[Closed] Classic Male: Singletrack Internet Doctors Advice Please!

Too much coffee/tea/ other caffeine based goodies?

How much caffeine have you been having?

Now normally I'd say MTFU, punch yourself in the face and go for a 10 mile run but actually you might want to take a gentle stroll down to the doctors this time.

Are you stress? That might be a cause.

Panic attack?

not a huge coffee drinker - I was a year or two back - maybe 10 brews on average over the week - a couple of beers a night and 3/4 espresso's over the week also (I live in France)

That being said I can't remember having this when I used to kaine the coffee.

The only thing I can think has changed is I've been working hard playing hard and probably quite behind on sleep and adrenaline is keeping me going a bit but not massively.. just more than im used to.

Not stressed in the slightest... had the best year of my life (Living in Morzine)

Construct a food/drink/sleep/exercise journal and just go see your GP. Your imagination can make things 4x as worse as it is now.

I know stress can do that as in causing panic attack or lack of sleep ... happened to me many times. Less now.

I remember when it happened to me I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest (I could see my left chest pumping so fast the shirt moved) and the heart beat/rate was super fast.

Best get a proper check up by the doctor.

Yup it does feel very weird when it happens... not the best feeling in the world thats fo sure!

Anyone know of anyways to measure resting heart and blood pressure accurately at home?

I'll probably fly back to England in May and pop into the GP with some info's.

Thanks for the journal idea - I'll start one in the morning

Not enough info here yet for anyone to draw a conclusion... let alone suggest a cause.

Key questions...

1) What do you mean by palpitations? Single missed beats? Brief runs of fast beats for a few seconds? Runs longer that that? Is the rhythm regular during the episodes? Or is it just heightened awareness of a normal heart beat?

2) What are you doing when it comes on? Night/day? Rest/exercise? Sat/Standing/just stood up?

3) More details of how you feel during the episodes, and how quickly you recover.

4) Anyone in your family die suddenly of an unknown or cardiac rhythm cause before the age of 40, or known to have a cardiomyopathy?

Without this stuff no one here can give you a useful opinion, and if they do try, don't believe them.

Occasional "missed beats" (actually premature contractions with a compensatory pause) at rest with no associated breathlessness/faintness/chest pain are ok. For everything else see your GP. Often cutting out all caffeine sorts the minor problems. Quite a few people need 24hr taping or a 7 day R device ( which is what I now use) to capture enough information to be sure what is going on.

If I thought there was something wrong with my heart I'd totally ask the internet.

Before visiting the Doctors in 2 months time 😉

Cause of them is pretty endless, pop along to your Dr's ASAP have a chat you may get a ECG that day. Some sort of follow up of will take place depending what they find.

I've had them several times, I can almost induce them and had then pretty bad last year where they would go away. I had Premature Atrial Contractions, I did the ECG myself though and then got another from the Minor Injuries Unit, seen me Dr who arranged bloods and Echocardiogram.

They couldn't find anything and they settle themselves, my Echo was spot on and blood results perfectly normal with a nice low Cholesterol. I tried assorts to try and trigger the Ecoptics but in the end it seems to be when I'm ver tired. The palpitations I can induce only last a few seconds.

Anyway it's probably nothing but needs to be checked out.

1) What do you mean by palpitations?
heightened awareness of a faster and heavier heart beat - for around 5 seconds

2) What are you doing when it comes on? Night/day? Rest/exercise? Sat/Standing/just stood up?

not when exercising (I've been skiing 2 full days a week and its not happened in this time). The first time I noticed it was on a 5 hour car journey (relaxed and driving talking to a friend) the other times have been similar or just lying in bed or about to take a sip of beer at the pub (first and last beer of the night - I'm not a big drinker)

3) More details of how you feel during the episodes, and how quickly you recover.

I get a bit panicked and tell myself to relax and breathe slow and deep.. I feel very hot and light headed / dizzy which can be stronger or weaker at random. The first time it happened I was talking and driving as normal and as soon as I felt it I looked in my mirrors and was prepaired to do an emergency pull over / stop as I knew something was wrong and I felt on the verge of passing out. Stopping talking - cool air up and breathing deeply over 1 minute got me back to normal.

4) Anyone in your family die suddenly of an unknown or cardiac rhythm cause before the age of 40, or known to have a cardiomyopathy?

none that I'm aware of.

thanks

[b]Bregante[/b] Indeed... a certain bloke on here who I advised to call 999 the last time I answered a cardiac question here managed to delay for a few days or so...

The OP this time is 24, and less likely, unless he has HOCM, ARVC or similar, or thyrotoxicosis, to have something baaaad going on. But if things persist and has symptoms associated with the episodes, should seek help early.

Yep, I think I'm less worried as doing 2x 8 hour days of full on powder skiing my heart beats as normal its just in these lull times I've been effected by it... no doubt I will see a doc when I'm home just to run it all by them but right now I don't see it as an urgent need.

