Heart palpitations and other symptoms :(
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Hi
Just after Christmas so 8 weeks ago or so I noticed I started to get lightheadness going upstairs or getting up. I am a runner so I put it down to increasing my running mileage. The symptoms continued and I did start getting the odd occasion were I felt like my breath had been taken away. Went to the doctors and they said my blood pressure was quite low and did a full blood count. All normal. Over the following week I started having funny turns - which i now know are palpitations .... making me feel very strange indeed. Doctors did an ecg and that was normal. Being a runner I decided to buy a heart rate monitor and as my heart felt it was racing sometimes I wore it for a day and during running ... slight strange thing was that my heartrate seemed to drop to 115bpm climbing a hill which was odd. While standing scanning my shopping suddenly felt very hot and my watch was beaping as my heartrate was 238bpm. I stood upright and took some deep breaths and it started to come down. Felt very odd and super tired after that and calmy / sweaty. I have some occasions as well of feeling like my heart is skipping a beat. Seems daily now though. Sat watching tv and my resting heartrate had been 43 earlier in the evening ... and all of a sudden I felt the breath taken away and a thud and my hr jumped to 110 and wouldnt go down , followed by 3 more thuds. My heartrate stayed over 100 for a while and when i did come down to 80 i couldnt stop shaking so I went to a and e ... who did an ecg and it was normal. The dr said they have to capture the flutter on ecg before they will do anything. Also I have been tracking my weight since after christmas as about a year ago despite running my weight for the first time in my life jumped over 9 stone .. put this down to muscle and drinking a bit more. So after xmas I tracked my calories with aim of losing 1lb a week - yet I have put on even more weight even though I have double my miles running and am now 3 quarters of a stone - nearly a stone heavier than I was this time last year ? Also feeling fairly tired now too. Any ideas what could be causing all of this ... The heart palpitstions are very scary and very comfortable and I feel kind of floaty and strange all the time 
0 likes, 48 replies
julie7525 dollar80
Posted
Oh and the floaty/ strange feeling...do you suffer from anxiety ( you probably do when getting palps, but what about in between?). Because when i get waves of anxiety i feel light headed, unsteady on my legs, a bit 'out of it'.
dollar80 julie7525
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dollar80
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So the palpitations seem to have calmed slightly, still feel them but they dont seem to be triggering an increase in my heartrate as much. I have an echo a week on Saturday, and a monitor for 3 days 8th April followed by a consultant appointment. Since then i seem to have developed more chest pain. I was having intermittent pains just above ny heart - like stabby pains. A couple of days the pain returned but slightly closer to the centre of my chest nut still on the left side and now is worse when I breath in deeply and there is an ache under my ribs. I feel a bit like I am getting a cold but apart from a few sneezing fits nothing is developing. No idea if its all connected but I wish it will all just settled down now.
donald61613 dollar80
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Hi Dollar,
I think anxiety has a lot to answer for in numerous health problems. It has played a major role in my. Cardiac arrhythmia over many years and I have been unable to shake it off. I have been started on Sertraline to add to the large daily dose of Flecainide. After 6 days the side effects have been awful and made me feel really unwell (nausea, dry mouth, cold sweat, etc) and I'm just praying that these will eventually settle down if I persevere. Makes one wonder which is worse: the existing condition or the symptoms that the drugs are causing.
julie7525 donald61613
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Hi Donald, I'm also on sertraline for anxiety. The side effects for the first 2-3 weeks were awful; terrible waves of anxiety, jelly legs, disorientation, nausea, loss of appetite. Things improved and I started having good afternoons and evenings. Each time I upped the dose by 25mg the waves of anxiety were back until i'd settled on that dose. Ive now been on 100mg for 3 weeks (10 weeks on it in total) and I'm just starting to settle on that dose and hoping not to have to increase again. Im having little or no anxiety on waking, which used to be terrible, and have noticed im more likely to have a bit of anxiety in the evening. I take it at bedtime but sometimes have terrible acid/heartburn in the night and have chronic indigestion all day (i had this before the sert, it's just worse). In the first 2 werks on Sert I lost a load of weight, since then Ive put a load of weight on, have a huge appetite and crave sweet stuff! Like you, I've wondered if I'm worse on the sert than I would have been without, but I've heard good reviews about it so I've forced myself to stick with it. At 10 weeks Im starting to have more normal days where I can go about my business as usual, with the odd blip of chest anxiety like I've got now! Do you also feel anxiety/ tightness in the chest/chest discomfort? I am also thinking more positively, not having such a strong panic reaction when i get chest discomfort/palpitations, which used to scare me witless! I was having looping panic attacks after new year, was hardly sleeping and was living in fear of the next. Betablockers soon stopped the looping panic attacks (adrenalin dumps) but didnt stop the anxious thoughts, hence trying sertraline. It made me feel worse before better, but Im now coming out the other side. Hope you can hang in there with it because there's definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Best wishes to you Donald.
donald61613 julie7525
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Hello Julie,
A thousand thanks for taking time and trouble to give me such a detailed run-down of your experiences with Sert. I could have written this literally word for word when describing my own symptoms and my own reactions to this drug. The most awful thing for me at present is the knowledge that when I wake up each morning the symptoms will already be in place or about to start. The feelings of anxiety always appear to be focused on the chest, and accompanied by the fear that the palps. will start up. People without misdemeanours of the heart have absolutely no idea what chaos this can impose on one;s day-to-day activities; I wouldn;t wish it on my worst enemy.
