24 Hour ECG

Mental health
1

I made a thread a bit go saying that i'm having an echocardiogram and a 72 hour ECG because im struggling to beleive all these chest pains/flutters/Ectopic beats are down to anxiety, even though i admit myelf that i do have quiet high anxiety it's just hard to wrap my head around just what it can do to your body.

Anyway, long story short i went to the doctors about my chest pains, he said he could hear a heart murmur (ive been to god knows how many other doctors and they've never heard anything) he said it's properly just an innocent one but he'll refer me to a cardioligist just be to safe. Anyone with health anxiety will understand that I didnt think the murmur was innocent at all, i diagnosed myself with leaking heart valves, everything. One thing certain in my mind, was that its not an innocent one! Days waiting for the echo was hell, couldn't function properly at all anxiety was at an all time high, i was devasted.

Had my Echocardiogram, got my results a week or two later and it was all clear, turns out my heart murmur was innocent after all. I have read on a few websites that very very high anxiety can cause an innocent heart murmur, where as some websites beg to differ, but either way whether it's my anxiety or not causing it, its innocent and no harm to me.

Now i had my 72 hour ECG about a week after my echocardiogram, on the 22nd august. I had a follow up appointment with my cardioligist on the 5th september where he said that my ECG results wasn't ready yet, but he said he doesn't think theres going to be anything of concern anyway. Walked away from there a bit gutted that i didnt get an answer either way, health anxiety you just want a piece of paper with your test results on! So now we're on 1st October and i still haven't had anything, thats coming up to 6 weeks waiting for my ECG results? Is that normal? it seems silly it's took this long, it's not nice having some pending heart results over you day to day, wondering if it's all clear or not. A month and half to send me a letter with my results on? I don't know whether to take comfort in maybe if there was anything wrong they'd have sent me something by now getting me in for another appointment, or maybe they're just slow looking at it, i don't know what to think i just want my results lol

So basically anyone who's had a 24 hour ECG, how long did your results take to come through? Is it worth my ringing up and chasing them?

Cheers

 

2

You poor thing, I can so relate to you, I've been through the same, chest pain so severe I've been rushed to A&E...twice. Had ECG's, chest X-rays, the lot, all coming back normal. Weird that anxiety can cause so many horrible physical symptoms. 

But don't worry about your results, I work in a private hospital and deal with results on a daily basis. If there was anything wrong, trust me you'd know by now. They have taken way to long to report on your results but if there was anything lurking that looked suspicious, they would have told you on the day of brought you back in sooner. Chances are they have your results but they having written up the final copy or your consultant/doctor hasn't seen them yet, therefore cannot pass the results on. Pain in the butt i know, but I'm afraid the NHS are under along of strain at the moment. But take comfort in the fact that it isn't anything serious. Let me know how you get on.

3

You poor thing, I can so relate to you, I've been through the same, chest pain so severe I've been rushed to A&E...twice. Had ECG's, chest X-rays, the lot, all coming back normal. Weird that anxiety can cause so many horrible physical symptoms. 

But don't worry about your results, I work in a private hospital and deal with results on a daily basis. If there was anything wrong, trust me you'd know by now. They have taken way to long to report on your results but if there was anything lurking that looked suspicious, they would have told you on the day of brought you back in sooner. Chances are they have your results but they having written up the final copy or your consultant/doctor hasn't seen them yet, therefore cannot pass the results on. Pain in the butt i know, but I'm afraid the NHS are under along of strain at the moment. But take comfort in the fact that it isn't anything serious. Let me know how you get on.

4

You poor thing, I can so relate to you, I've been through the same, chest pain so severe I've been rushed to A&E...twice. Had ECG's, chest X-rays, the lot, all coming back normal. Weird that anxiety can cause so many horrible physical symptoms. 

But don't worry about your results, I work in a private hospital and deal with results on a daily basis. If there was anything wrong, trust me you'd know by now. They have taken way to long to report on your results but if there was anything lurking that looked suspicious, they would have told you on the day of brought you back in sooner. Chances are they have your results but they having written up the final copy or your consultant/doctor hasn't seen them yet, therefore cannot pass the results on. Pain in the butt i know, but I'm afraid the NHS are under along of strain at the moment. But take comfort in the fact that it isn't anything serious. Let me know how you get on.

5

You poor thing, I can so relate to you, I've been through the same, chest pain so severe I've been rushed to A&E...twice. Had ECG's, chest X-rays, the lot, all coming back normal. Weird that anxiety can cause so many horrible physical symptoms. 

