heart skipping beats--Thanks for your replies!

Has anyone experienced your heart skipping beats? Mine started about 2 months before surgery. I went for a stress test, cardiograms, and even ended up in the ER with this skipping. All the tests came back fine, Thyroid, potassium, maganesium. Does anyone have any answers for me, By the way, I am 5 weeks post op, and kept both ovaries. Thanks....

Hey Miss Rosa, I went to my family Dr for the same thing right before my surgery because I was afraid that maybe something was wrong with my heart and wanted to get it checked out. She told me that everyones heart flutters and that most people don't even notice it. I explained that it felt like my heart would stop and then all of a sudden I would feel a couple of fast, really hard beats. She said it was anxiety and for me to try to relax. I don't know if she is right.In my opinion DR's blame everything on a virus or anxiety when thay don't know whats wrong with ya. At least you had test done she just sent me packing with xanex!!!!!

I`ve heard this is a common thing for the heart to do as we experience hormone fluctuations..........I experienced something similar and my Dr. said it `s a very common thing to have happen to menopausel and pre-menopasal women.........if you`ve had it throughly checked out ,I wouldn`t worry........ ((((HUGS)))) to you

I'm not a doctor, but here's my take based on my own personal experience. I've had an issue with the feeling of "skipped heart beats" for several years. I asked the doctor about it, they did some tests, including an EKG, which all came out normal. But, I still kept feeling the skipped beats. So, I went back to the doctor. The doctor ended up placing me on a Holter Monitor, a monitor you wear for 24 hours, that monitors your heart beat. The doctor also placed me on another monitor for 1 week, and when I felt a "skipped beat", I pressed a button on the monitor. I turned in the monitors, and they printed out the results. They figured out I had something called PVC's (premature ventricular contractions). Not a big deal, according to the doctor. Millions of people have it, and don't even know it. For those who do know it, there is medication to help reduce the perception of skipped beats. For a few people, depending on the amount of skipped beats, medication may be required to keep down the number of skipped beats. I take a very mild medication for mine, and have not had any more problems. Subsequent tests and holter monitors have all come out normal (presumably because of the low dose medication I take). If you continue experiencing the problem, I would recommend following up with your doctor. Perhaps you can ask your doctor what he/she thinks about using a Holter monitor. Good luck!!

I too have the PVC's. They can be felt more when laying down to go to sleep. Some things like caffiene can make them worse. They usually are nothing to be worried about. Some women have them when pregnant too.

I wore the 24 hour heart monitor. It turned out I had the missed beats. Noone seems to concerned about it. I really was trying to get help with continual heart palpitations. Since surgery, I don't have as many. I waas a big coffee drinker but I went down to one cup a day and sometimes none. I do drink hot tea with milk and that does not seem to affect it. I also take a beta blocker which doesn't really help but I take it anyway because I have taken it for so long. Hope you get some answers- Hugs Cath

I too have the palpitations. I have them so bad that sometimes it is like I can’t catch my breath, and for a few seconds I feel as if I am going to black out. I feel the blood drain from my body and I start to feel real weak, then it is like the blood comes back in and I feel fine. Or it is like someone has squeezed a heart valve and stopped the flow of blood to my body. It all happens within less then 60 or so seconds. I had tests done a few years ago and they did not find anything and then it just stopped happening. After my surgery it has started again. I have my 6 week check up today so I hope to be able to ask my Dr if this is something I should be concerned with, seeing as I have had test done before (heart mammogram) and nothing was found and if it is possible it is just related to hormones or exercise. It seems like every time this has happened I have been off my exercise routine for awhile when I get back into it, it starts back up and lasts for a couple months and then goes away.

I have had PVC's since a really bad gasteroentieritis in my mid 30's... cardiologist thinks it ?scarred the liningof my heart. I went through all of the tests and was ?normal??? I took medication for about a year until I realized that I was not going to die from them. Ironically, I have not had any trouble with them in years until a few weeks before my hysterectomy and this week post op. I get them when I am quiet sitting down, lying down at night and after caffeine as well. I find that if I do not eat a big meal, sleep on my left side - this seems to help. There has been a correlation with heartburn/reflux and pvcs - irritation in the esophagus can also irritate the heart and make pvc's more prevelant. I would think that those of us that had laparoscopic procedures with gas would have increased irritation from the pressure on the diaphragm.
Just a thought. It always helps to know that there are others that have the same worries - and solutions. thanks!!

I also have PVC's. A very long story short, I never had them until the day after the surgery. I have been on a merry-go-round with this since that day. EKG's, 2 halter monitors, CT scan, nuclear stress tests, etc...I am now on 2 meds (beta blocker and anti-arythmia) and neither one is working (the halter monitors proved that). The next step is to meet with an eltrophysiologist (sp?, a cardiologists who deals with the electrical aspects of the heart) and possibly have a ventricular tachardyia ablation. I don't mean to scare you by telling you all this. PVC's can run the gamet, from people who don't seem to be affected by them to people like me who are coming though their skin with shortness of breath, stabbing sensation to the chest and bothersome when breathing in.

From everything I have been told and read they are not life threatening, more of an annoyance. At times I am ok and then other times I want to check myself in the hospital. I am hoping to get off this rollercoaster soon, I have had enough. Anyway, maybe you should ask about a beta blocker to possibly calm them down. If they are bothersome I would definately follow up. Good luck.

A special thanks to all of you who answered my post on heart skipping. You all really helped me out, it's nice to have someone who experenced what I have been going through. Makes me feel that it's not all in my head, Thanks Again, God Bless...