Heart issues/anxiety symptoms after eating or standing up
Posted , 23 users are following.
Hi everyone,
Does anybody else mostly just have issues only after eating or standing up/ moving around? Lately every time I eat, about 10 mins later my heart starts racing and feels irregular in its rythm, almost as if it stops for a second and then suddenly goes extra hard/fast. Sometimes I get a thudding/squeezing pain in my heart as well, which makes the whole left side of my chest hurt for days afterwards. It feels like I've strained my muscles doing chest exercises or something! Also, when I stand up after sitting or lying down for a while, I feel light headed and my heart races, and my stomachs feel odd - like all the blood is rushing to it or something. It's hard to describe. I also feel out of breath after eating and standing.
i just feel really scared because these symptoms don't just feel random any more, they feel related to eating or moving around somehow, and it has me convinced that this is evidence that there's something wrong with my heart. If it was anxiety, wouldn't it happen randomly throughout the day no matter what I was doing?
Also, When these symptoms first started happening to me a few years so ago, they were really mild and very infrequent, and seemed to happen randomly. Now, it happens everyday and it feels like they are getting worse. The pain is stronger and the heartbeat feels much more erratic. I feel so scared, especially as there is a history of heart attack and stroke in my family. I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack any day now, or sudden heart failure. I've had resting ecgs which were fine, had an echo which I'm waiting for results for, and getting a 12 day monitor in a week. Despite this, I don't feel reassured at all.
Has anyone else experienced any of this, with eating and moving around etc?
0 likes, 61 replies
Jordan316 fedup53409
Posted
Feduo,
What you have wrote down is exactly same as me. I have bad G,A,D and just like you I have bad chest pains everyday. It's making me worry as well now like you say it feels more than anxiety now and it's happening through the night and wakes me up with a mad heart rate and palpitations, I when to hospital through the night yesterday I was there for about 16 hours they did so many tests. Chest xray egcs blood tests and they all came back normal. I even had the pain at the exact time they had me on a ecg but nothing showed up. It makes me panic and worry soo much more and I am checking my heart rate like every 10 mins and I have the sudden feeling of dread and fear allll day from the second I wake up will i fall a sleep and even tho that doesn't stop it I wake up soo much through the night. And they assured me I have nothing wrong with my heart or lungs. stress and anxiety can really really mess someone up
But as hard as it is to do and everyone here probably knows you need to relax. . But trying to relax and calm down is impossible.
dinotoro Jordan316
Posted
I can relate to the chest pains. It started for me 3 years ago with random sharp chest pains that would send me into full panic mode. They would occur when at rest. It sent me into an endless panic cycle, so the doc prescribed Cipralex - anti-anxiety and anti-depressant. I took myself off after 6 months, just because I was worried about long term use.
I have since overcome the panic whenever the pains would occur, however it appears my body has advance to a new stage of what I’m feeling now with skipped beats from minimal physic exertion. No pains in a couple months now, but this new stage is far worse. I’ve had to remain on the couch or bed for the past 2 weeks, and uncertain what I’ll do about work.
Not a pleasant Christmas. But lucky my wife helps me and my parents aren’t around to worry. I’m 49.
dinotoro Jordan316
Posted
I forgot to mention all the holster monitors and ambulance trips. Since the pains I had were random, they were rarely caught by the monitors and and all my other tests were clear.
I even went through a terrible ablation study, where I had to be awake while they shoved a wire up my vien through the leg up to the heart to look for bad electrical signals. Couldn’t find any.
This time, if I have to call the ambulance again, they will see immediate reactions if i just crouch down and get up - I’ll get skipped beats like crazy. I’m just waiting at the moment, still wearing my 2 week monitor and recording all my palpitations daily.
