Fluttering PLEASE HELP

Hello, if you read my first post it explained how I have an arrhythmia. My doctor set it so my pacemaker is the communicator instead up my chambers communicating to tell it when and how fast to beat. I have a set rate the is lowest of 60 and high of 150 beats a minute. This is only temporary until they decide how to fix the arrhythmia.everything was good and dandy until a day ago I noticed my heart kind of "fluttering" I'd take my pules and it would be very strong and easy to feel to hardly even being able to feel it. It feels like my heart is beating twice at once. Kinda like a thump. If that makes since ? I have really bad anxiety so please anyone who knows what's going on please help !!! In freaking out !!!!

3 Comments

Sounds like you have PVC's

by donr - 2012-10-09 08:10:04

Kait: I'm not sure about your description of how they have your PM functioning w/ the upper & lower rates as you describe or the comment about stopping the upper & lower chambers from communicating.

BUT: Your description of how your pulse feels to you is the way PVC's are sensed, especially a run of them.

PVC = Premature Ventricular Contractions. It's an arrhythmia that can feel like you describe. It's one of very many arrhythmias that can exist. W/ it, the Atria (Upper chambers) beat ok, but occasionally the lower chambers contract a bit too soon for them to be completely full of blood & you have a beat that you can hardly feel - usually followed by one that feels stronger than normal (Your "THUMP"). Electrically, your heart cannot beat "Twice," as you describe it. But that does not mean it cannot feel like that to you!

It is easy to have a whole series of PVC's in sequence (Called a "Run."), in which case you would not feel a thing & you'd think your heart stopped, scarring the pure living daylights out of you! In short, causing a whole big bunch of anxiety for you - you do not understand what is going on!

It takes a practiced person on pulse taking to sense the premature contractions, but they are there. The first time I started having them in significant numbers, my wife was taking my pulse & could feel only the heavy beats. I was having them every other beat, so she got a pulse of only about 35 when normal for me is 72. We hauled me off to the ER & they measured me at 72 - THEY could sense the light beats of the PVC.

PVC's are benign - they will not kill you! (A direct quote from three people in my cardio's office!) I know - I'm alive & typing this comment to you! Last week I had a minor surgery procedure on my foot. As the Physician's Assistant shoved the needle into my foot to numb it, my PVC's started up on me. BIG TIME! They had me on a monitor & I could hear the BEEP< BEEP< BEEP< of my pulse - until I had a PVC. Then I heard nothing, Then I had a string of them about ten in a row. That sounded bad, but I knew my PM was functioning, so I realized that it was PVC's. I laid there & listened to that for nearly 30 minutes! So there was a case where the sensor on my finger tip didn't measure the heart beats.

Now, IF - I say IF - you are indeed having PVC's, they WILL scare you. Please aske your Dr. ASAP if that is what you are feeling. You do not need to wait till sometime in NOV to find that out!

Don

anxiety

by Tracey_E - 2012-10-09 10:10:21

As Don said, it sounds like pvc's which are annoying and uncomfortable but totally harmless. Anxiety makes everything worse. I know it's easier said than done, but keep telling yourself it's harmless and try to focus on other things. Talk to your dr. If it's getting worse, you might try treating the anxiety and see if that helps. It's a vicious cycle- anxiety makes the pvc's worse which makes the anxiety worse.

Par for the course

by ILoominatedEKG - 2012-10-18 02:10:17

According to your profile, you're only 15. So telling you not to freak out is kinda like telling a monkey in a banana tree not to eat them. LOL. But that is the best advice anybody can give you. I'm on meds for anxiety too. I can tell you that even on the meds, my heart starts PVCs and AFIB when I get stressed out. And I'm not even scared I'm gonna die. I know they are not serious. Nonetheless, calming me down always helps.
Sometimes there isn't a perfect answer, but make sure to get a couple different opinions before you give up trying, and try again every few years. Medicine is rapidly advancing.

Best wishes - Dave

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I'm 35 and got my pacemaker a little over a year ago. It definitely is not a burden to me. In fact, I have more energy (which my husband enjoys), can do more things with my kids and have weight because of having the energy.