But don't worry about your results, I work in a private hospital and deal with results on a daily basis. If there was anything wrong, trust me you'd know by now. They have taken way to long to report on your results but if there was anything lurking that looked suspicious, they would have told you on the day of brought you back in sooner. Chances are they have your results but they having written up the final copy or your consultant/doctor hasn't seen them yet, therefore cannot pass the results on. Pain in the butt i know, but I'm afraid the NHS are under along of strain at the moment. But take comfort in the fact that it isn't anything serious. Let me know how you get on.

6

Sorry about the multiple replies, not quite sure what happened there.

7

Exhausting isn't it! It's so hard to just accept it's anxiety and that your heart's absolutley fine. I'm only 22 and I'm waiting on heart scan results, not how i imagined it lol 

Yeah that's what i thought, if there was anything wrong then they would of been in contact by now, when i rang up to get my Echo results she said 'give me a day to look through them but if there abnormal they have a stamp on the folder saying 'abnormal, please deal with immediatly' so im presuming theres a similar protocol for the ECG's and they defiantly havent dealt with it immediatly haha! I'll wait one more day and then give them a ring, i'm off on holiday next friday and would defiantly love to have the results by then.

8

ecg results are usually instant because they are recorded on the graph and the Dr can read if there is any problem. It depends who conducted the ecg and their diagnosis qualifications.  A Dr should be able to tell you on the spot if they have spotted an abnormality.

Richard

9

I have a heart murmur - was discovered when I was 20 (30 years ago) and in hospital with appendicitis. I thought that meant I had a 'heart condition' but, many examinations, ECGs, etc later it became clear that it is just something some people have and nothing to worry about in itself. I have also suffered for many years from anxiety, so when the first panic attack came along I really thought I was having a heart attack - palpitations like a bird was fluttering in my chest. I was checked over again and diagnosed with anxiety. It still scares me, the missing heartbeats and palpitations don't feel 'safe' especially knowing about the heart murmur, but it passes. I don't think you need to worry about the ECG results - a friend was told there and then when he had a condition, otherwise it is just routine scanning and results come through when they are ready. You can always get your doctor to chase them if you are really worried. Let us know how you get on!

10

Thanks smile you'd be suprised how many people have a innocent heart murmur, i saw somewhere that 10% have an innocent murmur! so it's actually not that uncommon. ive had countless normal ecg's, two stress ecg's and now echo, so the 24h monitor is the last test they can do for me 

11

I'm in the same boat! I have palpitations, heart flutters where I feel faint, & been rushed to hospital with racing heart going 220 beats a min. Allotment tests so far are normal and I'm awaiting a heart scan to see. All my doctors have said it's anxiety and like you I just cannot believe that anxiety can cause my body to react so badly even when I'm feeling calm

It's a vicious circle I'm anxious about my heart, but my hearts reacting to being anxious!! We can't win!

My 24hr ecg came back within a day or so x

12

Oh those flutters in your chest.  I get them all the time, but I just assumed it was due to anxiety.  I hate them.  I can understand why peoploe would think it is due to your heart, and I am glad that your results showed you do not have anything wrong with your heart.  The question is, were you told how to stop the anxiety doing this to your heart?  That is what we need to know.  Do we just live with this continue palpitations and flutters and accept it is anxiety?  

Let us know what your results show.  If you find out there is nothing wrong with your heart, what will you do?  How do we continue to live with this?

13

How do we deal with these palpitations?  If it is anxiety can we control how it affects our heart?

14

Hello I am too.  How do we deal with these palpitations?  Do we just learn to live with them?  

15

Sorry I meant my name is Anne too.  Do you manage to live with the heart flutters?

16

Oh so many of us with these heart palpitations and flutters.  How do we cope with them.  The breathing exercises and relaxations do not seem to help me.  Do we just assume that anxiety does this to us?

17

Hi Anne, how do we live with these palpitations and flutters you ask. Well, every time it happens I do get scared, can't understand why suddenly I am anxious enough to cause them when actually I am just making the bed or sitting in the garden with no special stress. I do find the belly breathing works for me. It is the opposite to what you want to do, which is gulp air, but it tells your body there is nothing to fear as you are breathing deeply and then the heart goes back to normal. I will post an extract from the web page I found which explained this. It may work for you and the others on this thread.

18

Here's the extract: 

A Breathing Exercise

to Calm Panic Attacks

Here's a simple breathing exercise that will restore your comfortable breathing and soothe many of the physical symptoms of a panic attack.

