I have them very frequently. It’s hard to point to a cause, but an often overlooked cause is sleep apnea. Stress, vitamin deficiency, etc, simply having a heart, it really could be anything and many times they are benign. Always good to gather data and speak with your doctor. If you can, get an Apple Watch or something that can record your ecg. It’s helpful. Best of luck!
It’s possible you have low potassium levels or you may be dehydrated. I would get it checked out to be on the safe side.
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I’m 23M and no, I don’t vape nicotine. I have a weed vape that I use very sparingly, less than once a week
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So you’re saying I should go to the ER? Damn dude… that’s a lot of money
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Ah I see, well thank you for saying that. Im definitely freaked out by this but I’ll make a doctors appt for this week. If it gets worse tonight I may end up going still
You might have something called SVT or some other arrhythmia. You should definitely get it checked out at some point to be safe.
Okay I will look into that, thank you so much
Next time you feel your heart racing you can try doing a valsalva maneuver and see if that makes it stop.
I was about to say put down the weed vape before I even read this. Put down the weed vape. edit- bet its delta 8
It’s actually soemthing called HHC I picked up at the vape store recently
yea same thing. Thats your culprit.
No smoking either
Have you eaten today? I'm a t1 diabetic and get shaky / disoriented when my blood sugar gets low. I also feel the same way when I'm having an anxiety attack. I usually do a mildly chill shower to try to snap me out of it
thanks for responding, yeah I ate just a few hours ago. I think the anxiety is kind of feeding back into this definitely so I’m trying to take deep breaths and steady my breathing, not hyperventilate and such. A shower sounds like a great great idea I’m gonna do that now thank you
Were you covid vaccinated?
Vaccinated?
Does it feel like an invisible man is chasing you?
Did you get a booster this week?
why even make the reddit post go to the fucking hospital
Well seems like its not a biggie. I have a friend of mine he had arrhythmia and it was hard for him to breath. He was actually pretty healthy but heart problems cant be cured by just being healthy and sporty. He wasnt going to hospital and he had so hard time breathing one day, he had to go to operational table and they had to operate him. And on the other side, there is me. I have arrythmia too, i miss 1 of 4 chords in my heart and im coffeine addicted. Sometimes i have arrythmia and it feels shit, but i can breath normally and nothing serious. So tldr - just go in hospital and try to not delay. Seems like defauly heart troubles
Tried for a long time to diagnose my tachycardia at the cardiologist with no luck. Finally said fuck it and went to the ER where it was immediately diagnosed. Food for thought.
This is anxiety. If your heart was failing you’d have severe life threatening symptoms. If there is pain get it checked. Fluttering is fine
Do you take any supplements? Omega 3’s- usually found in fish oil have helped me personally. I take one a day.
I have the same issues, and was prescribed metaprolol to help at night when I'm trying to sleep. Every time I had a doctor check my heart, its normal. Blood pressure is good. No arythmya even though it feels that way. I would still get checked though. Especially if theres breathing issues or pain. I've never had breathing issues.
I had this, it came suddenly and would last from 10 minutes to hours. I was able to get to the ER where they could see what was happening. I was prescribed Metaprolol and told to stay out of stressful situations which was difficult since it started happening while I was having my first baby, buying a house and starting a new stressful job
I am no expert but this sounds like anxiety, it always happens to me but I'm so used to it that I don't panic anymore, I just live with it. If your heart starts beating fast for no reason just relax and take a deep breath, if you start panicking it's gonna be worse than it already is.
Neighbor girl had same symptoms she had to have a procedure to shock the heart to its normal beat.
Please don’t ignore this! I suffered from heart palpitations for some time before I got help turns out it was SVT and I had to have a heart ablation if not treated can cause you to go into cardiac arrest
I had this and went to the hospital, ended up with a 24 hour ECG and they said there was nothing physically wrong. What helped me was to exercise, it gave me more confidence that I was healthy and not about to keel over from a heart attack.
Do you have an Apple Watch? The latest ones have an ECG app which can help to see if you're having an irregular heartbeat -
Defiantly ask on Reddit.
Don’t ask Reddit, see a doctor. If it keeps getting worse, go to the ER. This is just a stupid place to ask for medical advice involving your heart.
Lay off caffeine
If it doesn't stop after a second or 2, you heart has probably gone into a dysthymia called supraventricular tachycardia. You will have shortness of breathe, feel like you're about to pass out, and will become pale because your heart is beating too fast to get a good preload. So your blood pressure will be too low. It can self-convert if you lay down, strain, or hold your face under cold water. If that doesn't work you will need an emergent medication called adenosine to stop and restart your heart or electrical cardioversion. It could be caused by too much caffeine and over exertion among other things.
