Hi all, great forum you have here!

To give you some history I have been suffering from health anxiety for about six years now, as well as my mother has her entire life (some genes I wish I didn't get!)  Six years ago I had multiple panic attacks and spent 18 months of my life thinking everything was wrong with me.  During this I had palps, but didn't pay a massive amount of attention to them because I thought I had countless other problems.  Well I was able to beat my issues, that is until this past July.

Late July I had 2-3 seconds of a strange fluttering in my chest that scared the life out of me and sent me into a panic attack.  I was finally able to calm down even after having a few more episodes during the next few hours.  I thought I had a heart attack.  I went to the walk in clinic and my BP was fine with a high pulse (no kidding right).  I had massive GERD the months leading up to this, so the GP said it was likely that and put me on prilosec.  Over the next week I forgot about the palps for the most part, but had a few more flutters.  They went away for six weeks but started up again in mid september.

At this point I became obsessed with them!  Constantly checking my pulse and noticing skipped beats, sometimes 2 or 3 in a row.  I notice them more after eating and sometime changing position.  I get them sometimes when laying down going to sleep, but not every night.  I feel the best in the morning, hardly getting any.  They are worse after lunch just sitting at my desk job (constantly focusing on them of course).  They scare me so much that I get red faced sometimes with headaches.  They almost feel like I am in an elevator dropping, like a fight or flight response.  I sometimes feel like they originate in my stomach.  Also of note I have a sore spot in my upper stomach, right in the center just below my rib cage, which I convince myself I feel pain there sometimes when I get palps.

I finally had enough and went back to the GP and got and EKG, which was "perfect" of course!  The doc gave me Xanax which I am taking and a beta blocker, which I am afraid to take.  Also nexium for GERD.

I am just worried because these palps feel different than years ago, but maybe because I am concentrating more on them!  I am healthy 32 yo male with a very mild pulmonary stenosis diagnosed in my teens, I was told this would never get worse because it was so minor.

I never notice the palps when distracted with friends and family or when working in the yard like chopping wood.  But sit me at a desk at work and they are there, daily!  Sometimes 5 or more an hour!  I just want to end it and tell myself they are anxiety, but of course dr google says I need so many more tests even though the gp said fix your anxiety and the palps will go away!  I try for a day or two to tell myself that, but they remain.  Does this sound like just anxiety?

Thank you so much for your reply!  I will check out the post you mention, so many people on here seem so versed in this topic, so I am glad I found you guys!

As you said something else may have caused my initial flutters and that's what scares me!  I am on nexium now for gerd hoping that repairs any issues down there that may have caused the flutters, but going for a upper endoscopy would send me over the edge I think!  

I guess it still could be anxiety that caused the initial flutter I suppose, as "fluttering" is an anxiety symptom according to dr google.

Also, wouldn't you say if there was a heart problem than the symptoms wouldn't have went away for 1.5 months when I "forgot" about them?  Agg!

Even after having a fun event in my life with my mind distracted (though is it ever really anymore?) I still felt at least few palps an hour.  I assume quantity doesn't mean much as folks on here seem to have some every few beats!

Thank you so much for replying.  Its just so frustrating because some days they are so consistent and relentless, even on an empty stomach.  These are the days that my mind takes over and makes me think it is not stomach/vagus related.  Your post makes me feel so much better, thanks for the taking the time to help me (and many others).

Continuing to post here to maybe help others or at least get them thinking vagus nerve.  I have noticed the following make palps much worse than the one or two an hour I may normally get (probably because I am focused on them).  When my stomach is gassy and very hungry, or 30 minutes or so after I eat.  Also when sit/lean forward or squat down, standing up always seems to help!!  I know I have gerd present even though I am on nexium because I have burning in my throat.  I also had something scary at home yesterday which made me very nervous and bam, there they were!  

The more I read, I feel like I should request a holter, but I need to trust my doc and take his diagnoses of gerd/anxiety after he read my EKG.  And of course RLR's opinion!