Hi everyone,

Had a bad day Friday and again today, it seems that my initial fear of ectopics whilst exercising is getting the better of me.  And when I say exercising i dont mean 1/2 hour on a treadmill, I just mean a brisk walk    Nothing too major.

Right, Friday went for a walk wityh a friend round our local wood, within a minute of starting, i get my first ectopic, my stomach is distended to near breaking point, and because of this i cant get a full lungfull of air as my stomach is too 'full'.  This goes on the whole way round.  I carry on but am upset and frightened by the time I get home, and can do nothing but go to bed.

Now, today, my wife says lets go for a walk after breakfast to the shop for a paper, its about a 20 minute round trip and i think 'why not'.  I put my 2 year old son in a push along bike and off we go.  Within a minute, my first skipped beat, my stomaches bloated and I start to panic.  I have between 150-200 ectopics on this short round trip!!!!

Whats going on?  Now im sat here thinking somethings wrong!!  I can sit happily for hours 'no problem', i go for a quick walk, and my hearts doing all sorts of weird stuff not long after I set off.  My brain just screams at me 'THATS NOT RIGHT' and then i panic.

Should I see my doctor again?, Ive been so many times, I now think its not worth going as Im not sure he would take it as a serious concern for me.

Feel lost today, why do I get so many skipped beats when trying to be active, surely thats not right!  Im trying to get fitter, as Im told that will help me, but when I try I cant as it makes me feel 100 times worse.

:'(

Stu

Hi Stu

RLR may be along at some point to give some real advice, but on reading your post, my first thoughts were "Were you having a panic attack?". It seems strange that such mild exertion should cause the ectopics to be worse.

When I was really bad with anxiety about my heart, I could barely move off the settee - just sat there in a state of panic. If I went to the supermarket it brought on a full blown panic attack - tight chest, felt dreadful, really anxious and panicky. Not sure if the ectopics got worse at these times because I don't usually feel mine in my chest (only in my pulse). However, because I felt so dreadful, for a few weeks I began to avoid going out. I only left the house to ferry the kids to school and back. I was on my way to becoming agoraphobic. I had a kind of safe zone and safe person (husband) and I could just about cope with things if he was there, but a busy shop, queueing, driving more than a mile or so in the car, even being away from home for any length of time, all sent me into a panic. Sorry to talk about me so much - but do you think this could be what happened? It sounds so similar to what used to happen to me.

I also tried exercising, did too much, and it took ages for my pulse to slow down. If you are very unfit (like me) you have to work up to it very slowly.

But - two years ago I was feeling just like you, now I am almost back to my old self. I have just been on holiday for a week with my family - 2 years ago I would have spent this in a state of anxiety, worrying about my heart, checking where the doc's and hospitals were. My anxiety has gradually lessened and I seem to be free of ectopics at the moment. The reduced anxiety came first, so I would advise you to work on the anxiety and see if the ectopics take care of themselves. I hope you feel better soon - it's terrible when you feel like this. It's a long road back, but you'll get there. Best wishes.

ps There you go, right on cue...just as I was typing my lengthy missive, RLR beats me to it with some sensible advice!

Hi Stu
I get them while exercising and afterwards too. Which makes me scared to do more exercise than I am. At the moment I am only doing walking but even that I am beginning to hate because the results are scarey.

I don't have the problem with the distended stomach though - is it really distended or have you tensed up the whole area with anxiety. I do find that quite often happens to me - it's a common area of tension. I have often wondered that if that area is tense can it have a knock-on effect on your heart ryhthm?

Stu,

I would suggest a visit with your primary care doctor to discuss potential causes for the distension. This could possibly be a hiatal hernia or other condition that is very treatable. You might also just be causing hyperacidity when under exertion. It's worth discussing options with your doctor, but again this is not your heart. It doesn't sound to be anything serious, so take it from an old physician and calm down. You're letting your imagination run wild with speculation and typically these sort of episodes do not resolve until you gain mere reassurance.

