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Heart palpitations

Anyone else suffer with heart palpitations often. I went to the doctors about it 3 times and they disregarded it. I’ve read that they can be caused by nicotine, alcohol and caffeine but I don’t smoke, drink or have any caffeine (as it gives me bad headaches). I’ve also read that it can be due to stress and anxiety but I suffer from them even on days where I don’t have a worry in the world. They mainly come when I exercise but not always. Most of the time they last 5-15 minutes and then my heart rate suddenly slows down significantly until it’s even slower than normal. My longest one lasted an hour. I’ve suffered with them since I was a young child. I remember I went home from primary school once because I was having a bad one. They make my breathing feel funny and make me dizzy and light headed. Sometimes I feel sick as well. As soon as they stop I feel completely fine.

I know a lot of people will say to go to a doctor about this but like I’ve said, I’ve been multiple times and they don’t seem concerned. Does anyone else get this problem and what do you do other than just controlled breathing and drinking water to calm them down?

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Original post by Anonymous
Anyone else suffer with heart palpitations often. I went to the doctors about it 3 times and they disregarded it. I’ve read that they can be caused by nicotine, alcohol and caffeine but I don’t smoke, drink or have any caffeine (as it gives me bad headaches). I’ve also read that it can be due to stress and anxiety but I suffer from them even on days where I don’t have a worry in the world. They mainly come when I exercise but not always. Most of the time they last 5-15 minutes and then my heart rate suddenly slows down significantly until it’s even slower than normal. My longest one lasted an hour. I’ve suffered with them since I was a young child. I remember I went home from primary school once because I was having a bad one. They make my breathing feel funny and make me dizzy and light headed. Sometimes I feel sick as well. As soon as they stop I feel completely fine.

I know a lot of people will say to go to a doctor about this but like I’ve said, I’ve been multiple times and they don’t seem concerned. Does anyone else get this problem and what do you do other than just controlled breathing and drinking water to calm them down?

have you had a blood test or ecg?
Reply 2
Yeah, I have palpitations (because of various reasons). Speak to your GP with an emphasis on how they make you feel, and what you're unable to do during them. Feel better soon OP.
Reply 3
Original post by Anonymous
have you had a blood test or ecg?

I had a blood test but it came back perfectly fine
Reply 4
Original post by Pathway
Yeah, I have palpitations (because of various reasons). Speak to your GP with an emphasis on how they make you feel, and what you're unable to do during them. Feel better soon OP.

Thank you, hope you are well. I have tried multiple times and had a blood test but everything came back fine. They seem to think it’s normal but it doesn’t feel normal to me lol
Reply 5
Original post by Anonymous
Thank you, hope you are well. I have tried multiple times and had a blood test but everything came back fine. They seem to think it’s normal but it doesn’t feel normal to me lol


Ah, my situation is pretty complicated, but I'm getting good care lol. Thank you though.

You mention anxiety, have you ever sought treatment for it? It could be that, even if you don't feel the mental anxiety component of it. Bodies do weird things when they're under stress from MH problems.
Reply 6
Thank youuu, but I already have 3 times :frown:
Reply 7
Original post by Pathway
Ah, my situation is pretty complicated, but I'm getting good care lol. Thank you though.

You mention anxiety, have you ever sought treatment for it? It could be that, even if you don't feel the mental anxiety component of it. Bodies do weird things when they're under stress from MH problems.

I’ve been to therapy for depression but not anxiety (the therapy was quite bad though haha). I get social anxiety often and then just the more basic anxieties like exam anxiety. However when I was younger I didn’t have those problems but I still had the palpitations. And the fact that most of them come when I exercise suggests that maybe it’s the strain on the heart rather than my mental health.
Reply 8
Original post by Anonymous
I’ve been to therapy for depression but not anxiety (the therapy was quite bad though haha). I get social anxiety often and then just the more basic anxieties like exam anxiety. However when I was younger I didn’t have those problems but I still had the palpitations. And the fact that most of them come when I exercise suggests that maybe it’s the strain on the heart rather than my mental health.


Ah, have they ever sent you to see a cardiologist? They see this sort of thing a lot, they'd be able to figure out if there was anything wrong with your heart. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with therapy, do you find the palpitations are worse on your more anxious days?
Reply 9
Original post by Pathway
Ah, have they ever sent you to see a cardiologist? They see this sort of thing a lot, they'd be able to figure out if there was anything wrong with your heart. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with therapy, do you find the palpitations are worse on your more anxious days?

I haven’t been referred to a cardiologist unfortunately. The GPs seemed to give up and so did I. I’ve just kinda got to the point where it doesn’t greatly affect my life so I just put up with it even though it’s really annoying, especially if I’m in the middle of a workout! I don’t actually think I’ve ever had a heart palpitation on a day where I’ve felt anxious actually.
Original post by Anonymous
I haven’t been referred to a cardiologist unfortunately. The GPs seemed to give up and so did I. I’ve just kinda got to the point where it doesn’t greatly affect my life so I just put up with it even though it’s really annoying, especially if I’m in the middle of a workout! I don’t actually think I’ve ever had a heart palpitation on a day where I’ve felt anxious actually.

