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palpitations vs panic attacks

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sue73
sue73

I don't think I'm going to read back through all these discussions! – but in case it helps someone, here is my experience – and solution.

At menopause I developed chronic anxiety and the SVT palpitations I'd experienced all my life got worse. Panic attacks are easy to differentiate from palpitations: you don't get the awful heart thumps beforehand and they don't stop suddenly either. It took me four years of hard work (reading, group therapy, various psychotherapists, courage) to learn to deal with the panic attacks and I'm more or less on top of them now. But the palpitations have got worse, only two or three a year, always triggered by anxiety, but now lasting up to 5 hours and making me very light headed. So the last one in July I went to A&E and they caught it on the monitor, diagnosed SVT, and stopped it with intravenous adenosine (horrible!!!). My GP then prescribed a very low dose of propranolol which I take when I know I'm going to be nervous (every three days or so); an hour and a half later I can no longer feel my heart beating which means I subconsciously think "I'm not anxious" and it just helps. The drug the cardio consultant prescribed is flecainide 100mg. When I next had an episode of SVT (yesterday! Christmas Day!!) I waited an hour and tried various things and then took one of these pills. Fifteen minutes later my heart gently slowed from 160 bpm to 90 bpm. It's a life-saver for me, it means I can go walking on eg Dartmoor and go on long-haul flights abroad without worrying I might get an episode far from help. Or end up in A&E for hours and ruin the day. I feel very lucky to have encountered this consultant! 

Anyway, hope that helps someone, I'm happy to answer questions, I just didn't want to read each individual post!

Happy new year...

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • Paladinx
    Paladinx sue73

    Posted

    Thanks for sharing your experiences.. One thing has me wondering though.  If anxiety triggers your SVT.. How is it so easy to tell the difference.  
    • sue73
      sue73 Paladinx

      Posted

      Okay... it's as I said: an episode of SVT starts with a terrible commotion in your chest, you feel like your heart is violently rattling about completely randomly for a few seconds – it's missing beats – catching up on them – and then when it settles down again it will be at at least 150 beats a minute (compared to normal 70–90). It's really sudden, quite shocking, and very physical. You have no control over it. It's an electrical change in your heart. You can't "calm yourself down". Anxiety and panic start most definitely in your brain, you are aware that you are anxious, and you will become aware that your heart is beating fast (mine goes at about 120 bpm). But you can lie quietly or talk yourself down or go for a walk or distract yourself... whatever your chosen method ... and your heart will quieten gradually.  When I say that my anxiety triggers palpitations I mean that I will get them in situations I know make me hyper: not being trapped (in supermarket, theatre, bus whatever) when I may get panic attacks but in my case deadlines: going to the airport, packing to go away, on walks when I feel vulnerable and out-of-control, when three or four things are happening at once and I can't cope. I've lived with both for a long time, and everyone's different; we all have to find our own ways to deal with it. Hope this makes some sense.
  • Paladinx
    Paladinx sue73

    Posted

    I understand thank you just trying to pick your brain.. I don't get the intro heart flutters/PVCs as you do,..its always started by feeling a weird nervous tension and a hot flash right as I'm trying to fall asleep..last night I got it but i lifted up my shirt to cool down..and the attack was much milder.. Usually my heart takes off probably 140_170 as a guess..this time was prob under 80..and sometimes I get out of it and my heart doesn't race its weird.. My heart races in a funky mode that lasts a min or two...and than the weird tense feeling and breathing dissipates..and my heart decreases back to upper normal range than normal...it seems in my case the adrenaline or whatever sometimes causes some kind of weird heart arrhythmia..
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