mia1996 fedup53409
Posted
It is really reassuring to know that other people are experiencing what I am going through right now. For the last 4 months, I have developed severe anxiety which seems to have worsened as the months have gone on. I keep having almost out of body experiences where my vision goes blurry, I feel like I'm upside down, and a wave of absolute fear washes over me. I mainly get it when I am sitting in bed or relaxing. Today I have gotten many random pains in my chest, left and right side, and some pains in my left arm. Heart palpitations that hit you and shock you so bad. Every time I get these I just get up and walk around, go grab some water, go to the toilet. Anything to take my mind off it. Then I go back to sitting down and repeat sometime later in the day. There is nothing worse than living with this. I sometimes get panic attacks that last for around 2 hours or more. Those are the worst as nothing seems to shake them off. I have heard from many of my friends that CBT is the way forward, I am going to look into it bus it's very expensive in London and I am a student. I am going for a 24 hour ECG on the 3rd of Jan but I am going to try and change it to a 1 week ECG as I'm worried it's not enough time to catch anything if there is something wrong. I think the worst thing about this is that even if I'm told by various scans/ECGs/blood tests/doctors etc that everything is fine, my anxiety won't ever let me believe it.
dinotoro mia1996
Posted
mia1996 dinotoro
Posted
dinotoro mia1996
Posted
Today, I was just walking to the kitchen (I knew it was coming because I was feeling really weak) then hit with one. Then walking to couch, then a couple more while sitting down and trying to breath deep and relax. After a few more of them and my heart racing and pounding, I called the ambulance. By the time they got here, my heart was still racing but the palps stopped. I wished it was still happening, but at least I recorded each one on my holter monitor. I knew the trip was going to be a waste of time also. Clean exam then release - the usual. But the emerg doc there said it’s always best to get help, especially I was home alone with wife working. Yes, when they happen one after another it feels like dying. I was trying hard to get through it but Inwas worried Inwas going to pass out. Note that I haven’t passed out yet from this, BUT, the frequency has been increasing in the past 3 weeks.
dinotoro fedup53409
Posted
I went a week without feeling anything until a couple days ago been getting frequent quivers or spasms along with occasional brief chest pain in the heart region (in the same spot). I’ve been thinking my body doesn’t react very well to the cold. I stepped outside for the first time in a couple weeks and after 15 seconds got a couples palpitations. I’ve been staying indoors for over a month now because last time, while wearing the monitor I had a bad string of palpitations just crossing the road. It was -5 C at the time, not too cold, but during the palpitations I was feeling dizzy and shivering like crazy. Took an Uber home and stayed indoors ever since, fortunately being able to work from home.
Anyway, I’ll let you know what the results are. I think it’s harder to accept the doc saying there is nothing wrong than finding something. I wish it was something the docs could say “oh that’s what has been causing all this”, and could zero in to fix it.
If he says there’s nothing, then I want to know how dangerous multiple palpitations are, and if I can just keep walking and ignore it. I will also get on the elliptical with my wife in the room and just push myself through it. It’s been frustrating being afraid to just go outside and walk - for over a month!
My dad passed in 2012, my mom 2014 and my sister 2016. Sometimes I wonder if that has been getting to me, being the last one.
My wife had been patient and I’ve been keeping busy re-learning guitar and doing my graphic design on computer. But at the same time, getting quite fed up being controlled by this issue.
I haven’t had palpitations in over a week, except for when I stepped outside in the cold briefly. I have been taking magnesium supplements for over a month now and wonder if they have been helping or me avoiding physical exertion and the outdoors as the cause in reduction.
Other issues.. I can never get a long sleep. My average is 4-5 hrs, even taking Zopiclone. I have to lay propped up, laying flat causes my chest to beat strange. My feet are usually cold, I need tons of blankets and need to walk around with hiking shoes indoors.
I haven’t drank coffee in 2 months, no alcohol or recreational drugs. It was only an occasional beer, but stopped that too to try an eliminate any possible triggers. I’m a non smoker as well and 190lbs at 6’1.
dinotoro fedup53409
Posted
I felt somewhat relieved after getting the results and he said I must push through it. After being in my apartment for over a month it felt good to be out side and took the bus home from docs.
Then getting off the bus, crossing the road walking at regular pace to the street leading home, I felt it coming. I felt a weakness wash over me and my legs heavier and then the PAC/PVCs hit me. I stoped walking, they subsided. I start walking, they happen over and over. So it may have looked silly, but I walked baby steps all the way home to avoid the attacks.
I researched more on how people are dealing with this and from what I read, they are just pushing through it.
