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Heart Palpitations Forum >> General Discussion >> Fed up and frustrated
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Message started by Mandk19 on Mar 16^th, 2011, 8:38am

Title: Fed up and frustrated
Post by Mandk19 on Mar 16^th, 2011, 8:38am

Hi there I'm new here, just struggling with everything really. Have been getting palpitations since December. unfortunately I have been unable to work since end of January. Palpitations are daily and limit my activities a hell of a lot. Just getting extremely frustrated now feel like I'm going round in circles with doctors.
Just wondering if anyone has been through this and can tell me it will get better? :-/ :'(

Title: Re: Fed up and frustrated
Post by kiwiblue on Mar 17^th, 2011, 4:37pm

Welcome to these forums. I have not posted a lot for quite a while but recently returned because of episodes of frequent palps. Have been under a load of stress the last six months. I have been going thru these things since June 1992...am now 62 years old. You will find much support here. Please read thru all the threads. There is a lot of information here. Most of us here are going what you are going thru. And RLR is awesome...

Title: Re: Fed up and frustrated
Post by RLR on Mar 19^th, 2011, 4:42am

Okay, welcome to the forum. Are you stating that you haven't been able to work since January due to the palpitation events, or for other reasons?

Understand that this form of palpitation events has nothing to do with the health or peformance of your heart. The events are actually being caused by inappropriate stimulation of the vagus nerve. It's the rough equivalent of a muscle twitch occurring elsewhere in the body.

Benign palpitations are produced when the body undergoes a significant level of stress and/or anxiety which is sufficient enough to produce physiological symptoms. Realize that the sort of stress and anxiety mentioned here is far different from mere situational anxiety, wherein one feels anxious or apprehensive about a specific forthcoming event. Chronic stress/anxiety creates change in physiological function because the brain perceives that a threat exists.

While the palpitation events can be frightening, they do not hold the capacity to place you in danger whatsoever. In other words, they cannot cause your heart to suddenly stop and they can never damage the integrity of your heart muscle to any extent whatsoever. Again, these events have arisen due to excessive stress and/or anxiety that have resulted in physiological manifestations that you are mistaking for symptoms of a heart problem of some type.

It's also common in some instances for persons experiencing benign palpitations to literally restrict their life to home surroundings because it diminishes general outlook and initiative due to the perceived ominous risk. Again, you're in no real danger whatsoever. Reductions in precipitating stress/anxiety will result in a corresponding reduction in the presence of benign palpitations.

You're going to be just fine. Spend time reading the accounts from others here with similar difficulty and if you have questions, I'll be around from time to time and will address them as time permits.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)