Palpitations and anxiety

Skipped beats

by piglet22 - 2024-10-09 04:48:43

Hello

One of the causes of skipped beats in my case at least, is an increased number of ectopic beats or PVCs..

Mine started 18 years after heart block was diagnosed and pacemaker treated.

If they get frequent and long enough, they will interfere with the proper function of the pacemaker.

It can get to the point where you can feel dizzy, lightheaded and eventually black out.

The treatment was a high dose of beta blocker (10 mg Bisoprolol) which stopped the episodes.

I don't think I'm having significant PVCs now and have reduced Bisoprolol to 5 mg daily.

Yours might be totally different.

It's not a bad idea to equip yourself with an oximeter, for pulse rate, or a good BP monitor.

Edit

Don't always take "looks fine" as is. Technically correct, but functionally not always. You could ask them what your PVC burden is. It is sometimes recorded by the PM if set up.

If you're curious to explore....

by Andiek11 - 2024-10-09 08:54:54

Meds are great in many cases and I encourage all to serious consider and follow their MD's advise, but if you're curious as to other options that might help with your anxiety cycle that are non-medical, go explore CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and/or Mindfulness. There are many self-help books availalbe on both topics, or you can find a mental health professional to help (again, many folks who use these approaches specifically for issues like anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, etc). Both Mindfulness and CBT  have been around for decades and have strongly proven track records of helping a person to better tune-in to and manage mind-body phenomena such as anxiety.  It's not hard to learn to stop, perhaps even avoid, your anxiety experiences using CBT and or Mindfulness approaches.  And in turn, you may just notice a decrease in skipped beats, etc.  

You don't have to stop using your meds while exploring /learning such approaches, but in the end you might notice that you need to use your anti-anxiety meds less frequently.  

Good luck! 

A simple approach

by Gotrhythm - 2024-10-09 14:52:17

Like you, I was so disappointed when it turned out the pacemaker didn't eliminate palpitations.

Also like you, I've had them most of my life. PVCs, PACs, tachycardia--you name it--my heart seems to travel over a perpetually bumpy road.

Unlike you, the palpitations do not produce anxiety, but without question, anxiety will make them more frequent. I can hardly imagine the awfulness of a viscious cycle of palpitation-anxietu-palpitation-anxiety. 

I do sympathise. But at the risik of sounding harsh, let me point out that they haven't killed you yet. Probably, they're not going to. They are not a sign something is wrong with your heart. They are just something your heart is doing.

I think the hardest thing about palpitations is that there is nothing you can do to make them stop. Nothing. Take a deep breath, think relaxing thoughts--Nah. Won't work. Indeed, mine will often start up just as I am relaxing to go to sleep.

So, given that I have no power over palpitations, what I do have power over is my thoughts. I can't stop my thoughts but I can deliberately think something, and keep thinking it. What I have learned to do is think of palpitiations like the rain. Sometimes it's raining. Sometimes it's not. I can't prevent the rain from coming. I can't make it stop. I watch the papltitaions as I might watch to rain. After a while the rain always goes away. And so do the palpitations.

Recently I sat with a friend in the ER who was having afib/tachycardia, heartrate170--which is like palpitations on steriods. She was all to pieces, crying from the feeling of UPSET and anxiety. The nurses had given her the maximum dose of medication. But every time her heartrate would come down, she'd get upset again, and the heartrate would climb. The nurses finally told her that she had to calm down.

Seeing that my friend (who is a marvelous, intelligent, kind, caring, funny person) did not have the skill to calm herself, I taught her in just 5 minutes a technique for reducing anxiety.

1. Look around. Name five things you can see. Out loud at first. Later, when you are more skillful, do it silently.

2. Listen. Name five sounds you can hear.

3. Become aware of your whole body, where it is in space. Name five feelings or sensations. Right now, I can feel my fingers touching the computer keys, the chair where my bottom and back rest on it, my feet touching the floor, etc. Even as I write this I can feel my whole body relaxing, although I would not have said I was tense to start with.

REPEAT as neccessary until anxiety disapates.

My friend was able to bring her heartrate down within 10 minutes. For the next hour or so when the anxiety would come back, I would remind her to LOOK, LISTEN, NOTICE sensations. By the time I left she was able to manage on her own.She told me the other day that she now usues it routinely.

This is a technique anyone can use to manage anxiety. There are others that are just as simple. If anxiety is a constant problem in many areas of your life, therapy might be useful, especially Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Wonderful

by Lavender - 2024-10-09 16:49:31

Gotrhythm-I miss your posts. Stick around more. That was excellent advice that could be of benefit to anyone! You were one of the first that I followed here. 

I take zero meds. So far. I do have days of more PVCs. I notice and observe them. I do get anxious too but have learned self talk to comfort myself. We can choose how we think. We can observe our thought patterns and choose a different path. 

Xanax

by Rch - 2024-10-09 23:32:22

It's indeed a great success story! I have never heard any one being able to abort ectopic beats on benzodiazepines. My only word of caution however, is the drug is not without side effects especially in the elderly ( <65). You can web search online for side effects including physical dependence etc. I agree with other suggestions made herein etc especially conservative measures, cognitive therapy, breathing and relaxation exercises etc, even a small dose of beta blockers, and then Xanax only as a last resort. If you do start taking the drug regularly, make sure you establish a good working relationship with your providers who will commit to prescribing this drug for you for the the long haul without fail! I wish you well and congratulations!!! 

Thanks! Gotrhythm….

by PaceCahr - 2024-10-16 23:10:15

...for sharing that story of your friend being able to learn an apply your recommended techniques!  

I will no doubt be trying your steps tonight and tomorrow - as I am getting an initial does of a new-to-me infusion medication and have a LOT of anxiety about everything related to the new medication!  (!!!!)  

My PVC episodes typically flared as I'm going to bed or I would be woken up by them after sleeping an hour or two. Before I was diagnosed with a RBBB, I could count the PVCs by sound in my ears, and sensation in my abdomen and neck. Sometimes "see" them when I could see my heart beat in my eyes in a particular lighting situation.

What seemed the weirdest thing to me - if I tried to relax by DEEP breathing - the PVCs would get worse and last longer. :shrug: That makes your three step to distraction so interesting with the 3rd one being hyper aware of your body that is NOT the mis-beating heart. I get it!  

Thanks again!