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PLEASE read. Desperate for advice

Posted , 6 users are following.

albert48271
albert48271

Hi, I do apologize that this may be a little long

Im a 20 year old male, no family history of heart disease, do not smoke, drink, or do drugs

I have suffered with heart fluttering since I was about 14 years old. However, they have gotten a lot worse in the last few months. They now last up to 7 seconds at a time and make me really dizzy. Here is my history of doctors this year.

1.) Cardiologist 1 (November) - she did an echo-cardiogram and said everything was fine

2.) Cardiologist 2 (January) - stated that he thought I may have an abnormal heart rhythm

3.) Cardiologist 3 (January) - I went to him for a second opinion after the cardiologist told me he saw something wrong

--> this cardiologist did multiple ECGs, and a 30 day Event monitor. During the Event monitor I had minor chest flutters but these only lasted 1-2 seconds each. He said he did not find anything wrong.

4.)Cardiologist 2 AGAIN (went back) - he then said he didn't see anything wrong and he said " I do not think it is anything serious but i will send you to an electrophysiologist to make sure). I chose not to go because my insurance would not have covered anymore tests since I have done so many already.

Throughout these months I also made 5 trips to the ER and got blood work done, 4 chest x-rays, and a total of 8 ECGS. With each visit they did not find anything wrong.

Does anyone else experience these long-lasting chest flutters? Do you know what causes them? Did I make a mistake by not going to the Electrophysiologist? I am so terrified that this is an abnormal heart rhythm and that I will go into sudden cardiac arrest. 

 

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • derek76
    derek76 albert48271

    Posted

    People live for ever with strange heart rhythms. .  You have had more than enough tests and reassurance,
  • Mabel27
    Mabel27 albert48271

    Posted

    I am not sure. If you continue to have them. Maybe you should go to the EP doc. If your Dr recommends you go, maybe your insurance will cover it. If you cannot rest and worry about it all the time~ I would go. I don't get flutters I get skips. But did you get an Echo? that would show if your heart was normal. I am sorry you are going thru this. I know how scary it is. And I know , its hard to trust the Drs. They can not tell you much unless you do a stress test or at least an echo about the state of your heart. Let us know how you are doing! Try to relax. I don't think at this point your dr would let you go about if he thought you were in danger. Take good care~ Hey, I have had skips, flutters and abnormal heart rythmns too. I have a pacemaker~ But, when in doubt, go back to Dr.!!! 

    • Hilian
      Hilian Mabel27

      Posted

      I have had same and had 2 ablations  but now when I go   into AF then heart tries to go back to normal rhythm  get long pauses and have never fainted in my life(now 70) but have now thought I was about to which has been really scary so a pacemaker has been recommended so they can up my Af medication as at the moment heart rate would go too low. I am so reluctant to have one but feel there’s no alternative. I am a keen golfer and quite fit so worried it will affect it all. 
    • derek76
      derek76 Mabel27

      Posted

      I have had three stress tests that when I had a subsequent angiogram were found to have beem false positives,
  • jx41870
    jx41870 albert48271

    Posted

    Albert, I'm sorry to hear your story.  I'm going through something like that now at age sixty-something and it's just that frustrating.  I'd tell you what I think of doctors who can't find something more useful to say - but I think we have to keep the messages clean here.

    But here is something for you.  When I was in college I had these "flutters", that felt like I had a wild gerbil in my chest that was trying to get out.  No pain.  No dizziness.  But hey!  I never even went to a doctor about them.  I was young and foolish. But apparently they didn't kill me.  And I didn't figure out what they were for TEN YEARS.  But then I did!  I started having the same thing again, but it always started Friday or Saturday, went on for a few days, and then stopped.  At some point I realized I was going to the same place for lunch every Thursday for the "curry cutlet" lunch special.  Loved it!  And I thought about it, and said, hey wait a minute, and sure enough, if I skipped the curry cutlet - no more symptoms!

    I've never heard this described.  I've mentioned it to one or two doctors, who just shrug.  Thanks, doc.

    So it turned out for me that this Japanese curry, or Chinese chili sauce, would cause these symptoms.  And I liked the Chinese chili sauce even more than the curry!  And THAT must be what was causing my problems in college, where a local Chinese restaurant served that and it was my favorite dish.  OMG!

    So I'd look to see if you can find any dietary items like that which correlate with your symptoms.  Mine were a couple of very spicy items, but I suppose it might occur with different things for different people.

    Hope that helps.

    • albert48271
      albert48271 jx41870

      Posted

      Hi thank you so much for your reply. It means a lot. I will try my best to see. Do you think the doctors missed something though? 
    • derek76
      derek76 jx41870

      Posted

      With me it is MSG that I avoid. However in hospital after having my pacemaker fitted I chose the badly named chicken casserole for dinner not knowing that it was a very Chinese one and had a massive reaction to it that caused the nurses to panic.
    • jx41870
      jx41870 albert48271

      Posted

      Do I think they missed something?  LOL!  OF COURSE they "missed something", which at the very least is that these "harmless" PACs and PVCs and "ectopic heartbeats" can make a patient MISERABLE if nothing else.

      The thing is, they are "right" in that they CAN make you miserable, but in a lot of cases (like mine), they don't actually kill you. And, that they've got basically nothing to do about it.  The few drugs aren't very good, the "ablation" techniques aren't justified if there's no actual harm, and may not work anyway, and a pacemaker is hideously expensive and again, who wants to justify the costs and risks? 

      It may be that some of this is caused by cross-firing of the vagus nerve.  Sometimes eating and drinking can reduce symptoms for brief periods.  Certain kinds of tricks, massage around the eye sockets, tensing the diaphragm and holding your breath, gentle massage of the abdomen, etc, can reduce symptoms, sometimes.  Electrolyte balances may make things worse, that may be what happens with the spicy foods, I don't know, and maybe they don't know either.

      So friend, with all of medical science where it is today, we're on our own.  I *hope* that if it were something immediately serious all of your doctors and all of my doctors, wouldn't be so cavalier about it. 

  • SunnyGarden
    SunnyGarden albert48271

    Posted

    Look up York Cardiology on YouTube...Palpitations. He’s pretty interesting and helps bring down the anxiety of the situation
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