Ok - OP

1) Any idea how fast? Next time count the beats in 5 secs and multiply by 12, or in 10 secs and multiply by 6. Relatively few significant cardiac rhythm problems will last only 5 seconds. PAF/PAT and other SVTs etc will usually last for longer to give symptoms... BUT... people can get a really funny feeling in their chest/throat with brief episodes. Rates of <120 not really worrying usually. >140 one might take a bit more seriously.

2) Good - like an old engine, the heart will often misfire when idling but run smoothly when the accelerator is depressed...

3) Not so good. Could be just an anxiety/hyperventillatory response, but I would not assume that. Sensation of impending faint means see Dr soon, not in 2 months.

4) Good

Plan for you might be see Dr, bloods including thyroid function, cardiac exam, resting 12 lead ECG (looking for underlying conduction issues or signs of ventricular hypertrophy) and then cardiac event monitoring of some sort. Things you can do now include stop all caffeine, reduce alcohol and avoid any street drugs.

Please go and see a Dr.

And usual T&Cs apply... who knows if I am a Dr? Yer on your own out there...!

oh sorry I should have also mentioned (always forget as it's not in my day to day life).... When I was born my mum was told I have an irregular heart beat... not sure what that means in terms of performance but I guess the clue is in the name... I've never been told not to do anything or to take precautions so I'm guessing that is also fairly common.

It isn't common....

But she was probably told something silly. Sinus arrhthymia is common, but normal and not actually truly irregular. I cannot think of any other irregular type rhythm at birth which would not merit rather more aggressive management.

Go and see a Dr....

Thanks Stoats very kind of you to take the time - Would you recommend going to a local GP and keeping shut of this info (I don't want to go in like an internet warrior with a self diagnosis and demand they do x y and z) but I do also want to be checked right!

I'll count them next time it happens also - might be a bit trickier!

I'll also stop all alcohol and caffine and see if that calms me down.

I'd see what they have to say first. If you are not happy then ask them "do I need.... " etc etc....

Go armed with a clear brief description of what you were doing when the worst one started, what it felt like, how long it lasted and how it made you feel.

Anything to do with the heart see a doctor. No once can diagnose what is wrong until you've been placed on an EKG, my brother had heart palpitations and they ran a hell of a lot of tests on him including a referral to a cardiologist to check if he was okay to exercise. In the end it was nothing to be worried about.

The chances are it's totally benign.

You do have health insurance don't you? Just go and see a doc in France, they do have them and they will see you.

Thanks again.

.. and yes I realise it is valid of a doctors check up and yes I do have health insurance so I can but I figure it'll be an easier process in the UK.. I'll ask my house mate and see what she thinks as she's quite sensible in these situations and speaks perfect french.

It was just 12 at night and I fancied seeing if anyone could shine a light with a useful response and they did perfectly! so thanks again.

Mission of thread accomplished!

I had what i would call flutters, the episodes got really bad during the period my father passed whilst i was working nights, arranging a funeral and i spank the coffee hard up to 6-8 cups a day at least. Went to the docs, had full bloods done and an ECG oh and blood pressure which was 160/100 iirc.

A week or so after this, having cut down my coffee intake, father buried etc my blood pressure was at 143/86 and the flutters had susided a lot to a couple of episodes a day. Now though i rarely get the flutters although i do still get them once in a while BP is still 140/90 (Today). Only other thing to report is on the odd ride in the first 10 mins or so i sometimes get a big thump in the centre of my breastbone, other than that nowt else.

I did (still am really if honest) become paranoid of every little thing to do with the chest/heart area. I also sometimes get mild panic attacks especially as i work alone sometimes out in the sticks at night but i am learning to curb those feelings.

I would say take the advice of the others above to visit your Doc asap to get the ball rolling and to confirm that you are indeed ok as the mind is a terrible trickster on the body.

I suffer with palaptations too, where my heart speeds up very very fast for several minutes or longer.
They mostly come on when i am at rest, after i have been stressed/busy.
If you visit your doctors they will run some tests.

My gp did an ecg which was not normal, got referred to a cardiologist who did more ecgs and i had an event recorder.
My heart scan was fine but the hospital lost my event recorder details so have no idea what they would show as i didnt do another one.

So i decided they are caused by stress as they more i think about them i can almost make it happen. I may be wrong of course 😐

I might return to the gp to get all my results as this thread has just reminded me of it 🙂

I'm back!

So over the last couple of weeks I've not passed out but had quite a few light headed moments each day and my heart has a very soft dull pain (light 4% noticeable..) very soft! I'm not sure if I'm just hyper sensitive to all this stuff as I'm thinking about my heart! (most likely id say!)

I went to a French doc today who said my blood pressure and heart rate are fine 120/60 and they couldn't hear anything weird or strange with the beat... just to be sure I've got a blood test in the morning to rule out two things but I'm not 100% sure what she said they were but I'll get the test anyway...

However she also said to be sure I should go to the hospital and have a ultrasound type thing (tachycardie?) to take a better look to rule it all out... turns out it'll take until at least june to get an apointment so might have to see about getting it in the uk sooner....

I feel good just a bit light headed... wondering if its maybe my way of fighting a specific cold/flu type thing as I do live in a ski town so theres lots of stuff flying about!

any extra doctory thought would be great on the above info