Okay, I've read your attached document and welcome back to the forum. You should not feel embarassed by the development of health anxiety. Realize that being conscious about your health is not a bad thing, but when your concerns establish the parameters by which you restrict your lifestyle due to irrational fear, then it must be addressed so that you can retake control of your life. You're not in any type of actual danger at all.

The fact that you've undergone a stress test and holtor monitor means that you have a very healthy heart and cardiovascular system. There is no reason for you to restrict your physical activity and the palpitations are not capable of inducing any type of cardiac event.

Palpitations of this type occur as a consequence of dysregulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. The palpitations can often arise from stimulation at the level of the GI tract and the fact that you suffer from IBS is a clear indicator that it has a good deal to do with the presence of the palpitation events.

In the presence of exercise, vagal tone is increased and the ability for a parasympathetic evoked potential or signal to occur that is capable of stimulating the heart becomes extinquished. In such cases, the affected individual likely experiences palpitations subsequent to exercise and at the onset of exertion to the point that the signal is extinguished by sympathetic activity.

Realize that you have made an irrational presumption that the events can somehow cause your heart to malfunction or cease performance altogether. These palpitations are not originating from within the heart muscle, but rather from the vagus nerve in the form of a parasympathetic response which is occuring at an inappropriate time.

Think of these events like someone dialing the wrong telephone number. When you call a wrong number, the signal nevertheless reaches a terminal and when someone answers, they are simply responding to the phone alerting them that a signal has reached their phone. No damage occurs to either the person answering the phone or the phone equipment itself. It's just a wrong number and misguided signal. The same holds true for the heart. It's simply receiving a misplaced call in the way of an electrical signal. The heart answers but is not damaged by the event because it doesn't constitute any ability to disrupt the heart's normal pacer. It is a superimposed or extra signal, not a replacement for your heart's normal pacer that operates on an entirely different circuit.

Lastly, realize that comments made by some physicians are taken well out of context. Certain arrhythmias can be caused by ischemia or lack of blood to certain areas of the heart. Realize, however, that this sort of pathology is readily seen on diagnostic tests such as those you've undergone. You can't interchange pathological arrhthmias with benign palpitations such as those you are experiencing. They can no more become something dangerous than a lion can turn into a monkey. It's not physically possible under any circumstances.

The problem for persons with health anxiety is that they've come to rely upon their instincts and misguided perceptions that have arisen from irrational fears about their symptoms. They become so fervently entrenched in their beliefs that there are no boundaries to the possibilities that can arise with thier health and feel compelled to refute logic in favor of what they feel to be causative.

The ability of the person with health anxiety to be cornered by their shortcomings can extend to a realm where speculation becomes fact if it's mentioned by their healthcare professional or if it's read somewhere to be contributory. In other words, the differential possibilities all become real threats to the person with anxiety disorder and their potential to have acquired these differential factors increases to near 100% probability merely by their mention.

Your heart is fine and the tests confirm it. Go play tennis and enjoy your life. Palpitations of the type you are experiencing are anxiety-induced and although they feel frightening, do not possess the ability to cause any type of cardiac event or place you in any sort of danger whatsoever. In more than 40 years of practice, I've never even once heard of a single person ever suffering a cardiac event as a consequence of benign palpitations. Not even once. Surely you wouldn't suggest that your case would stand above those odds.

You'll be just fine. Stop worrying about your heart and concentrate on your tennis game. You have a long way to go yet, so get busy and put your health fears on the shelf.

Best regards and Good Health