Arrhythmias Support Group
Cardiac arrhythmia is a group of conditions in which the muscle contraction of the heart is irregular or is faster or slower than normal. Some arrhythmias are life-threatening medical emergencies that can cause cardiac arrest and sudden death. Others cause aggravating symptoms, such as an awareness of a different heart beat, or palpitation, which can be annoying.
I've recently been diagnosed as having a heart arrhythmia. My family on my dad's side has a long history of heart illnesses and disease. I've had heart problems my entire life. As a younger teenager, I was diagnosed with high BP, and they were looking into it to see if it had something to do with my kidneys. However, I moved away from my mom's house (which was stressful to say the least), and my BP problems resolved. Recently, I've been experiencing crazy heartbeats. My symptoms include vision blacking out, I get short of breath, dizzy, lightheaded, headaches, and I can feel my heart acting crazy. I wore the holter monitor, had an EKG, & had the echo. The EKG & echo came back fine, the holter showed a "moderate" arrhythmia. My dr put me on metoprolol. I suppose my question to you guys is how much of this is stress related? My brain is making me want to think that I don't need this medicine because I'm just too stressed & this will all resolve when I can let go of some of the major stressors in my life. Is this reasonable or am I talking myself out of something I shouldn't? Thanks for your input!
Arrhythmias are an electrical problem with the heart which can be caused by many things, Tests such as an echo are strictly for plumbing issues and will not show an arrhythmia problem.
It's basically where the electrical signal gets blocked (totally different from blocked arteries) or rerouted. It's usually due to scar tissue. There are multiple electrical connections to the heart and based on where the problem is is what type arrhythmia is.
A-Fib is where the Atrium (top) of the heart does not beat properly and basically quivers. That's why the light headedness and shortness of breath.
One thing you should try is to find the triggers for your A-Fib and modify actions to reduce the risk of triggering an episode. For example, caffeine and alcohol are both triggers for many arrhythmias and you should avoid those.
Stress and anxiety can be contributors but, are not the key in this. However stress in general is bad for your heart. You need to find things to keep your mind off of this and active, that'll help.
Good luck
@DaniRae: He said my heart rates would get up to about 160 during an episode, and I had 3 PVCs show up in a row, so that means I have tachycardia apparently. However, these were deemed "moderate" rather than severe. I'm just the type of person that avoids something final until I'm absolutely faced with it I guess. I just don't want to be back on a betablocker & then have to come off of it sometime in the future because I'm so sensitive to medicine & coming off of them makes me feel so yucky. But if I need it, I need it. Ya know? I just need to convince myself that this is needed! lol
I have PVC's and I also had AVNRT and it causes the same symptoms.
Best advice I can give is to read up and push for stress test. Then you will know for sure if it is serious or stress.