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Heart Palpitations Forum >> Symptoms and other concerns >> Please please please help me
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Message started by laura1988 on Feb 5^th, 2012, 4:21pm

Title: Please please please help me
Post by laura1988 on Feb 5^th, 2012, 4:21pm

Hi everyone, I'm having a really hard time, I've been having weird heart sensations for the last week and there really scaring me :( Ive had anxiety for around 2 years now since having my daughter, mostly it's been about my heart, last Saturday I took 80mg of citalopram instead of just 10mg, I didn't mean to, I went to the a n e, had an ECG and was told everything was fine on there, but since then I've been missing lots of beats and funny feelings in my chest I feel I can't breath properly and seem to be taking little breaths instead of normal ones :( also my heart rate is slower that normal when I'm in bed it goes down to around 60 which is very odd for me as I'm usely about 90 resting, I also get really spacey and light headed and pains in my chest and shoulder and under ribs, I'm so scared I'm going to collapse and die at any moment, I feel my life's on hold, please could someone help :( many thanks Laura x

Title: Re: Please please please help me
Post by jothenurse on Feb 6^th, 2012, 7:44pm

I'm sure RLR will give you some reassurance. In the meantime, feel reassured that you have had tests, including an EKG, and everything was normal. They wouldn't have let you go home if you were in any danger.
Hope this helps a little.

Title: Re: Please please please help me
Post by warrior on Feb 7^th, 2012, 2:20am

hi laura!, iam new on here , the symptoms you mention are the same thats happened to me for years now.They are really scary when they happen, i have sufferd from bouts of anxiety for years now, and palpitations, i have had endless ecgs ,bloods etc and felt on many occasions that the docs didnt believe me .only yesterday i bent over to pick something up and bang !! that was it they started !!,i thought i was dieing and was terrified ,5 mins later they stopped .im convinced that my palps stem from stress and anxiety!! ,im a big strong man of 6ft 6 height and not overweight ,and like to think iam fit, the mind can be a strong thing at times and our imaginations can run out of control, i know mine does lol! iam also one of lifes worriers and that can hold you back in life!! sometimes the way forward is to think positive and face all your fears and demons head on , scary i know ,but well worth it!! Remember the mind is a strong thing!! hope this helps you ,and try not to worry to much!! although i know its easy to say that x

Title: Re: Please please please help me
Post by laura1988 on Feb 8^th, 2012, 11:58am

Thanks guys :) this is just so annoying, mostly happens when I'm in the car :-/ I get a feeling for a second that all the blood has drained from my arms n legs and go all hot, it's soooooo scary :( thanks again xxx

Title: Re: Please please please help me
Post by jess33 on Feb 9^th, 2012, 4:47am

Laura, I also get the hot feeling too. I always describe is as someone pouring hot water down my back. Hate it but its been going on for 20 years and im still here :D

Title: Re: Please please please help me
Post by RLR on Feb 9^th, 2012, 5:22pm

Okay, your symptoms would be consistent with threshold events associated with significant anxiety, more commonly known as panic attacks. Accidental ingestion of 80mg of citalopram would not have caused any harm and there are recorded cases of persons surviving after consuming a much, much greater dose so you need to relax from that standpoint.

You don't mention whether this is your first child but realize that in many such cases, new moms suddenly feel overwhelmed by the responsibility for bringing a new life into the world and these perceptions can cause a sense of helplessness. Thoughts such as feeling incapacitated to the extent that they either cannot provide for their child and family or succumb to an untimely demise and thus leave their child abandoned and helpless are extremely common irrational fears. Focus upon health becomes paramount and any sign of perceived distress such as benign palpitations which are thought to be a sign of heart trouble, can induce constant vigilance and fear that their life may be hanging in the balance.

Realize that the innate urge to protect one's young by sensing danger is sometimes distorted in contemporary human beings because such threats are non-existent by comparison to circumstances in early homo sapiens. It's critical to understand that nothing is actually wrong with you, but the influence of very basic instincts can compel some mothers to become extremely fearful that danger is close and that the safety of their child may be in jeopardy. The compelling nature of these instincts is designed to afford the greatest survival potential of the species, much like you might witness in lower animal forms. Again, however, it is merely a perception and innate response. You or your child are actually in no danger at all.

Lowered heart rate while in bed is an entirely normal phenomenon and when supine, or laying flat, the heart does not have to work as hard to overcome the effects of gravity upon blood flow, together with the fact that vascular tone is reduced when lying in bed and preparing for sleep.

Feeling light-headed and "spacey" is a classic manifestation of anxiety and results from mild dysautonomia and disturbed sensory feedback. It is not a warning sign of any kind. The chest pain is, again, a feature of significant anxiety and does not suggest anything is wrong.

You're going to be just fine. Take a breath and relax. Although I realize that my response is quite belated, you're in no danger and nothing is wrong with your health.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)