ectopics

Hi, Iam a 30 year old male and have been having ectopic beats for a what ive noticed about 18mths now and when they first started it scared the living daylights out of me i firmly belived that it was my time up.So i went to A&E and they didnt pick them up on an ECG and they done blood tests and everything was normal.I work offshore and i had a bout of them one night so i went and got the medic out of his bed and he done another ECG and again it was fine and he told me go back to bed of course didnt get any sleep for the rest of the night. When i got back i went to my GP and she put onto a specialist and what a waste of time he was he made feel as if i was making it up and i was wasting his time which made me feel great I managed to get an stress test running on a tread mill flat out for 12mins up hill which before they picked up the ectopic beats whilst resting but as soon as the test began they said there was no room for them and they went away during the test and they came back when i started to rest.they said they not to worry about them but its easy for them to say they dont have to put up with them. I was still not convinced by what they were all saying so i have bought my own heart monitor from medick.co.uk or .com carnt remember i bought the device and six reports which i can do any time i want and if iam having a bad bout of ectopic heart beats i put this on and it records them and then i send it of to them via uploading it to there site and with in 48hrs i have the results if its good its green and if its noy so good it can be orange or red up to now i have done four tests and they have all been green. I have also just found out i have a heiatus hernia which can cause simlar symptoms. I have been watching my diet to see what triggers them off and i have found pastry and chocolate and booze and iam a real sucker for chocolate. I know watch what iam putting in my body and they aint half as bad as what they use to be

Matt in Warrington

Hey angiebaby

Since i have bought my self this heart monitor from medick it records all different kinds of heart problems and during one of my tests it recorded over 60 ectopic beats in 6 to 8 hours i got worried about them and when i sent the test to be looked at it came back all ok no problems what so ever. I also done a test over a 4 hour period whilst in the gym and t only recorded 4 ectopic beats which must have been before or after the gym as you can look back over the test and find out when and where the ectopic beats happened.It also has a log button so if you press it when you feel the ectopics going mad in your chest the cardioligists will look at that part of the test in more detail.

All what i can suggest is try breaking down what you eat drink or do and when, say you eat something keep an eye on your heart rate about 15 mins to 30 mins later, does it increase or do you have more ectopic beats. this procedure works but it takes ages to really start pinpointing what food or drink is doing what to your heart.It took me about 8 months to find that it was chocolate that was causing these mind bending ectopic heart beats. also if i go out with the lads on a good drinking session, see the next day its not the hangover its my ectopic beats that are really thumping i feel as if iam dying but i have just got to get up and go and do something to take my mind of them. I have talked to my wife about what iam feeling i know she says she understand but until she has suffered them she carnt properly understand how scary these are and how anxious they make you feel its as if its only happening to me no one else gets them but they are really common .When i bought the machine and i done that first test and it came back all ok it was such a relief and in my eyes it paid for itself there and then in one test and if iam having any bad days i just wire myself up for eight hours and go about my daily tasks and then upload them and wait for the results to come back usally between 24 to 48 hours its like having my own cardioligists at my beck and call but still somtimes even with this monitor i can still feel anxious if they are really bad. hope this helps

matt

Thankyou so much for the replies, funny you should mention an hiatus hernia though!! lol. I went to my doc's and told them about the ectopics that i had on that day and that i had never had so many before and it really scared me, he offered me a beta-blocker and i said 'no thankyou', but i mentioned about my stomach etc. I had missed breakfast and dinner that day, as i had already had the all clear from a cardiologist, so to speak, i thought i'd get started on my diet and for breakfast i had a slimfast shake and i also had one for dinner, with a banana. I know that i had the bad ectopics from the moment of waking but i'm sure that the slimfast made them stay all day!! They say that there are not any stimulants in them, but lots and lots of fibre, ?? this reacted with my stomach. Anyway, my GP had prescribed me Omeprazole/Losec, but they have sat for nearly a week on the table and i just keep looking at them, i am too scared to take them! Every single time i have had any sort of tablet for the past two years, i have been very ill, too sensitive to any medications now, so now i'm terrified of taking them and seeing if they will help or not. My GP says they will not help with my ectopics anyway. I am used to having a few each day from 5 up to 25 but i had thousands that day, i could not even count them.

I have tried to find the web site you mentioned about the heart monitors but i cannot find one at all, just says no such website. Could you let me know the web address of it again and tell me how much the heart monitor cost you, thanks again.x

Hey Angiebaby

STAY AWAY FROM THEM BETA BLOCKERS it was on the news about 18mths ago that they can cause heart problems something to do with propanol i think they were called.The doctor offered them to me and i asked her about what i heard on the news and she just looked at me. Hence i didnt take them, doctors are taught how to treat a certain condition with a certain drug anything out of that, they are totally knackered thats why they put you on to specialists.