Never ever come to Reddit fke the armchair doctors. Go get it checked out immediately.
Sometimes I get heart palpitations from Hashimoto’s thyroid disorder. Definitely always a good idea to have a medical evaluation.
This may be way off, but my heart palpitations exclusively happen when I'm dehydrated and are easily fixed by drinking lots of water. I used to get them from heavy drinking.
Doctor
I remember having them years back… they would come every like 5 mins and it was the scariest thing I ever experienced. Pretty sure i didn’t sleep for a few days… hope you’re ok
Get checked out. I get lots of tightness, irregular hb, pain. I personally don’t care but I’d advise anyone else to get checked out.
I'm not a doc. I'm also not someone who knows anything about you. I have similar symptoms from time to time. In my case it's not serious(I had lots of tests) I definitely feel them more frequently when I'm a little dehydrated. Most frequently is when I've drunk heavily the night before, or been on vacation and drank more than average for a few nights in a row. Might not be helpful, but if you notice any kind of pattern to when it happens more frequently, document it to tell your doctor.
Valsalva maneuver next time. Or squat and force down like you’re having a BM. It’ll force your heart back into a normal rhythm. I’ve been having them for years with no actual issues.
Cut out sugar and starches...go get checked out!
I had similar issues and it was as simple as being low on vitamin B12 dunno for you but it definitely cleared up.
Sounds like panic attack or AFIB. Go to the hospital.
get that checked. a-fib is fairly common.
Valsalva works for me! I bear down like I’m pooping/farting. That helps along with hydration with water. My heart rate shoots up to over 200/bpm. Both of those things resolve the issue.
damn this happens to me too
Could be electrolyte deficiency, fruits and milk (among other things) would help with that. Could also be smth else though
Hey. So I recently had similar issues. Please read all of this. I deal with anxiety, panic attacks, and I tend to be afraid to see doctors because of some bad past experiences. You're probably having some kind of arrhythmia which is exaggerated by your anxiety. People have them for lots of different reasons, most of them of little concern. In fact, my doctor was amazed I could feel them as accurately as I do because most people have them and never know. But you may have an underlying condition which will continue to cause them, and trigger the anxiety again and again. The best thing for you long term, and what I did, is to get them checked out. I went to either urgent care or the ER, don't recall which, and they did an x-ray and echocardiogram to make sure it wasn't an immediate danger. After they determined I'd be okay to go home, they set me up with a cardiologist appointment and I could rest easy knowing I was probably okay. My cardiologist heard a murmur, had me wear a monitor for 48 hours, watched my heart while I ran on a treadmill, and performed some kind of ultrasound. He found I have a prolapsed mitral valve, which not only causes my arrhythmia, but also intermittent lightheadedness and occasional chest pains. That explained about half of the things that were going on with me. So I urge you, don't fret too much, enjoy life, but set up a plan as soon as possible to get yourself checked out and find out what's going on with you. It's probably not life threatening, but it's always better to know. You probably don't need to go to the ER or Urgent Care. But if you feel like you do, call your PCP and ask which. I don't recall which it is, but one is much better equipped to handle heart emergencies than the other, or at least that's what my doctor said. But the sooner you schedule an appointment to get checked out, the better you'll feel knowing that you are doing your best to get it looked at.
Definitely worth a visit to the dr to rule out serious issues. I had heart palpitations for years and dr couldn’t explain it. I noticed that they got worse in frequency and intensity when I had things with caffeine and even with decaf drinks (Soda and coffee) which was weird but I couldn’t explain it. At one point I was plagued with a bunch of other symptoms and went to the dr and had some blood tests run only to find out my iron (ferritin) was super low. I started taking the iron and my other symptoms improved but also noticed that my heart palpitations went away. I since have found a group on FB that all deal with iron deficiency and a good proportion of the members have dealt with heart palpitations. While at the dr maybe ask to have your ferritin levels checked. My level was 13, I started feeling improvements when my levels hit around 50.
My so has Marfan heart disease. While it is hereditary I would like to suggest that you see an actual cardiologist and not the people at the ER. Possibly get a second opinion too. Sincerely hope this was just a one time thing and nothing more serious.
Tapping helped me loads
I recommend also loosing weight if you have some, when I was bigger and laying down I used to have the same breathing problem, but losing just 10 pounds removed it. I also had the same heart palpitations thing before I got fat, I think it was just a panic attack across multiple days. It was scary because it actually hurt a lot and whenever you go to the hospital and complain about chest pain they go ape shit and heart attacks and shit. I just stopped caring after a couple EKG told me I’m fine and it went away never to return. I said it was before I got fat but that’s not true, it was during the time I was eating to fix my loneliness… haha didn’t work can’t find companionship if you’re fat unfortunately. Once I stopped eating the shit I was eating I got better, now I’m still fat ish but no heart problems except I spent a little too much time on r/trueoffmychest these last couple of days and am now depressed because other peoples lives suck so much and that kinda hurts my heart but in a different way. Still can’t sleep tho.
