Hi everyone
i also came on to the website via nomorepanic.co.uk i have been watching this website for about 6 months on resonance.com
my names freya, and i live in england and i am 21
i have quite a colourful past medical wise i was dx with Graves disease (autoimmune disorder - overactive thyroid) Aug 2004, i was 18 yrs old. I was and still am taking anti thyroid drugs in november 2005
the start--------------
i was stood at my saturday job in a shop and i felt my heart go out of synch, i got so dizzy i saw nothing but yellow and black and thought i was going to faint. As i was immediately fine i didnt tell anyone or my gp and just carried on. I have had similar 'flutters' without dizzyness since every now and again randomly until june ish 2006. I had a panic attack because i changed anti thyroid med and this was when i first experienced the skipped beat instead of a flutter.
since then they have been the bain of my existance, in summer 06 they were getting extreamly frequent 100's daily probably due to increasing anxiety and it took a lot of courage to go to my g.p in aug who thought it was my thyoid back with avengence as my ecg read 140 bpm - just due to anxiety, i was sent to my endocrinologist who said as my thyroid was in normal levels he would ask for a 24hr monitor, i have private medical care so i got it that week (very grateful for that) it was supposed to be my first day as a freshman at university, it didnt go as planned. I was just sat there and suddenly i felt queesy, then very very faint/dizzy/weak i probably panicked also my mum phoned my gp who said to phone an ambulance, which after looking at 24hr tape which i was still wearing, blood, xray, ecg was supraventricular tachycardia (only happened once, i am sure due to extreme anxiety, due to uni, 24 tape and worries of dropping dead). I have had a clear echo since and spent a night in AAU with clear ecg. It took a lot of courage and against uni advisers i decided to start university this year (2006) and i have just moved out to student accomodation from the comfort of my family home...rlr's words have helped me so much, since june 06 i have became agoraphobic due to ectopics and have suffered and still do from panic attacks and huge anxiety yet before i was the life and soul of party i had even been backpacking 3 months previously and snowboarding 6 months before that, i hate the fact i am a shadow of my former self, but i know i will be back there some day...its just sometimes hard when you get these pvcs etc daily, but i would rather live with them than be stuck on a sofa scared to move incase i dropped dead (which is still a fear, which i try and ignore, which i think is half the battle)rlrs words have come to realise that lifes too short to let pvcs/pacs dictate my life and i vow no longer that they will keep me on that sofa, life is for living even if i do need a bit of reassurance sometimes and daily log ins to this site
i have seen my cardiologist who gave me sotalol (i have come these since of my own accord) and he says once i am off anti thyroid meds they should stop completely, i havent told any doctor about anxiety etc, and i know that the ectopics are due to anxiety 99% of the time, as they (usually) completely vanish at night time when i am relaxed. Funny huh? as worried as i still am i have had a clear echo and ecg etc so i just keep telling myself that nothing will happen and i am sure that hopefully is right. I still get ectopics daily but only 1-5 rather than 100's, so things are going well also anxiety wise and all
So thats me and i am looking forward to getting to know all of you
Rlr, as mentioned previously your posts are fantastic. I think that its wonderful for you to devote your time to us all, i am so very grateful as you have helped give me my life back
kindest thoughts to all
freya