saab
|
Sorry to hear you are feeling so terrible. I know just how you feel. When I was first told I had ectopics I was so scared I could barely function - panic attacks, agoraphobia, couldn't even play with my small children. I was just in a state of high anxiety all the time, couldn't sleep, expecting to drop dead any minute. Just about managed to take the kids to school, then spent the rest of the day on the settee, barely moving, with my mobile 'phone set to my husbands number so I just had to press one button.
It has taken two and a half years, but I am on the way to recovery now - from my anxiety I mean, I still have the ectopics. When I get them, I get a missed beat every 3 or 4 beats. I've tried to do the maths once or twice - 12 missed beats a minute, that's 72 a minute, and so on, torturing myself about how many there are. I am trying really hard to accept that it doesn't matter how many there are - they are not harming me. It was my GP who sent me straight to A and E after taking my pulse - imagine how alarming that was. They kept me in overnight. Told me I was okay and sent me home - ok for a few days, but I was so traumatised by the thought of heart problems that I became a nervous wreck.
I think it is possible to have ectopics a lot and still be okay. I know that I often think I am having a spell of ectopics, but when I take my pulse it is regular. Also, if your cardiologist was really concerned he would have kept you in hospital there and then and done the tests straight away. They don't let you go home if they think you are about to collapse.
As RLR always says, ecg's and other tests are specifically set up to look for all manner of heart irregularities - they do not miss heart disease. Also, as I understand it, serious heart irregularities do not come and go - it would have shown up at A and E if there was something seriously wrong. Do you think the fact that the test at A and E was ok maybe indicates that you had relaxed once you got there and the ectopics had quietened down? This would mean they are stress related. I know that the frequency and severity of mine are made worse by stress or lack of sleep. But then if I feel them I get more stressed, so you can't win really. I'm not sure which comes first anymore, actually, the stress or the ectopics.
My GP told me that even if you have a serious heart arrythmia (which you probably don't), there is a lot of very effective treatment and medication available. She said that the people who are hardest to help are heavy drinkers because that is very bad for the heart.
I'm sorry I can't offer any more practical advice. I know how you feel and it's horrible. I expect you are like me, and are already expecting the worst from your tests. It's difficult but try not to do this - I try really hard now to have a more rational approach to my anxiety about my heart. I hope you feel better soon.
|