Palpitations

[bizbiz]

Can anyone relate? Or explain to me why I get very bad palpitaions when I get very nervous?

I'm not talking about your general run-of-the-mill anxiety / nervousness / knot in stomach feeling, I'm talking about the nervousness you might feel due to public speaking or some other activity in which you might be being judged and watched (e.g riding an equestrian dressage test) etc...

Also, would these palps be considered dangerous, or should I just push through and ignore?

Thanks. Apart from this, I have actually been feeling great lately.

[lieze]

I get these too and notice my heart rate seems very hyper reactive to social situations etc etc that would cause me anxiety.

I think for the most part since it is anxiety causing it so long as your heart rate doesn't go too high it's probably nothing to worry about. It might be a minor abnormality or response to an adrenaline surge.

Just try to relax and do some slow steady breathing and see if you can bring your heart rate down a bit. Make sure you don't breathe too fast or too often pace your breathing so that you don't hyperventilate and you should be just fine.

It is very uncomfortable but the feeling will pass usually within 15 minutes or so.

I'm hoping to eventually get more comfortable with my body and with those situations that make me nervous now so that my heart rates are similar to those I have at home.

Right now home is my safe haven and I hope to eventually be able to branch out from there.

I'm trying but still get uncomfortable in places that overstimulate me or put pressure on me in some way.

[flop]

I healthy people it is normal to experience palpitations (heightened awareness of heart beat) when under high pressure / stress situations. I remember getting horrible thudding heart beats whilst queueing up outside exam halls at school.

I think in people like us with autonomic problems we are more in-tune to autonomic symptoms like palpitations than the typical person. If your heart rate isn't excessively high for you (everyone has their own "normal" range!!) and you still feel relatively okay then I wouldn't worry about the palpitations.

Flop

[ramakentesh]

yeah most do. I think in most conditions of orthostatic blood disregulation the body uses adrenaline to vasoconstrict the extremities - either because the sympathetic system is overly zealous or because local peripheral vasoconstriction is faulty. This might lend to the body being more responsive to stress. It might even account for increased dizziness in some stressful events through beta 2 receptor overstimulation.

Some OI patients have measurable beta 1 receptor hypersensitivity - the heart pounding to minor stressfu events.

In the NET deficiency argument because of sympathetic overstimulation the body is minutely sensitive to even minor increases in sympathetic activity.

[janietrudell]

I can SO relate! A few of years ago I was going through an extremely stressful time and I felt like I was having continuous palpitations during the daytime. I went to the doc and she had me wear a holter monitor for 24 hours. The results showed that I had PVS's 12% of the time. This really unnerved me but the cardiologist said it was fine.

She didn't give me an explanation and at the time and I was just so relieved that I didn't press things.

A year later I saw a Neurologist for POTS and he didn't like the looks of the holter results so he ordered a echo cardiogram. The results were normal.

The PVC's now seem to happen only during very stressful (good or bad) times or are related to my time of the month.

I try not to worry.

Good luck to you!

Jane