Straining The Heart?

[villen]

Hi all

I just need some reassurence again...can I be sure that my pounding heart wont kill me or be straining to my heart? I had an echo couple of months agao-everything was fine. I just feel like my heart is wokring so hard everytime....Could it be that I am more sensitized to my heartbeat, so that I feel every beat?

Also, anyone who has gotten better or improved alot after starting exercising?

thanks!

Villlen:)

[flop]

Hi Villen,

a normal echo result is very reassuring. The palpitations that a lot of us experience are a horrible sensation but if you have been checked over by a cardiologist the chances are that the pounding is not harmful. If you want extra reassurance you could ask to have your echo repeated in a few years time.

Flop

[pat57]

Have you had a Tilt table test?

I was able to label my heart, "flutter" as junctional escape rhythm, my Palps as tachy and the "pounding" as Bradycardia. Thanks to the Drs. naming what I was feeling.

Anyway it's a comfort to me that I can recognize these rhythms for what they are. I have a new one, its like a skip and causes me to inhale. That one scares me because I don't know what it is.

My point is, its normal to be concerned, and you'll feel better if you can get clear feedback about it from your Dr.

I have NCS so what works for me might not work for you, however, I feel best while being active. Worst, standing still or stairs.

good luck.......

[Mary P]

A cardiologist, an internist and my MD all assured me that my heart pounding wasn't harmful. I wanted to say that it surely did harm my sleep, keeping me awake for ages as I tried to find a way of laying in bed that would minimize the sound and feel of the thump thump..... .

A couple of days ago I had the best walk I've had in ages and there has been no pounding since then. Or perhaps I went to sleep so quickly that I never noticed any pounding. On the flip side, that long walk caused so much exhaustion that I was in bed for the next 1 1/2 days. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the good sleeps and am going for a good walk right now, but not quite so long.

[carinara]

I had a very bad POTS episode a few month ago! My heart rate would double up within a few seconds from laying to standing. My heartbeat was so strong and loud, that people standing next to me could hear it, I felt my heart all the time! I was so scared and thought that my heart would jump out of my chest any second or just explode. With it came all the symptoms you can think of, like shortness of breath, dizziness and so on. It just happened, that i was hosptalized back then (i wasnt diagnosed with POTS yet). And so it happened, that the cardiologists and all the nurses saw me having such a bad attack. I kept telling them, that i cant stand upright without my heart going off again. They never heard of something like that, but thats a different story.....

Afterwards the doctors said, that even though it might have felt real dangerous to me, there was never any danger to my heart. The echo was ok! They explained to me, that the heart is a muscle and when the muscel gets tired after a while it will slow down again.

They told me, that if it gets that bad again, i should tell myself that my body is doing a workout whilest iam sitting. They said, that for my heart it makes no difference if its beating that fast because of intensive sports or because of the tachykardia I have.

They also gave me the tip, that if my HR gets that high, i should hold my breath and press it in my lower body (just as you do when you are having a baby). This brings your heartbeat down really quick.

I had 2 more echos within 6 weeks, all of them were ok. A few month later i got diagnozed with POTS! I often tell myself now, that even when the doctors didnt know what was going on with me, they told me that my heart was never in danger at any point. Now i have a diagnosis and know the mechanisms behind the whole thing, that does make things easier for me.

My body is a little more in balance again, even though i have symptoms every day and cant stand for longer then a few minutes) But my heart isnt that crazy anymore and i dont feel the heartbeats like i used to a few month ago. But i know, that if i get a bad episode like that again, that it will most likely come back ( thats my experience in the last10 years)

I try to exercise whenever my body allows me to. Even if it's just a few minutes a day. It sure does make me feel better.

Take care

Carinara

[ajw4790]

Hi!

If all of your testing has come back fine, and your dr. listened to your symptoms and looked into any possible issues, I would not worry about it. Because you are thinking a lot about it, you probably do notice more. Like for my 30 day holter monitor, I ended up while wearing it noticing more of my weird heart arrhythmias because I had to press a button when they occured. Now that I am not doing that and am focused on other things, I only notice things every once and a while.

It is normal to note what your heart is doing, and with different environments/scenarios it is apt to fire differently (faster/slower, flutter etc.).

The most important thing is to take care of yourself, lessen stress the best you can, and keep an open line of communication with your dr. if you notice any changes or have questions. But, it is relatively unlikely that what you are experiencing is straining your heart.

As far as affect of exercise- I am still relatively exercise intolerant, but am working on building up my endurance.

Hope that helps!

[Guest tearose]

villen, good question but the good news is that my little heart muscle is in great shape!! (Even with a mvp)

I can have average daily swings from a low of 40 to a high 190 and my heart is one hard working muscle! The heart muscle seems to be in excellent shape! My electric wiring is funky but is not getting any worse for the work.

Have you thought of using a heart rate monitor to better understand how your heart responds to what you are doing? Only use it if it will offer you peace, some people focus too much on beat to beat changes and can get more worried. I like setting my heart monitor alarm to go off at a high of 145 and a low of 40. This way I can go about my life and not be concerned that I am pushing my heart too hard.

best regards,

tearose

[villen]

Thanks so much everybody. I am so grateful for all the supprot I get here.

I have had lots of Ekgs and worn a holter 24 hours and echo a couple of motnhs ago-everything was normal (except sinus tachy during the day)

The cardio didn`t even say the word pots, and just said that my heart is fine and strong.

Thanks again guys- you reassured me alot!! I am an very anxious person as well, and as my anxiety has increased, so has the pounding heart. I guess I am very aware of it, and also have a lot of adrenaline flowing in my body.