I have accepted that I had long term stress and when I feel stressed these things are worse but, this part baffles me:
A few years ago, I noticed that every so often I had a flutter or pulsating in my chest...I thought it was maybe just a pulsating artery and it never really bothered me. I'd usually have been sitting watching TV or eating and would stand up and it would happen. It was so rare that it meant nothing to me. In fact I would say every couple of months.
Then when I moved in my home now, we had an extension bought and there was and still is decor going on 4 years later.
Anyway, I am sure this stress made me feel very depressed but not anxious or panic.
The flutters came more and more last year, late summer as well as the new symptom, pauses and the big bang back into rhythm. before that it was just the flutter.
So here is my dilemma.
When it first happened few years ago, I had attempted to give up smoking AGAIN. I had once before achieved it but started up again.
I was using patches...now cant remember if I had a nicotine patch on when I first got these but I know it was around the time of my trying to give up.
This all started getting worse last year when I was smoking and using patches intermittently. I would rip off a patch and within about 10 minutes smoke
. I did not realize that the nicotine is still around in the body for quite a while after removing it.
Then I went up to 25mg patches, which is a new ultra high dose. Plus again, would smoke in the morning and at night. That is when I had a really bad couple of bouts of flutters that lasted a long time and such a long pause I expected to die.
I looked up side effects and one was reversible AF. The fact that smoked in the morning and night, and wore a 25mg patch makes me wonder if it all began because of this.
I have not had a fluttery one since I stopped the patches and stopped smoking on Dec 13th. Well no, I did have a small one about 10 weeks after I stopped but none of those since.
But if it all began there, why do continue to have the other flip flops, thuds and those bigemy ones?
I just wonder if RLR has any idea if its possible to kick the vagus nerve off this way so that it becomes a habit or something and of course the anx it has caused may keep it all going.