Well, hopefully it's nothing. Even if it's quite bothersome. I hope that your GP can help in someway should you choose to see them again. :redface: Might be worth keeping a diary of what you eat/drink and what you do during your exercise and other things (physical stress, mental stress, etc.), take that to them?
Original post by Pathway
Well, hopefully it's nothing. Even if it's quite bothersome. I hope that your GP can help in someway should you choose to see them again. :redface: Might be worth keeping a diary of what you eat/drink and what you do during your exercise and other things (physical stress, mental stress, etc.), take that to them?

Yeah I can try that but I feel like they don’t really care. My experiences with doctors are always so bad :frown: I get them when I play just dance on the Wii which is not exactly strenuous exercise Yknow haha. I got one once when I was eating a slice of pizza which was random. I’ve had them when I’ve been swimming. I had a super long one which started after a PE lesson when I was 14 (I’m now 18) whilst I was changing and lasted all throughout my hour long art lesson until lunch time
I hope all is well! Let me know if you remember what the outcome of your ECG is. If they’ve only started recently within a few months that could suggest there’s an issue. When you get them try taking deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth and sit/lay super still, thats what helps mine go away. Unfortunately I’ve had mine since I was 8 though (well that’s the first time I can remember having one but I might’ve had them longer) so it’s been 10 years haha and I’m not dead yet so I hope you don’t stress out too much about it and get well soon! :h:
Original post by Anonymous
Yeah I can try that but I feel like they don’t really care. My experiences with doctors are always so bad :frown: I get them when I play just dance on the Wii which is not exactly strenuous exercise Yknow haha. I got one once when I was eating a slice of pizza which was random. I’ve had them when I’ve been swimming. I had a super long one which started after a PE lesson when I was 14 (I’m now 18) whilst I was changing and lasted all throughout my hour long art lesson until lunch time


Hmm, might be worth being persistent? Sometimes you have to be to get them to see it's an issue that is really bothering you. It took quite some years for my GP and I to see eye to eye as I'm generally very distrusting, but he's actually very good now managing all my stuff (which is very complicated). Loads of things can cause palpitations, I have a few different things going on with my heart that can be culprits (at this point it's hard to tease out what issue is causing what symptom), but at the same time for me my mental health problems can cause the same issue. It sucks. I really hope you do get to the bottom of this, if you have any questions, feel free to let me know, or send me a message.



Might be worth ringing them to see what's going on? Obviously the pandemic has put a spanner in the works, but it's still good to keep communication lines open. I hope you get answers as well.
Original post by Pathway
Hmm, might be worth being persistent? Sometimes you have to be to get them to see it's an issue that is really bothering you. It took quite some years for my GP and I to see eye to eye as I'm generally very distrusting, but he's actually very good now managing all my stuff (which is very complicated). Loads of things can cause palpitations, I have a few different things going on with my heart that can be culprits (at this point it's hard to tease out what issue is causing what symptom), but at the same time for me my mental health problems can cause the same issue. It sucks. I really hope you do get to the bottom of this, if you have any questions, feel free to let me know, or send me a message.



Might be worth ringing them to see what's going on? Obviously the pandemic has put a spanner in the works, but it's still good to keep communication lines open. I hope you get answers as well.

Okay thank you so much for your help and I hope you get better soon too! I hope one day I get a GP like yours. Just one question though, when you’re having a heart palpitation what do you do to make it stop? Is there anything you do which it helps it go away faster?
Original post by Anonymous
Okay thank you so much for your help and I hope you get better soon too! I hope one day I get a GP like yours. Just one question though, when you’re having a heart palpitation what do you do to make it stop? Is there anything you do which it helps it go away faster?


Honestly, I just leave it to run its course, nothing really helps me. My cardiologist is keen to start me on medication, but has to run it by a few of my other specialists to see if it's problematic or not. Dealing with some of my underlying causes should help me though, just because of the pandemic actually getting things going is the problem! My cardiologist is also in tertiary care which is another issue, because he wants my local cardiology team (which is in secondary care) to partly manage my care as he can't see me as often as he wants to, so the team round here (secondary care) will do medication management with him overseeing it.

Very complicated, as you can see. :tongue:
Sounds really frustrating. :frown: If I can do anything to help or if you want to talk, feel free to send me a message.
Original post by Pathway
Honestly, I just leave it to run its course, nothing really helps me. My cardiologist is keen to start me on medication, but has to run it by a few of my other specialists to see if it's problematic or not. Dealing with some of my underlying causes should help me though, just because of the pandemic actually getting things going is the problem! My cardiologist is also in tertiary care which is another issue, because he wants my local cardiology team (which is in secondary care) to partly manage my care as he can't see me as often as he wants to, so the team round here (secondary care) will do medication management with him overseeing it.

Very complicated, as you can see. :tongue:

Hopefully they can sort out the medication soon since lockdown is starting to ease! I hope the medication helps you too so you can start to feel a bit more normal.
That’s not great that they didn’t give you a time frame but I guess that’s the uncertainty of the pandemic unfortunately. Hopefully you can get your ECG super soon. Weird that they didn’t do one when you went to A&E though. Starting to feel like doctors aren’t too bothered about heart palpitations :frown: And yeah that’s a good plan to not put any strain on your body if you get them even at rest. My only other recommendations are cutting things like alcohol and caffeine out of your diet and maybe lowering your carb intake. Having more red meat might help too. And maybe try meditation and mindfulness in case yours are cause by stress or anxiety.
Original post by Anonymous
Hopefully they can sort out the medication soon since lockdown is starting to ease! I hope the medication helps you too so you can start to feel a bit more normal.


Hopefully. Thank you for the good vibes. :h:

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