Okay, I've read your posting and complaint Firstly, let me just stated that your fears and perceptions are quite common and they very often lead to making lifestyle changes consistent with remaining safe.

Since you don't drink alcohol, the fact that it can indeed cause a premise termed holiday heart and other disturbances of rhythm really has no bearing at all in your instance, so we'll just stop here on the topic.

The fact that you sense momentary alterations in rhythm and that is has been previously evaluated by monitor as benign should serve as a basis for you to rule in favor of logic rather than yield to irrational fears. While I certainly understand this is more easily said than done, it's important for you to understand that the fear can actually induce an innate response pattern by the brain that compels the individual to define the source of the threat to survival so that it can become properly overcome. You might well guess that if you believe your life is in danger from a heart problem and no such problem actually exists, you can exhaust your funds and insurance in seeking a cause that is not real.

You're in no actual danger from the events and they do not hold the capacity to ever induce any type of cardiac event, certainly not death of all things. So it's critical for you to recognize the error in your perspectives and refrain from building a life around a response set rooted in irrational fear with no actual basis in reality. Nothing will ever occur other than the symptom itself, which is really nothing more than a superimposed nerve impulse over the regular sinus rhythm of the heart. The events do not originate from within the heart at all, they do not constitute a warning sign that the heart is experiencing difficulty.

The events are far more akin to a muscle twitch much like you have very likely experienced in an eyelid from time to time. Wayward evoked potentials, or nerve impulses cause the muscles controlling the eyelid to twitch in a variable pattern and once the inflammation or irritation of the nerve has subsided, so does the twitching muscle, a phenomenon termed myokymia.

The very same is true for the heart in the instance of vagus nerve-induced palpitation events. A wayward impulse which travels upward along the right vagus nerve reaches it's terminal endings, one of which is the heart, and causes the heart muscle to respond. Unlike any other muscle in the body, the heart muscle is extremely dynamic in a rhythmic fashion and any change is going to be sensed almost immediately.

In fact, you've actually experienced the very same phenomenon under other circumstances but fail to make the connection. During instances wherein a person is suddenly startled or frightened, the vagus nerve can impart the very same action on the heart. People usually comment afterward "that made my heart leap out of my chest!" or "I could feel my heart up in my throat!" These responses are actually descriptions of the heart and body recovering from sudden changes to vagal tone that cause the heart to respond rather abruptly and forcefully. Palpitations are highly common.

The point to remember here is that during any of those instances, people don't reflect upon the incident and think "My heart was experiencing trouble. I think there's something wrong with it." They actually associated it as an entirely normal and expected response to be associated with being suddenly startled or frightened. It's only when there is an absence of an obvious stimulus such as being suddenly frightened that people feel the sensation and inappropriately associate it with a symptom indicating that something is wrong.

You're going to be just fine and you have a long journey ahead. I wouldn't stop going out to social events and having fun, for it you do I can most assuredly tell you that your long life ahead will be dreary indeed.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)