Health & Support

I consider myself to be pretty healthy. Recently, I've been getting some random shortness of breath and skipping/rapid heart flutters. At they gym, at home, at work, wherever. What could possibly be wrong? If it sounds serious enough I should go see my GP I will, but I don't have health insurance right now and would be fronting the cash.

Stats: I'm 5'4", 145ish lbs and 21 yrs old. I work out 4-5 days/wk, run 5-10 miles/wk, elliptical, stairmaster, circuit and weight training. Typical gym stuff.

I have the same. My doctor said it was probably do to my low blood pressure, but I'm not sure I believe her.

Maybe get it checked out?

This definately warrents going to a cardiologist... I don't think there is any more sensible advice.

I think you should get at least an EKG done. My mom who is elderly started feeling that way about a month ago. The EKG showed up abnormal and even though we had insurance, we end up paying out of pocket because the insurance didn't cover this new CT scan. Anyway, the scan showed up that she had two blocked arteries leading to her heart. Her condition is being controlled by medication, but eating very healthy as she did still didn't prevent that. So, I suggest you put the money out and get a check up.

I get a similar thing, especially lately.  I've been to the doctor when they first started, which was when I was around your age or so... had an EKG, which was normal, and wore a device to record my heartbeat for 24 hours and they said it was nothing to worry about, just heart palipitations probably due to stress.  They are worse if I have caffeine.  Are you stressed out??  I've been getting them a lot lately and they scare me sometimes, but I've been pretty stressed lately... busy at work, dog had surgery, car broke down, etc.  If you're kind of a nervous person or high-strung, then this may be what it is, but if you can afford it, I'd definitely recommend you get it checked to make certain.  Good luck!  :-)

i used to get what u describe...i cut out all caffeine and it went away.....even though i am a smoker, it was the caffeine that gave me the heart palps.

You should definately get it checked out.  I work as a cardiology tech and though sometimes those symptoms are from stress or caffeine, they can also be caused by many different types of cardiac issues.  I would make a log of when they happen and what you are doing/eating/drinking at the time and take it to your GP or go to a local free clinic. Most cities have some version of a free clinic that can give you some basic care and/or tell you if it warrents more care.

Go to your regular doctor, he/she will decide what needs to be done and what referrals are necessary.

I don't drink sodas or really anything with caffeine for that matter. Maybe a no-sugar hot cocoa mix once a week. I'm not even sure if those have caffeine. I had a crystal light this morning with my water but it's never bothered me for  the occasional times that I drink it. I wouldn't say I'm under too much stress. My job is low key and there is little stress involved. The only major life thing that's bothering me is my husband being unemployed for the past 3 months.

Thanks for the advice so far. I have been keeping record (starting today at least) of when they occur. The first today was while I was at work this afternoon. The second was just about 20 minutes ago while I was eating dinner about 30 minutes after getting home from the gym. 

I'll look into the free clinic idea too.

I used to get those, and it turned out to be panic attacks brought on by GI discomfort (gas putting pressure on my esophagus). It felt like I couldn't breathe, which would freak me out. I was afraid I was having a heart attack.

Went to the emergency room a couple of times, with two clear EKGs, before I figured out what was going on. Definitely a good idea to get it checked out, though, to eliminate the possibility.

I have the same problem as well as my daughters I was diagnosed with mitro valve prolapse and I take a baby asprin a day  stress sometimes makes it worse but my dr said taking an asprin a day works and he was right ive taking them since i was 28  MIne always feels like a big butterfly inside my chest so you may want to go get checked

It is SO weird to log on and see this today because just one week ago I started having the same problems and was a bit freaked out about it.  I have had problems with the shortness of breath (technically it's hyperventilation) for quite a long time now.  I have had it throughout my life, brought on by anxiety.  More recently, however - in the last year or so, I have discovered that the severity has increased since I began taking certain medications - which have exacerbated the problem.

The important thing to remember when you begin hyperventilating is that the feeling that you can't get enough air into your lungs is FALSE.  This can be really really difficult and you'll probably keep finding yourself wanting to take a deep breath.  Keeping forcing yourself to breathe regularly and slowly and the situation should correct itself in a matter of minutes.  If you find that you cannot control it in this manner, see a physician.

The feeling of your heart skipping a beat goes hand in hand with the hyperventilation - in almost all cases it is the result of stress and/or anxiety.  You will have a much better understanding of what you are experiencing if you check out the AHA (American Heart Association) website at: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml? identifier=10. It helped me TREMENDOUSLY.  Just do a google search on "heart skipping a beat" and you will find a ton of medical information about the phenomena right on the first page of results.

There you can check out all kinds of different heart issues and it gives descriptions of each one and lets you know just how serious it really is.  Until I found this website, I was REALLY freaking out - which made the heart thing worse.  As soon as I read the material, however, I found that, over the next 24 hours or so, the feeling of it skipping a beat began happening less and less often.  I think not knowing what the problem was was stressing me out even more and making it do it worse.  Once I knew it was nothing to worry about, I didn't - and it got so much better.

It has still happened on occassion since then however.  Each time I have been able to make it stop by controlling/slowing my breathing, performing progressive muscle relaxation, and using self-talk to tell myself that the thing I am stressing about is not important enough to generate a heart arrythmia... lol.  I can have them start just by realizing that I missed the due date on my electric bill...lol.  If you can identify the thoughts or situations that are bringing them on, you will have a much better chance of reducing and/or eliminating them.

I have even had multiple occassions of severe chest pain - enough that I couldn't move and it hurt to breathe.  One even happened in the hospital when I was in for pre-term labor.  After EKGs and other tests, they determined that it was not heart related at all, but anxiety driven.  They gave me a valium and it disappeared completely within an hour or two.  During these episodes I am not able to control them through breathing or meditation.  They seem to be involuntary.  Anti-anxiety medication taken at the onset of the pain, however, has always stopped them.  Now I worry that if I did have a heart attack I might not recognize it for what it was, thinking, instead that it was another anxiety related episode.

All that being said, only YOU can decide whether or not YOU need to see a physician.  Even if it is simply anxiety - you may need to consult someone who can teach you techniques to lower your anxiety or even prescribe medications to do so.  Hopefully, reading the information at the AHA website will help to give you enough information to make a decision as to whether or not you should see a physician.

I hope this has helped and that you will be feeling better soon.

Thank you for the helpful info. It's nice to know that others have similar issues. I feel like my heart will nearly jump out of my chest but I think practicing the calming breathing will help. (I have been trying taking really deep breaths and I guess that's the opposite of what I should be doing!) I will continue to pirooze around the AHA link and see what else I can find out!

See your doctor and get an order for thyroid blood tests that you can get when you are having an attack.  I rushed to my MD after 2 years of putting up with similar attacks and going through cardio tests, monitors, stress-EKGs, everything.  The blood test showed hyperthyroidism.  I have multi-nodular goiters in the thyroid that overproduce hormone on occasion and that causes my heart rate to go up, anxiety to increase and shortness of breath.  Am on thyroid med now and beta blockers.  DON'T GIVE UP.  It took over 2 years for me to get the meds I need and I now understand what the deal has been with my weight for 20 years.  The most important thing is to get the blood tested DURING an attack.  Otherwise the blood levels may show "normal".

the fluttering of your heart is called a palpitation, i would do some reading on them first, they are linked to medical problems but can also be caused by stress and anxiety. I get them when I have panic attacks, and I also have shortness of breath and nausea with those too.