Question:
I have experienced this for about 3 weeks now. I was just amazed at how many people suffer from this through talking with others and viewing all the messages here on the board. I am a 34 year old male. Here are a few of my symptoms: skipped heart beat, chest pain tightness and shoulder pain, feelings of claustrophobia, dizziness, pounding heart, hard to breathe, throat pain and feelings of it closing up, sweaty palms.
Hi Willie’ Other folks have given you good advice, but I’d like to relate my heart palps. They atarted when I was about 14m,,,miss a beat, then the next one was hard. The Doc said after assessment: anxiety. They call them ‘ectopic heartbeats’ meaning out of the normal heartbeats. The reason the delayed beat is so hard is due to the atrium filling with more blood than usual,..then having to move it out,..hence the harder beat. Hope this makes sense. Of course at risk of repeating what others have said, get to your Doc pronto to make sure all is well otherwise 
NB, there are some beta blockers BP reducing meds which can help with ectopic heartbeats. All the best,…Ivan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –
Response:
My PCP doc said do NOT worry, you are in good health, you are not dying. His talk lasted a month. I’m back to dying several times a day again. I have found the advice about activity versus sedentary to be somewhat true. Most angina doesn’t occur when your completely at rest. Still sometimes my attacks are triggered by say an asthma attack and then my heart starts racing and then I feel the chest pain/palps and then of course not only am I gonna die because my throat is closing up but because my heart is going to fail too. Dave
Thanks Dave and Chip, Dave, I just had a question. What is a PCP doc? Hang in there Dave, I know exactly how you feel. Isn’t the throat thing irritating? I have had that today, but luckily that is about it. Mark
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – My PCP doc said do NOT worry, you are in good health, you are not dying. His talk lasted a month. I’m back to dying several times a day again. I have found the advice about activity versus sedentary to be somewhat true. Most angina doesn’t occur when your completely at rest. Still sometimes my attacks are triggered by say an asthma attack and then my heart starts racing and then I feel the chest pain/palps and then of course not only am I gonna die because my throat is closing up but because my heart is going to fail too. Dave Thanks Dave and Chip, Dave, I just had a question. What is a PCP doc? Hang in there Dave, I know exactly how you feel. Isn’t the throat thing irritating? I have had that today, but luckily that is about it. Mark
That’s my regular doc, aka Primary Care Physician. Dave
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have experienced this for about 3 weeks now. I was just amazed at how many people suffer from this through talking with others and viewing all the messages here on the board. I am a 34 year old male. Here are a few of my symptoms: skipped heart beat, chest pain tightness and shoulder pain, feelings of claustrophobia, dizziness, pounding heart, hard to breathe, throat pain and feelings of it closing up, sweaty palms. It all started when I was feeling real stressed about life and I felt my heart skipped. I had felt it in the past but only 1 or 2 at a time and then it would go away so I would not worry about it. This time it came at 4-5 at a time, disappear and then come again. This lasted all week and then I decided to go to the Emergency room. He ran all the tests and besides on beat on the EKG that looked suspect, everything else looked fine. I thought forsure that my number was up. Having a small young family, this did not sit real well with me. Then the next week I started having panic attacks. I noticed every palpitation and got real stressed about it and noticed all of the symptoms above with many at different times. One day got real bad and I could barley get any work done. I made another follow-up appointment and the doctor told me I needed to manage my stress. I know am in the early stages of dealing with this but so far the biggest help has been talking to people about it. Tell loved ones and people that could really careless about you. Another help has been running/walking at night and saying the rosary while doing this. I felt so at peace the first time I did this that the next day I did not have any problems! It was such a relief! One other thing that I am trying to do it say to myself "Screw it, if I am going to die right now then that is what God has planned for me and there is nothing I can do about it." Right now I am working on 2 straight days of no problems. When I feel palpitations I just try and ignore them. I wish anyone that has to deal with this luck and hope that they recover soon. I would recommend seeing a doctor to put your mind at ease and to make sure nothing is seriously wrong. What I have heard is if your chest pain increases as your activity level increases, this may be a bad sign and get it checked out. If you are sitting on the couch watching TV or watching a movie and feel palpitations, there should be nothing to worry about. This whole thing has been very unpleasant and one the most difficult things that I ever had to deal with.
