RLR
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Hello and welcome to the forum. You'll find the members here to be very supportive and helpful. They are a fine group.
Let's talk a minute about your symptoms. If you haven't already done so, I'd like you to visit the general forum section and read my postings entitled HEART PALPITATIONS 101, PARTS 1 through 6. This will give you a little better idea of what's actually happening when palpitations of this type occur.
So, let's examine your specific complaint. The sensation that the chest is vibrating can come about for many reasons. Sometimes it's due to what we call paroxysmal atrial tachycardia or PAT. It's harmless, but can cause strange sensations and sometimes dizziness or light-headedness. Many people with thyroid conditions, hormonal changes, anxiety disorder, even those without such disorders can infrequently experience a run of PAT.
Benign palpitations that are associated with vagus nerve stimulation can also produce a similar, but less lengthy, sensation if the atria are primarily affected. The atria are smaller, less forceful and less muscular than the ventricles and serve mostly as resevoirs in serving the ventricles. The heart should always be regarded as a muscle first, and organ second, in order to realize what kind of impact palpitations can cause.
Lastly, another common cause is muscle spasm of the fast twitch variety. Chest muscles tend to be very large and can experience spasm just as easily as a leg cramp, although the sensation is more precarious because it is providing a sort of tympany drum effect by exerting the vibration onto the torso that is cavernous to some extent.
So to differentiate, it's mostly a matter of duration. If these sensations are extremely brief and occur irregularly, then it's likely due to vagus nerve stimulation. If they are more lengthy, say 60 seconds or longer and occur with more of a tempo, then it's more likely to be from PAT and only an ECG can more properly differentiate. Muscle spasms can follow either pattern. The fact that you've had a complete work-up would tend to make them more likely the cause of simple vagus nerve stimulation or secondarily, muscle spasm. If you've had a thyroid profile performed as well, it would be of diagnostic value as well since the thyroid can cause this type of disturbance to occur and particularly if a person is undergoing significant change in hormonal levels.
So it would be beneficial here to know more about the specific nature of the events; how long they last, if they are interrupted by anything such as belching, drinking liquids, changes in body position etc., and what, if any, other symptoms you experience at the time they occur. I'm glad to hear that you don't regard the instances as dangerous, which is a real head start to overcoming their effects.
We'll talk more.
Best regards and Good Health
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