You may have already tried deep breathing and not had much success in soothing your panic symptoms. The reason for that is that most descriptions of deep breathing leave out a critical step. I'm going to show you how to do it right.

A simple, but powerful, technique

If you have Panic Disorder or Social Phobia, this deep breathing exercise may be the single most important coping technique I can show you. It's also useful with other anxiety disorders in which the physical symptoms are less prominent, but still present. Comfortable, deep breathing is the key to relaxation. All the the traditional relaxation methods (yoga, meditation, hypnosis) place a central emphasis on breathing.

I can't catch my breath!

Feeling like "I can't catch my breath!" is probably the most common of all panic symptoms. Your breathing feels labored, you strain to take a deep breath, you fear you're not going to get it - and the harder you try, the worse it feels!

When you feel short of breath, it doesn't mean you're not getting enough air. In fact, people will often say "I can't catch my breath", and this shows that they're getting air, because we talk by making air vibrate. If you're talking, you're breathing! It's not a dangerous symptom.

But it does get people very scared, and it produces other uncomfortable physical symptoms, so it's worth your while to be able to correct it.

You've probably already had it told to you, and you've probably also read it as well, that what you need to do is "take a deep breath". If you're like most people, that advice hasn't helped you much. It's good advice, but it's incomplete. It doesn't tell you how to take a deep breath. A good breathing exercise should tell you how to take a deep breath, and that's what I'm going to do.

Here's the Key

When you feel like you can't catch your breath, it's because you forgot to do something.

You forgot to exhale.

That's right. Before you can take a deep breath, you have to give one away. Why? Because, when you've been breathing in a short, shallow manner (from your chest), if you try and take a deep inhale, you just can't do it. All you can do is take a more labored, shallow breath from your chest. That will give you all the air you need, but it won't feel good.

Go ahead, try that now and see what I mean. Put one hand on your chest, the other on your belly. Breathe very shallowly from your chest a few times, then try to take a deep breath. I think you'll find that, when you inhale, you use your chest muscles, rather than your diaphragm, or belly.

When you breathe in this shallow manner, you get all the air you need to live, but you can also get other symptoms which add to your panic.

You get chest pain or heaviness, because you've tightened the muscles of your chest to an uncomfortable degree. (The chest pain people feel in a panic attack isn't from the heart, it's from the muscles of the chest). You feel lightheaded or dizzy, because shallow breathing can produce the same sensations as hyperventilation. You also get a more rapid heartbeat, and maybe numbness or tingling in the extremities as well.

All from breathing short and shallow!

One of the very first things I ask my patients with panic disorder to do is to learn and practice belly breathing. I recommend it to you as well. Here's the breathing exercise.

Belly Breathing Exercise

1. Place one hand just above your belt line, and the other on your chest, right over the breastbone. You can use your hands as a simple biofeedback device. Your hands will tell you what part of your body, and what muscles, you are using to breathe.

2. Open your mouth and gently sigh, as if someone had just told you something really annoying. As you do, let your shoulders and the muscles of your upper body relax, down, with the exhale. The point of the sigh is not to completely empty your lungs. It's just to relax the muscles of your upper body.

3. Close your mouth and pause for a few seconds.

4. Keep your mouth closed and inhale slowly through your nose by pushing your stomach out. The movement of your stomach precedes the inhalation by just the tiniest fraction of a second, because it's this motion which is pulling the air in. When you've inhaled as much air as you can comfortably (without throwing your upper body into it), just stop. You're finished with that inhale.

5. Pause. How long? You decide. I'm not going to give you a specific count, because everybody counts at a different rate, and everybody has different size lungs. Pause briefly for whatever time feels comfortable. However, be aware that when you breathe this way, you are taking larger breaths than you're used to. For this reason, it's necessary to breathe more slowly than you're used to. If you breathe at the same rate you use with your small, shallow breaths, you will probably feel a little lightheaded from over breathing, and it might make you yawn. Neither is harmful. They're just signals to slow down. Follow them!

6. Open your mouth. Exhale through your mouth by pulling your belly in.

7. Pause.

8. Continue with Steps 4-7. 

19

I have been sitting at my computer practising this.  yes I have been breathing shallowly through my chest.  I am going to try to breathe from my tummy more.  Thank you for this.  Have you found it has helped you?  So when we feel anxious, if we breathe slowly and deeply from our tummy, it should calm us down, right?

Oh feeling anxious today so am doing this breathing.  Thanks

20

Thank you.  I have replied fuller below.