Well, I'll leave you to continually ponder your own situation and say nothing more. I'm here to discuss the question previously asked, not enter debate regarding your personal situation, your opinion regarding me or any other individual and will not continue to entertain strawman arguments such as the ones you present.

Please do not respond to this post.

My opinion...

The media pumps us full of fear re: health everywhere we go. Posters, commercials, tv programmes etc. all about our health, and telling us about tragic situations where people die. We are bombarded.

However, I have never seen a commercial about driving safely, or any program about car crashes. You never read about them in the paper.

If most car crashes were reported in the media noone would ever drive again. There are so many per day, but that is why they are not reported, because its so common. Health problems are a bit less likely so when they happen they get front page news. Ie. People barely ever die from the problem we worry about, so when they DO happen, it makes the news.

Just wanted to move this back to the top....I think this conversation is extremely valuable and sometimes it gets too far back in the pack.....

Palps are very hard for people to understand because they deal with the heart!  One of the things I always concentrate on is the fact that we have activated our Sympathetic Nervous system because no matter what people tell us we have an incredible fear that one of these times our heart is going to fail and we will die.....so we live in this constant state of fear!

ITS THE CONSTANT STATE OF FEAR which I believe is the issue for most if not all of us.  RLR ask a question at the beginning of this about driving a car......none of us has a constant fear of driving a car even though it is VERY DEADLY according to the statistics.  But most of us feel we can control driving a car which RLR also proves to us isnt the case.

I guess my point is we need to somehow convince our brain and every ounce of our being that the palps are not harmful....which RLR has told us.....and then truly believe and get on with our lives.

So many of us have been on this site for years suffering.....we have never fainted, never died, never had really anything happen to us other than the horrible symptoms of anxiety that are self induced caused by our heart flopping around which is mainly caused by our anxiety!

I have been so much better over the last 6 months because I just do what I want to do...I still get some anxiety from my palps from time to time but I am working hard on taking the power they hold on me away.

We can beat these things and go enjoy our lives!!!  

Well since I posted my last post a day or so ago this one Thread has received 200+ views  : )

I always wonder why so many views and so little involvement just like RLR says.  But I think I know why....everyone is looking for that key phrase or piece of information that will heal them overnight.  I know I was searching for many years for just that sort of thing but never found it.

What I found here is piece of mind and truly started believing what RLR, a doctor for more years than I have been alive, and numerous other doctors have been telling me.

I think the most important thing we all need to realize is that there is nothing wrong with us.  We have activated our sympathetic nervous system and instead of it giving us some other stress related symptom it gives us palps.....now that we have palps we stay in this horrible cycle either forever or until we have the courage and tenacity to go out and get our lives back.

Trust in your body to heal itself if you are willing to relax and go back to living your life!!! Do not add fuel to the fire that is burning inside you! Stand up and tell yourself that you will no longer be afraid of a skipping heart and in time your nervous system will calm and these will slow down in frequency and may even go away!  I have had a tremendous reduction just n the last 6 months by taking this route  : )

Hope this helps!!

I will ask this here.

Anyone knows if RLR is ok
Been weeks when he was online

I'm starting to see a link between my palpitation and stress. Even more after I had a week without palpitation when I was occupied with something I find very intresting. After I was less occupied they started to come back again.

Recently I've asked my therapist why these palpitations happen out of the blue. Atleast for me they do / did.

He explained to me that these palpitation can happen when you feel one of the 5 basic emotions (sad, angry, scared, happy, embarrassed).

I asked him because the week before I once again was experiencing these palpitation while talking to my girlfriend. She asked be why websites were able to exist on the internet and how the internet works. I'm an IT consultant so was able to explain to her exactly how this works. During my explanation I felt a couple of palpitations and couldnt make the link between my explanation and stress. Just after my conversation with my therapist and his explanation of the basic emotions I saw the link. Namely; During my conversation with my girlfriend I asked myself several times if I was explaining myself clearly to her.

However, there are still some other occasions were i'm not able to reasure myself. For example when bowing, drinking water or taking a deep breath. I cant explain to myself why they happen and apparently I find it difficult to just accept it.

I'm new here and posted a response to this thread saying that I daily drove a car. I was trying to get my posting numbers up so as not to be thought a scammer and I actually thought the thread was as simple as it first appeared.

I've now read the thread through.  It seems plain to me why so many view it and so few post in it.

It is a very intense thread.  The people who post in it are very articulate.  Very articulate people intimidate those who are less so.  Most people aren't that interested in other people's problems except insomuch as they can throw light on their own problems.  Lots of people here only want the doc's insights.  

The doc has told you that palpitations are an expression of anxiety. He and others have given advice on how to help this particular physical expression of anxiety (palpitations) by breathing, splashing cold water on eyes, elevating legs, holding the nose and trying to breathe out etc.  He has explained about the vagus nerve.

You may as well have social phobia, ibs, ocd - maybe you do - but the problem is anxiety, not one of its physical manifestations.  However it is good to learn tips to deal with your particular manifestation.

Take the tips away and then turn to your anxiety.  If you are waiting for anxiety treatment use some anxiety tips in the meantime like deep breathing, exercise, trying to stop the dreaded rumination.

Well I'm 66 and have had palps and anxiety and bouts of depression all my life, so I'm no better than anyone else, but I can testify to the fact that you're not going to die of palpitations or take any physical harm from them.

Pamela