Hi Willie, I’d see a psychiatrist and get a diagnosis. It sounds like you have panic disorder. Once your condition is diagnosed, it can be treated with cognitive behavior therapy and/or meds, which are the two treatments of proven effectiveness. The sooner you are diagnosed and treated the better, since panic attacks can lead to other problems like phobias, and agoraphobia (fear of going outside), hypochondriasis, depression, and even drug/alcohol abuse to self-medicate. Good luck and welcome to ASAP! Chip
Response:
I have experienced this for about 3 weeks now. I was just amazed at how many people suffer from this through talking with others and viewing all the messages here on the board. I am a 34 year old male. Here are a few of my symptoms: skipped heart beat, chest pain tightness and shoulder pain, feelings of claustrophobia, dizziness, pounding heart, hard to breathe, throat pain and feelings of it closing up, sweaty palms. It all started when I was feeling real stressed about life and I felt my heart skipped. I had felt it in the past but only 1 or 2 at a time and then it would go away so I would not worry about it. This time it came at 4-5 at a time, disappear and then come again. This lasted all week and then I decided to go to the Emergency room. He ran all the tests and besides on beat on the EKG that looked suspect, everything else looked fine. I thought forsure that my number was up. Having a small young family, this did not sit real well with me. Then the next week I started having panic attacks. I noticed every palpitation and got real stressed about it and noticed all of the symptoms above with many at different times. One day got real bad and I could barley get any work done. I made another follow-up appointment and the doctor told me I needed to manage my stress. I know am in the early stages of dealing with this but so far the biggest help has been talking to people about it. Tell loved ones and people that could really careless about you. Another help has been running/walking at night and saying the rosary while doing this. I felt so at peace the first time I did this that the next day I did not have any problems! It was such a relief! One other thing that I am trying to do it say to myself "Screw it, if I am going to die right now then that is what God has planned for me and there is nothing I can do about it." Right now I am working on 2 straight days of no problems. When I feel palpitations I just try and ignore them. I wish anyone that has to deal with this luck and hope that they recover soon. I would recommend seeing a doctor to put your mind at ease and to make sure nothing is seriously wrong. What I have heard is if your chest pain increases as your activity level increases, this may be a bad sign and get it checked out. If you are sitting on the couch watching TV or watching a movie and feel palpitations, there should be nothing to worry about. This whole thing has been very unpleasant and one the most difficult things that I ever had to deal with.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I know am in the early stages of dealing with this but so far the biggest help has been talking to people about it. Tell loved ones and people that could really careless about you. Another help has been running/walking at night and saying the rosary while doing this. I felt so at peace the first time I did this that the next day I did not have any problems! It was such a relief! One other thing that I am trying to do it say to myself "Screw it, if I am going to die right now then that is what God has planned for me and there is nothing I can do about it." Right now I am working on 2 straight days of no problems. When I feel palpitations I just try and ignore them. I wish anyone that has to deal with this luck and hope that they recover soon. I would recommend seeing a doctor to put your mind at ease and to make sure nothing is seriously wrong. What I have heard is if your chest pain increases as your activity level increases, this may be a bad sign and get it checked out. If you are sitting on the couch watching TV or watching a movie and feel palpitations, there should be nothing to worry about. This whole thing has been very unpleasant and one the most difficult things that I ever had to deal with.
Well if you haven’t gotten help I suggest you do soon. I can’t say this for sure but you sound EXACTLY like me. I’m 32, same palpitations/chest shoulder pains, the whole gig, all of it. I used to try to talk myself out of my bad trip. Frankly, it didn’t work that well, and after a while it stopped working all together. It’s too subconscious to handle this one your own. If you are anything like me it will just get worse until you seek help. It took me over a year to realize that. I now have several a day. But keep plugging on waiting for the day I finally have an appt wit ha pdoc. I’m not trying to scare you, just saying that handling this yourself is not easy. You have one thing right, manage your stress, practice relaxation techniques and exercise (I find this to be invaluable). But it sounds like you are on the same plan as me. My PCP doc said do NOT worry, you are in good health, you are not dying. His talk lasted a month. I’m back to dying several times a day again. I have found the advice about activity versus sedentary to be somewhat true. Most angina doesn’t occur when your completely at rest. Still sometimes my attacks are triggered by say an asthma attack and then my heart starts racing and then I feel the chest pain/palps and then of course not only am I gonna die because my throat is closing up but because my heart is going to fail too. Dave
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