That website is www.medick.com it was a god send. For the monitor and 6 reports with all the sicky pads and wires. Its is really discrete aswell its like having a mobile phone in your pocket and the three wires go up through your clothes, costs around £350 but it was worth every penny to me. let me know if you have any problems

Matt :wink:

Thanks for the reply Matt. After looking at the Omeprazole/Losec the GP has prescribed me for a ?stomach problem for a week, i have finally plucked up the courage to take them, they aren't working yet though. Can you explain why having digestion/stomach problems causes more ectopics? I can understand it when i bend down or change my position as my stomach and diaphram is moving but not when i'm just sitting still and not doing anything. I had 5 ectopics yesterday and 7 today, big ones though, i feel every single one and have these nasty little things every day. They drive me bonkers and i just wish that they would go away completely, as i'm sure we all do! LOL. Anyway, have you got any ideas why gas/wind makes them worse?

I have found that web site, thankyou, and would love to get one to put my mind at rest. I have had a 48 hour tape but nothing was caught on it, exept for sinus arrhythmia and sinus tacchycardia, both of which they have said is normal. I think that after all this time i have been suffering with these things, i would feel a hell of a lot better if i could just catch, just one, on paper, so then i can be looked at properly and then diagnosed from actually seeing them. But i have tried and tried to catch them and have never managed it. So i would love that machine to be able to do this once and for all, but i just cannot afford it. I am also sure that my hubby would go mad if i were to suggest that i had one of them, he says he knows that i am fine and nothing is going to happen to me and i should try harder to ignore them!! He also gets them everyday and he can feel them, but they do not bother him at all, if he gets them, he gets them, he just carries on. They, unfortunatly, bother me a lot and it doesn't help that i feel everyone! Thanks again for your help. Angiebaby.x

Hi Angiebaby

Of what i have been told after constantly nagging the doctor and hours on the internet looking at heitus hernias is that the hernia gives out simlar symptoms to what the ectopics give out. Dont get it wrong having a heitus hernia does not cause ectopic heart beats. apperntly the hearts beat is controlled by the brain and having digestive problems is a completly different problem. When you have the ectopics do you feel abit jittery amd abit anxious

I ve also be told that everyone has ectopics from time to time but as like your husband it doesnt bother him unlike you and me we have become supersensitive to them so we notice every single beat and more so when your chest goes bump you think christ is this it am i going to meet my maker today but its just that we notice them more which drives me mad every day when i might just be sat there watching TV and bang my heart goes nuts but when iam out doing something i dont notice them because my mind is on something else. Unlike today ive been having a bad day couldnt count how many ectopics ive had to day or is my hernia going into spasam because ive eaten something thats kicked it off. Thats why they are so simlar and the symptoms of what the hernia giving out and what the ectopics feel like, i carnt decide which one is which until i put the machine on and tape them. I think your husband should be a bit more understanding and let you buy one if it will put your mind at rest whats £350 on your health if i was you i would just get it and put your mind at rest. I went for a full medical exam yesterday for my job and ive told the doctor about the ectopics yet he didnt pick them and my blood pressure was 120 over 80 which he said is very good i havent a clue about what is good and what is bad blood pressure dont know how that works. I can totally sympathase with you about how they drive you mad and how much they can stop you doing things etc... i must admit its nice to know that iam not alone having them and how they make you feel

Matt

Hi Matt, thanks, i don't think that makes me feel any better though about the symptoms being the same. I know the feeling in my chest can be the feeling of ectopics and/or stomach/digestive problems, thats fine, and i've just been lying in the bath feeling as though my heart was completely out of rhythm again but when feeling my pulse it wasn't as bad as it felt in my chest, probably just my sinus arrhthmia again! But when i have ectopics i definatly have them because i can feel it in my chest, throat and pulse. There is no mistake on that side of it as it affects my wrist pulse and i feel it there as well as in my chest. I think that i was just hoping that i would be diagnosed with stomach problems and that would be the cause of the ectopics, so, sort out the stomach problems and the ectopics with lessen. Too much hoping right?? This is the third day that i've taken the Omeprazole/Losec and i have only had two ectopics today!! Thats really good for me, although i had an hour of what felt like fluttering, sinus arrhthmia, PAC's or whatever it was while i was in the bath. Kept taking my breath away in my throat, etc, etc. NOT NICE IS IT!! I just want them to go away so i can become the person that i used to be. But then again i suppose we all want that don't we? Thanks again.x

Hey Angie

When i first noticed these ectopics they used to make me feel as if they were taking my breath away and i used to jump up suddenly or do something, its as if the heart has stopped and they used to scare the hell out of me.

