Extreme Palpitation Attack

No, its an ectopic beat.

It wont harm you.

Some people have to put up with one in two beats being an ectopic! and that happens to them 24/7, 365.

You're 22, the docs have given you the all clear. They wouldn't have missed anything, its very easy for cardiologists to spot a problem. They don't really hide from view.

Rest assured friend, an ectopic is simply an overactive "backup" cell getting a little excited.

Your heart is full of cells which can fire-off a heart contraction, should the normal pacemakers fail.

These usually operate at about 30 beats per minute. Faster rhythms override slower ones, so these backup cells don't usually intrude on a normal rhythm.

Athletes get many ectopic, because often their resting rate will drop below the "ectopic rate".

In your case, one of these cells has decided to operate at an overactive rate, and it intrudes on your normal heartbeat.

Nothing to worry about and probably transient.

Ask your doctor about medicines to suppress the ectopics. Bisoprolol, Verapamil and Flecanide are usually effective options (not normally combined).

Good luck!

Albert, you're up to about a three on a scale of ten, apparently there's a lot of this around, I've had it much worse than you describe and the doctors I've gone to just shrug, too. And I guess they're mostly right because I'm still here.

You want to try a nutritional fix? This seems to have worked for me. Look up high nitric oxide (NO) foods. Arugula (a little salad green) is very high, butter lettuce, beets. Watermelon is high in arginine and citrulline, which promote NO. Try a couple of servings of these a day, for a week, and see if things get better.

Also, for a natural beta blocker, a blood pressure drug which sometimes also helps with arrhythmias, try dark chocolate, at least 72%, eat about an ounce or so (30+ grams), see if you feel better within an hour or so.

I know what you are going through. I have had the irregular beats for several years. I've had the EKG's, stress test, Echo cardiogram etc. and all show nothing wrong. My cardiologist said they are PVC's - pre-ventrical contractions and they are harmless. I even wore a heart monitor for a whole month to record the episodes = and there were many. Still, he said nothing to worry about. I've been on a beta blocker medication (Coreg) for a number of years which is supposed to help regulate heart rhythm. I started doing searches online for causes - I tried eliminating caffeine, no improvement. Stopped alcohol - and I don't drink much at all. The occasional glass of wine, or a mixed drink now and then. But still no improvement. I get an annual physical so all is well there. I finally went back to my primary care doctor for advice. He looked at my blood work and told me that there was nothing wrong in those numbers that would indicate heart issues. So he said I was most likely experiencing General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) so he prescribed a low dose anti depressant. Zoloft, 25 mg. He said the regular adult dose was 50 mg, but he started me with 25. Within 2 weeks, the irregular beats stopped. I went for a follow up with the doctor at 6 weeks and told him that I hadn't been having the missed beats. He said that I could go up to the 50 mg. So he gave me the prescription, but honestly, the 50 was too much for me - made me feel a bit odd, antsy and anxious... so I went back down to the 25 mg. I have been taking the low dose 25 mg for almost 5 months and I have had few to no irregular beats. It might be worth asking your primary care physician if you might try a low dose anti depressant and see if that helps you. It's worth a try. It really helped me - and they were driving me crazy. I was afraid to plan events with friends for fear I would start having the palpitations. Now I don't have that fear. I wish you the best.

Scary, I have them all the time and once by chance while the Doc has his stethoscope on me.

He just said oops there's a missed beat. Not to worry its very common.

Him and a cardiologist both said nothing to worry about. Kinda of like turbulence when flying. Eventually you realize its not going to kill you and take it in stride. Unlike turbulence worrying makes can make it worse. The other thing is it can sensitize yourself to your heart beat and now you notice everything where you didn't before.

Take solace in the others on this board. It a great place to get info and hear personal experiences from others who have been there, got scared S..., and done that.

I had the the exact same experience at my doc's. "Hey there's one." Coincidently I was also just thinking about the plane experience. Now all my flying stress is just the non flying part.