My doctor has encouraged me to persevere with the Sertraline with the expectation that the distressing effects will ease off in time. He suggests that I reduce to half the 50 mg tablet I normally take, and move cautiously upwards, and this is what I'm going to do..I feel very encouraged reading about your experiences with the drug.
I found that when I upped my Flecainide tablets by 50 mg to 250 mg per day, my ectopic beats were greatly reduced so this is heading in the right direction. I also take Atenolol (betablocker) plus, for my blood pressure, Losartan and Felodipine. No wonder I rattle if I go out for a jog.....!
My best wishes to you, and thank you again
julie7525 dollar80
Posted
Hi Dollar, good to hear you've got the echo and loop monitor coming up soon, Im sure that will relieve a lot of anxiety. Did you start any anti anxiety meds? I ask because Im on sertraline and it gives me chest discomfort/tightness on and off, which is the last thing you want when youre already stressing about palpitations! I had the chest discomfort at the docs recently, she saw me rubbing my chest and immediately said, 'that's anxiety!' It feels like anxiety in my chest and it comes on when Im anxious. Just thinking maybe your extra chest pains could be anxiety related too...i agree with Donald that it can be responsible for many pains and ailments. Try to do things that help relax you and do things you enjoy when you can...spend time with calm, supportive people and get plenty of sleep if possible.keep us posted!
julie7525 donald61613
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You are welcome Donald! I've written a long reply, my phone scrambled and it's gone! I agree with what you say...and I think that anxiety is a common even dare I say normal reaction to having an issue with the heart! And I also dropped from 50 to 25 till I got used to it and increased by 25 every couple of weeks. And yes the first few weeks were hard knowing that Id wake up feeling terrible every morning and have to get through 8 hours of anxiety to get to the calm afternoon and evening! Not any more though, for the past few days ive had little or no anxiety on waking and just a bit if anxiety today from having to do something out of my comfort zone. Now Ive some anxiety and discomfort in my chest which has started happening when coming up to my next dose of sert. Hopefully with no known stress triggers tomorrow I'll have an anxiety free day! I hope increasing the dise gradually helps Donald and din't be afraid to split the dose to start with (so when you go up to 50, have a week taking 25/25 morning/night before doing 50 in one go for a couple of weeks, then move up to 75 split before doing 75 whole etc. i had very little nausea doing it this way. Good luck Donald and keep us posted!
julie7525
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donald61613 julie7525
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dollar80 donald61613
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Glad you guys are getting ok ish. I am going off to the drs today to get this chest checked. No anti anxiety medicine .... there seems to be a permanent ache at the bottom of my ribs which is worse when breathing. See what they say anyway 😩
dollar80
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LyLy dollar80
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I have the same symptoms started 3 months ago. It started out mildly, it comes and it goes but lately it's happening more frequently. I never had a blood pressure problem before but now it's irregular, fluctuating through out the day. Some days it leaves me alone then next day back again. Which has sent me to the ER but only to be sent home with nothing life threatening. The irregular heart beats and weird flutters, sinking sensations, fast heart rate.
Everytime this happens I get very lightheaded and tired. I'm already fatigue from my vitamin d deficiency then my heart starts acting up, I can't function anymore. I've done so many ekg and all came back normal. I did the 48 hour Holter monitor, still waiting for results after I do my echocardiogram in 2 weeks. I will keep you posted.
You should go see a cardiologist to see if everything is alright. Hope you are getting better soon.
Zena2016 dollar80
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Sorry to hear of your symptoms. Briefly, it may be worth taking Magnesium (no more than 3/00mg per day for women/400mg od for men). I personally find this stabilises heart rhythm (but may increase rate) - I am just checking this again for the 'n'th time to be certain that it is Mg that has the effect, so have just taken myself off it over last couple of days & hr is now erratic & am back in AF. But before taking Mg, you could check with your doctor also re: likely effects on kidneys & liver : my doctor didn't seem to think it would adversely affect kidneys & liver, but the plan is to do 6 monthly checks (ie blood test). AF seems to affect those who exercise over & above an average regime - unfortunately. Anyway, I wish you well &, if you do try Mg, it would be helpful if you can post whether it is of benefit or not.
Zena2016
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dollar80 Zena2016
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Zena2016 dollar80
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If you do go for magnesium, you'll find it's a bit of a mine-field: there are so many different types. After doing a lot of research, I eventually decided on one recommended by the local pharmacist ! best wishes, Zena
dollar80 Zena2016
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Thankyou I have my consultant app tomorrow so i may have more answers tomorrow as to the cause but I will certainly try it 😊