As for permitting this situation to place strain on your marriage, tsk tsk. Whenever you're having difficulty, establish clear lines of communication with your spouse that can be of mutual benefit. Remember that as a spouse, your wife is forever concerned for your welfare and when under stress and worry, people with anxiety find that no suggestion is helpful unless it is the reassurance that they seek to reduce fears and over-concerns. This often leads to frustration that can mount to arguments and even marital discord if chronic enough. Spouses of folks with anxiety disorder often feel as though they "can never get it right." No matter what they suggest, it's not the proper course because they "just don't understand" the complexity involved. This lays the groundwork for rejection and nothing will put a wedge between spouses quicker than rejection. Folks with anxiety disorder also tend to develop a good deal of latent hostility because nothing seems to be working for them with regard to their condition and they can often unwittingly become spiteful as a means to discharge mounting stress. Be careful where you project this frustration. It can cause long term harm if not careful. Bring your wife closer, not farther from the circumstances, but simply expect only what she is capable of offering to help you and not what you need to resolve the problem. Spouses sometimes don't have all the answers, but you can always count on them to be there. That's where her involvement should be maintained.

As for the introduction of a psychiatrist into the mix for attempting to resolve the discord, I suggest that you first take steps to analyze what is taking place that could cause the margin to be widening in this regard. Sit down with your wife and pull out the wedding album and take a long hard look at it. You and your wife are still the same two people who are filled with the giddiness of love and admiration for one another. It's simply being torn at because you are unable to find relief from your somatic symptoms and your general outlook on everything has been attenuated as a consequence. Much like anyone under the stress of feeling trapped, it's far too easy to impinge upon the very things you normally hold close to you because they happen to be proximal to the matter at hand. Whether wife or child, people can quickly become alienated because they truly don't know how to help, but will nevertheless continue to try because of their love for you and concern for your welfare. Those are two qualities among so many others that you can't afford to be without. Plan a special dinner and quality time with them and get your family issues on even keel. It's quite easy to do and will help ease the strain of your problems elsewhere. All that advice comes from more than 50 years of a rock-solid marriage and careful attention to its needs.  

So first of all, you're not going to have any type of catastrophic event of any type. Your heart is fine and the problem is being caused by a disturbance in the GI tract that is subequently irritating the Vagus nerve. That's all it is, Stu. Just because your anxiety and speculation is over the top, doesn't make the situation valid. Remember that. It needs to be addressed, but done so in a logical manner and with the proper temperment. You have a long life ahead, Stu. How you approach it can make it seem either all uphill or all downhill. You'll get past this, but you need to get out of the role of feeling defeated, hike up your drawers and make constitutional efforts to set things on a smoother course to resolution. You're going to be fine. Get back up on your horse and ride.

Best regards and Good Health

I found RLR's post very moving too. When you feel as we often do, all logic goes out of the window and we sometimes expect too much of our friends and family. My husband is fantastically supportive, but he doesn't understand because he has never felt like this. They see things as they are, not with the skewed viewpoint that our anxiety gives us.

Hang in there Stu - I was just the same as you, absolutely paralysed with anxiety, terrified I was about to drop dead. I must have had thousands a day of the ectopics at times.  Nearly three years on now - nothing has happened, no fainting, no passing out or collapsing, no heart attack -  it will get better.

Hi Stu
I know where your coming from i always said i have a heart condition !  All sensible reasoning goes out the window and no matter how many tests and how many times your told your fine you always feel they must be wrong.  I used to tell my partner every day that i was going to die from these horrible ectopics and i deffinatley had a heart problem and he always sat and talked me through it and calmed me down  it is a strain on them but remember they are just as frustrated as you are.
I like you used to have loads when just walking and then i would wworry and not do any exercise which makes it worse and dont forget i had the added worry of being very overweight too!
All i can say stu is yes i still have them most days  doesnt really matter what im doing but i have just thought this is me i have been having them for so long now and im still here if it was a heart problem i would be really ill or dead by now.......try to think of them as part of you  i really know its not easy i still hate them    but they wont stop us doing any thing we want....  its our minds that do that
take care  you will get there   carol x