When your in bed as well you tend to notice them more and ive had them when iam just nodding off to sleep then my heart misses a beat and its woke me up and i have had one panic attack once in the early days of having these dam ectopics. What makes it more frustrating is that when you try talking to someone about them nobody really understands how you feel and how low they make you feel about yourself.

I only found out that i had a heitus hernia because i had convinced my self that there was something nasty going on in my chest and i wouldnt leave the doctors room until i got the camera down the throat and thats how ifound out about that, it sort of made me feel better for abit but like you i think i had got my self in such a state that i was convinced that i was going to die soon. I totally understand how you are feeling and frustrated you are.

Because i have been through all what your going through all i can say is keep your chin up there is one thing is that do you know anyone with the heart monitor because anyone can use it you would just have to pay for the report which is £25 i would lend me mine if you lived near me (Warrington Cheshire) and i would upload the report for you because all i would have to do is change the name on report and then email you the report.I wish i could i help you more.

Iam an ear if you need it

Matt

Hi Matt, thankyou very much. I'm just glad you know what's it's like. Well i started the Omeprazole/Losec on Wednesday and Saturday i didn't have any ectopics and only had one on Sunday and one today. Good eh? But i've still got the 'flutters' sometimes. Worse when i'm lying in the bath, probably because my stomach lies heavy and more upwards. LOL. Today, i was feeling a little hungry, just before i left work i felt the flutters again and took my bp. Bp and pulse were perfect but it picked up the fluttery feeling on the machine. It wasn't ectopics and there were not any long pauses or anything but i felt the flutter in my chest and the beat on the machine beat a bit earlier than all the rest. I have been diagnosed with sinus arrhythmia which is normal, they say, when you are breathing in and out and stuff, i have that yes, but this was there as well. That flutter made a bit of an earlier beat than the rest. Do you get this too?

Hi Angie i must admit a dont get that sort of feeling but what i do get is, after eating something hot and spicy or booze or chocolate i get all sorts of discomfort in my chest and in the middle of my back now iam presuming that this discomfort is my hernia kicking off on me. But saying that i dont get any ectopic beats when this is going on. I know i have ectopic beats all day every day but most of them go un noticed its only when i sit down and relax and for some reason i start to focus on my heart beat (dont why i do this lol) or when iam going bed at night i start to focus on it. Might be because i havent noticed them all day and iam missing them lol. See when you get up in the morning after a night on the booze do you get them more and can you really feel them pounding in your chest because i do and then i start to worry and i start to feel abit anxious do you get any of them feelings anxious and real bad poundings. its nice to have someone to talk to about it and know how they make you feel

Matt.

Hi Matt, you know what would be easier than this? Do you have a msn contact as all. Be easier to talk than this i think. Mine is ****.

Send me a message then i can add you to my contacts.

Anyway, i am too scared to drink, i get more ectopics and my heart rate goes up, this really, really scares me.

My ectopics have calmed down loads since i've been on the omeprazole, but still have this 'fluttery' feeling now and then. ? why. Probably just PAC's or something. I'm suffering now with the unreality and feeling like you are a totally different person than you used to be at the moment, don't feel like i know who i am anymore. Sounds daft i know.x

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hi i have eptopics my messenger contact is ****

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Hi all

I'm a 29 year old male and began having ectopic heartbeats about 5 days ago, because they started so abruptly and got around 7000!! My wife convinced me to go A and E out of hours on Sunday.

They put me through rather rapidly to have an ECG, at the time weirdly they said my results were fine, I took my ecg scan to my doctor the next day and he stated that the ecg showed ectopic heartbeats, I have been having them the past 5 days now and I have been assured by my doctor not to worry however I am still having around 7000 a day.

I have no pain, breathlisness, light headidness at all and no symptoms to speak of, I am awaiting a blood test this Tuesday and a follow up appointment when the results come back.

Yesterday in work as you can imagine they really got to me so I phoned my doctor again stating the frequency of these beats!

He prescribed me propranolol over the phone and I collected it last night, I had a good nights sleep last night and they seem to dissapear through the night and when I wake up for 20 minutes or so (I get the occasional flutter but that's like a holiday in comparison!)

I still feel worried about waiting all that time for results etc however my wife works alongside a highly experienced cardiologist and he looked at the ECG and stated the same as my doctor, everything my doctor has said I have run past him and he has approved everything so far.

He did state he would have organised a 24 hour ecg if it was him as my sister has LONG QT syndrome he would like to have seen them over 24-48 hours etc.

Anyway, I am in the midst of all this so will keep you updated.

Just nice to chat to people who have had the same issues.

Relax or try to as I have days, that went into months and years of worrying about them but finding this post and seeing how many experience them just like you and me and do not kill us........Lifestyle changes will help. Try it ignore them also. Keep posting, we are here for each other.