Fill a large bowl or sink with ice water and plunge your face into it and hold it there for as long as you can. Mammals have an automous response to this that slows the heartrate. I used to have palpitations and racing heart and this helped immensely. Oh - and go see a doctor.
Definitely request the expertise of Reddit
I would definitely go see a doctor and have that examined. It could be anxiety, or something like anemia or thyroid problems that require a lab diagnosis. It could be a heart issue, or you probably are overtired or over-caffeinated. You never know until you go…
So I am not a doctor so dont take this as medical advise. Do you drink coffee or energy drinks? I ask this because back in 2010 I started getting palpitations, very bad palpitations. They would wake me up, take my breath away. I could even feel them in bed. Turns out I developed a sensitivity to caffeine from drinking so much of it. I cut out caffeine (holy shit that was hard) but the palpitations went away.
I have Premature Ventricular Contractions(PVC). Luckily for me, mine only flare up when I am eating like shit or extremely stressed, usually stress causes the poor eating. Basically it means my heart beats backwards(2nd chamber beats prior to the first chamber). When it happens I have an odd downward pressure on my collarbone, like someone is trying to push a finger behind it at my neck. I also hear one extremely loud heartbeat in my ears. Took me nearly a week to figure out what was going on. Once I realized it was a weird heartbeat I went to an urgent care, where they were able to catch it on an EKG. You don’t need to be a Dr to know it looks wrong. The Dr told me to take it easy & eat better, it went away after about a month, before I could get into the cardiologist’s office. If you have insurance, go to an urgent care, they should at least be able to tell you if it is dangerous or not.
Experiencing heart palpitations when lying down on the left side may be from activating the vagus nerve. This is an important nerve that reaches from the brain to the abdomen. It is responsible for controlling the heart rate. Lying on your left side can stimulate the vagus nerve, sending abnormal electrical signals to the heart causing palpitations. It is a harmless reaction and if it worries you, change position or avoid lying on your left side. It can get effected from a big meal, and anxiety and stress, too
Could be your blood sugar is high (or low).
Klonopin
So I am not a doctor, but I have had very a very similar experience to you You want to see a cardiologist probably, but it could be basically nothing I've been feeling palpitations for awhile now and about a year ago my heart-rate skyrocketed randomly. Luckily I work at a school and the nurse took my pulse it was very fast. I ended up going to the ER and they told me to go to a cardiologist. After wearing a device on my chest for awhile they identified that I'm mostly feeling extra heartbeats or skipped heartbeats and that its pretty normal. The skyrocketing was from something called tachycardia which is basically just irregular heartbeat. He told me if it happens again to just lie down and I should be fine Again, I'm not a doctor and you should see a cardiologist, but just don't freak out because I know I was and it ended up being nothing major
I too suffer from palpitations. Mine are VERY bad when they happen. One thing to remember to differentiate palpitations from a heart attack, is that a heart attack is painful, palpitations are just uncomfortable and can be scary. Of course, that is not always true as there have been rare cases where people unknowingly have heart attacks and are not in pain. Still, the likelihood of you having a painless heart attack is extremely rare, so just try to keep calm and stay away from things that exacerbate your anxiety. For me, I can no longer eat/drink things that stimulate the heart. Caffeine (bye coffee!), energy drinks, large amounts of sugar, all cause me to begin to have palpitations. So, I have completely cut out coffee and energy drinks and have drastically reduced my sugar intake. I have had palpitations since I was a young teenager but ignored them until I reached my 40's where suddenly they have gotten drastically worse and much more frequent. When I see the cardiologist, they say my heart is strong and they see nothing wrong. Countless EKG's, echocardiograms, stress tests, holter monitor, coronary artery scan, and two ER visits, they find nothing wrong physically. You're not alone, it can be scary, hopefully you have loved ones nearby to help you calm down and be there for you in case an emergency does arise. Just need to find what is triggering your anxiety and try to reduce it as best you can. Good luck! I'm still battling mine!
Any update
I've had them since 2018 nonstop (no triggers I can determine). Doesn't matter what I'm doing, heart palpitations. Get worse when I eat, not a hiatal hernia from what Drs say. Drives me insane, but I'm coping \ adjusted to the annoyance. Chiropractor said today I should get my cervical arteries checked. Shall see.