Later today, I’m going to experiment going on the elliptical with my wife present, and try to push through the PVCs during exercise and see what happens. I’m really fed up now and don’t care if I pass out or die, I can’t live this way anymore, being terrified of these palpitations.
I’ll let you know how that goes.
dinotoro fedup53409
Posted
I’ve been trapped in my own fear for almost two months afraid to go outside or move around too much. After doing the elliptical for 15 is a huge huge weight off my mind!
I hope this will inspire people reading this - to push through it! Ultimately I got tired of being a prisoner of my fear, now feel released. I’m sure. there will be more PAC/PVCs do deal with in the future, but this test proved I can get through it! It seemed like the first 10 mins, it’s like my heart was brushing off cobwebs, then the second time I went on, my heart rate got more stable and felt more energized.
Take care everyone! Good luck and remember to just PUSH THROUGH IT.
fedup53409 dinotoro
Posted
Hey dinotoro,
Thank you for these updates, I have no doubt that they will really help someone out, even if they might never leave a comment about it. Plenty of people find themselves on this website in a terrible panic after google searches lead them here (that’s how i ended up here) and it’s great having our stories on here so future visitors can see that it can get better one day. I wish more people would update, honestly, as this site can be a place where people leave panicked messages but as soon as they calm down, they never think of it again, and so no one knows if they ended up being okay or not. And I get it, it’s the nature of this place and anxiety generally, and it does really help to know others are panicking about the same things, but it can equally harm as well I think. Places like these can turn into echo chambers of sorts, with not enough positive endings or resolution to balance out the panic.
But I digress. I’m so happy for you that you had a breakthrough of sorts after the elliptical - it’s a great feeling isn’t it? Just being able to see a light at the end of the tunnel that you might actually get through this. I remember my ‘moment’ clearly, after the doctor said there was nothing wrong with my heart. I had also been a prisoner of my own fear, for the better part of a year. Could barely leave the house, scared to shower alone (i got palps all the time showering and honestly thought I’d have a heart attack in there and no one would find me for ages), scared to move too quickly etc. Even scared to go to the toilet, lol.
But now I feel like a different person. I won’t lie and say I’m 100% okay and am running marathons every month with nary a worry in the world, but I am somewhat active, holding down a good job, socialising, just moved house, eating and drinking what I like (when I’m socialising at least) and generally enjoying life. I do get occasional palps when walking in the cold, bending over for too long or putting too much pressure on my stomach, eating something bad, sometimes when lying in bed i feel my heart beats strangely like you mentioned, but I just try and ignore it all now. I got to such a low point that I just thought to myself ‘okay so I can be terrified every time it happens and obsess over it, or I can ignore it. If something does happen to me....oh well, I’ll either drop dead and that will be that, or I/someone will ring an ambulance and we can deal with it then and start worrying after that. Until then, no more panicking. This isn’t how I want to live my life’ And that’s working for me so far. Of course I get bad days and there are still things I worry about, but that’s life for most of us!
so keep pushing on. You will, without a doubt, have many more bad days still to come where you think you are about to die or that the doctor must have got it wrong, but just push through. Know that those days will come and just be prepared for them, distract yourself when the fear comes over you, and know that the hospital is there if you need it. And eventually, those days will happen less and less frequently, and soon you won’t even notice that it’s been a week, or even a month, without any of those days at all.
i wish you all the luck in the world, and definitely keep popping in here if you have any setbacks, or even just to say ‘I’m still here, pushing through’! Thanks again for your updates, really appreciate it 😊
dinotoro fedup53409
Posted
I got off the bus and previously had taken a sweater layer off thinking it was warm enough. It was 12 C before getting on the bus, but was now -2 Celsius (25 F) which led to multiple pvc palpitations, the first bunch since a month ago.
I knew it was coming, my legs started feeling weak and overal weird body feeling, and short of breath. I pressed forward knowing they will come and they did. I just tried to remain still and calm and inched my way back for 2 blocks. The moment I got home, I went to bed and slept for 4 hours. No palpitations since being outside.
This is just my guess, but it seems my heart does not like my body to be cold, since this has happened multiple times in the cold weather. Since tomorrow will be several degrees colder and I have to go out again, I’m going to put on extra layers and hope for the best.
Dean