Hi everyone. I am Kelli, and I am 33 years old. Married, mother of 4 young boys. I have generalized anxiety disorder as well as depression, GERD, polyps on my gallbladder and a hiatal hernia. Feel too young to have all these issues already lol. I've always had the anxiety and depression since I can remember but it never got bad till I started having kids. I remember my first panic attack was actually right before I got pregnant with my first son back in 2003. Ever since then, I have had heart palpitations in my neck (right side) mostly with the occasional palpitation in my chest, stomach and above my right breast. I've been to the emergency room at least 10 times, where they always diagnosed it as anxiety related. Before the birth of my third son, I was very concerned as they had gotten more frequent. My OBGYN sent me to a cardiologist to make sure I would ok to have surgery (c-section) to have the baby.  I had an ultrasound of my heart as well as had to wear a monitor for 24 hours. I have had a heart murmur since birth. The cardiologist gave me the ok for surgery and didn't notice anything troubling. Easy for him to say! He isn't the one dealing with this.

Some days it is worse than others and I notice when I am anxious it IS worse. I also will feel like I have a lump in the right side of my neck.

I am on anxiety and depression meds as well as meds for the GERD. The last month or so I've noticed other symptoms surfacing with these palpitations. I feel foggy in my head and my legs feel a little weak at times. I am also having mild headaches. I want to go back to my Dr but I am nervous that he will brush it off and blame the anxiety.

So, Ive had palpitations for at least 8 years.. started out rather mild

Palpitations take over my life and cause me great anxiety and depression. :'(

Hi Kelli, I have very similar symptoms to what you are experiencing since I started having palpitations slightly over 2 years ago. Over the period, I had been examined for posisble heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, brain, thyroid, stomach, neuro, eyes, skin problems and etc. all of which turned out negative. In the first months following its onset, I was prescribed Propanolol to slow down my heart beat. This was then replaced with Atenolol which produced less side effects. After 3 months on Atenolol, my condition gradually got worse as I was feeling dizzy all the time and my muscles were getting tight all over including my head and neck. I asked to stop the medicine and had since been going without medication.

I decided to go for acupuncture, starting with twice a week for about half a year, then once a week for almost a year. Each session was about half an hour. At the same time, I was also given some herbal powder to help boost my Qi, which my physician said, was rather weak. Amazingly, after one and a half years, most of the symptoms are gone although ocassionally I still experience slight dizziness. Now, I am able to do 6 laps of brisk walk and 2 laps of jogging everyday without much difficulty, followed by half-hour full body stretching the purpose of which is to aid blood circulation. Incidentally, I am going to be 60 years old in a few days time.

I now go for acupuncture only once a month more for maintenance than therapeutic purpose.

You may also consider acupuncture if you believe it is going to help you.

Just want to share my success story with others in similar condition.

There are many phenomena in this world that defy scientific explanation. As a matter of fact, I had always been skeptical about TCM until palpitation set upon me. Now I am more than convinced that it has the ability to deal with certain medical conditions that western medicine is incapable of. My personal experience is a testimony to this. It is not just an alternative but a working alternative, so far as my medical case is concerned.

The "defiance" of scientific explanation does not gather support on this particular forum.

Again, there is no clinical scientific evidence which supports any therapeutic or curative effects of acupuncture upon vagus nerve-induced palpitations. I am not of a mind to establish discourse on the topic. This is a forum based upon allopathic, or traditional western, medicine.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)