RLR
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Okay, well what you feel or sense virtually always differs from what actually takes place at the level of the heart. Yes, it may have differed in characteristics from what you normally experience, but that does not suggest in any manner that it now constitutes something pathological.
This is the point that I've shared in numerous postings and it demonstrates that subjective fear and even hysteria can cause an individual to believe more rigidly in their personal interpretations than medical fact, which in this instance is clearly that a benign circumstance cannot turn pathological simply by virtue of its presentation. The sufferer reasons "my heart was completely out of rhythm." This is what was sensed, but not what was actually taking place.
Sensory disturbances such as "legs like jello," "blurry vision" and feeling like "PASSING OUT" are all sympathetic/parasympathetic fear response. The reason that the heart pounds heavily afterward is merely due the common brief down-spike in blood pressure, to which baroreceptors in the carotid arteries respond by sending feedback to the cardiac center in the brain. The fastest method to restore adequate blood pressure and perfusion to avoid syncope (passing out) is to increase cardiac force. Thus, the patient experiences forceful pounding heart beats which constitute an entirely normal physiological response.
There is also the statement "I also know that an abnormal heart rhythm can cause that type of stuff." This is a good example of subjective reasoning that induces pure belief and in the mind of the individual, constitutes both truth and fact. It is the mistaken association between what was experienced and that of actual clinical pathology which causes the "snowball out of control." What a patient experiences during true compromise of heart function has absolutely no similarity to what was experienced here. There is no universality which can be applied in the instance of medicine. If the clinical symptom is syncope, the sufferer says "well I almost PASSED OUT." Feeling light-headed in the instance of benign palpitations is merely due to a vasovagal response subsequent to a fear response that something terrible is about to happen. Syncopal episodes due to cardiac insufficiency cause a lapse in perfusion, or blood to the brain. The result is immediate syncope. No comparison between these two variations can be drawn in any respect.
In order to unravel the circumstances, I reiterate once again that you must return to logic and the medical facts with respect to the issue and not old familiar patterns steeped in irrational beliefs. There is nothing wrong with your heart.
The reason that you felt nauseated and tremulous was due to a fear-induced epinephrine (adrenaline) spike. Patients experiencing such a phenomenon typically also experience a washed out sensation that can last several hours following the incident.
You've convinced yourself that something is wrong with your heart based upon your interpretation and this is where you have to slam on the brakes. You're not a physician and you've not clinically observed a patient in cardiac insufficiency, nor do you have clinical familiarity with the underlying sequelae that actually produces the symptoms associated with such an event. You have read a list of symptoms and made the leap to your own circumstances, believing them to be one in the same. This is the focal point of the difficulty. Once again, there is absolutely nothing of what you experienced that constitutes the clinical equivalent of what cardiac insufficiency produces. Nothing.
In the midst of panic, you must grab hold and force logic into the circumstances. Heart disease or abnormality cannot materialize like a rabbit from the hat. It's not medically possible. The boundary clearly exists, but people with anxiety and panic disorder proceed across it without reservation as though it constitutes a form of reality.
Under such premise, it compels the sufferer time and again to go and have everything checked once again just to be absolutely certain that nothing is wrong. This common trespass of logic causes a nagging rumination and gut instinct that something is wrong and regardless of how they try to abstain, the voice and the urge simply grows until it preoccupies almost every waking thought until it is checked. The patient rarely, if ever, develops insight from negative test results and does not look internally to examine where the actual problem is, but rather becomes enveloped in the reassurance and brief satisfaction that nothing can be found. In other words, it's safe for the time being.
It is living in the constant fear that one's heart is unreliable due to the lack of perfection in its performance. Much like other circumstances in life that the individual with anxiety cannot place trust and reliability, they place their own life function in doubt and fragile to the extent that nothing must be done to upset the delicate balance which must be maintained in order to be safe from harm. The gym, walking, socializing and many other functions must be shelved because of the risk they pose.
Andrea, in every moment throughout the entire cycle of your long life ahead of you, absolutely nothing of these palpitation events, regardless of their odd and varied characterization, will ever place you at risk of a cardiac event or subsequent death. Never.
Best regards,
Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)
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