Stu,

My insight into your situation should merely reflect the fact that I have professionally evaluated hundreds of patients with nearly identical problems to your own. Physicians have the most fortunate opportunity to be witness to some of the most private of issues with their patients and it has been invaluable to me in taking all the time necessary to hear them out completely rather than make them feel that my next dollar is anxiously awaiting me in the next exam room. To merely tell patients not to worry when the origin of that worry centers upon not knowing, borderlines on cruelty in my opinion.

I speak from long experience with regard to your condition, Stu. I can very safely tell you that your heart is fine in all respects. I realize how difficult it is for you to accept this in the midst of physical symptoms directly associated with your heart, but it's true nevertheless. There are both physical and psychological aspects which are quite complex in regard to your condition and I have all the time you need in explaining them step by step if you so desire. The main hurdle you must cross is to accept the fact that your heart is merely responding physiologically to signals being inappropriately sent to the heart from the Vagus Nerve. Again, remember that the Vagus nerve innervates the GI tract as the Gastric nerve. Whenever the GI tract suffers difficulty, it is easily capable of stimulating the gastric nerve and causing a parasympathetic response to be sent upward along the Vagus nerve, or 10th cranial nerve as it's formally known, to your heart. You must realize that the signal also invades other areas innervated such as the lungs, larnyx, etc., but because these areas do not possess the same mechanical force as the heart, you most readily feel the nerve impulse as it superimposes upon your heart's normal sinus rhythm. The signal to other areas is dampened by their lack of the same mechanical properties associated with the heart muscle.

So you can more think of palpitations as a muscle twitch, because that's exactly the same principle involved. Everyone has experienced muscle twitches and they are essentially a misfiring of nerve impulses that cause the skeletal muscle tissues to respond as they normally would under more appropriate commands. The only difference is that the nerve signal is imposed upon the heart muscle, which is busily working and doing its job. The palpitation sets in motion a series of other events which do things like stabilize the slight changes in blood pressure caused by the impulse, which you may feel as pounding heart as a consequence of increased cardiac force, together with a sensation of pressure around the head and neck, possibly sweating and even dizziness, all of which are normal physiological responses associated with the events.

Here's the critical point; Not one of these events will ever, ever cause actual damage to the heart tissues or ever cause you to suffer any type of cardiac event whatsoever. I can tell you this with the greatest of confidence because your heart is as healthy as can be and the tests confirm it, together with the fact that I've observed and treated this condition in hundreds of patients. Your difficulty lies with your inability to get past the conditioned response that all people try to form with regard to physical symptoms as being a direct 1:1 relationship. Such is not the case here at all.

I am so confident that the members to this forum suffer entirely benign circumstances and symptoms that I would gladly stake what's left of my life upon it. I've been at this far too long and hold an extremely high success rate to think otherwise.  

You're going to be just fine, Stu. I'll always be here to address your concerns and never hesitate to call upon me. We'll work through this and I assure you that at the proper point, you'll see what all this is about and your concerns will fade.

Best regards and Good Health

When I was really bad with my anxiety after ectopics were first daiognosed, my GP suggested half inderal which is a beta blocker. Like you I was hesistant to use them, but she said that doctors in A&E  use them themselves if they are having a stressful, busy night. I didn't in the end as she said to wait until after my ecg - the appointment took so long to come through (admin mix up) that by then I was feeling a bit better. She said they just take the edge off the anxiety without making you feel weird.

My MiL used them after a nasty fall when her heatbeat was irregular and she is over 70 with a pile of other health problems. They seem to be amongst the most tested and well-tolerated of drugs. The other thing I wanted to say was not to exercise too near bed-time - this can make it difficult to sleep, and take it very easy at first - it's easy to do too much. Best wishes.