I'm new and have a question - Heart Disorders Message Board

tomcatt38 · 08-31-2004, 06:42 PM

Hello,

I have strange tightening in my chest and my heart palpitates and skips beats even when I'm at rest, sometimes I feel it in my throat. I've had several EKG's, blood tests, an Echo, a stress test and a holter monitor several times. The Drs. tell me everything is fine. The echo showed very trivial MVP. Am I just being anxious or could they still be missing something?

Thank You for you replies

stevencu · 08-31-2004, 06:44 PM

Have you had these episodes while wearing the holter?

tomcatt38 · 08-31-2004, 08:56 PM

Yes I was feeling the palpitations when I had the holter on, but they said everything looked fine. So with everything I've had, do you think everything is OK?

stevencu · 08-31-2004, 09:37 PM

Well yeah I'd say so - I'm pretty much in the same boat as you but I feel hard spasming in my chest - I was 99% sure it was my heart. I have had about 3 resting ecgs, 1 treadmill ecg and also a holter where I had the thump and I recorded the time - the doctors said the readings didn't change.

What I'm trying to say that these pains, spams, whatever aren't always caused by your heart - you've had extensive tests and they've not found anything at all (apart from trivial mvp) - have you tried another angle? It may be your esophagus or chest muscles - anything! Extra beats are very common and the tests show they are benign so stop worrying about it.

Are you sure you don't get the palpitations, get anxious and *then* get the tightening chest? Anxiety can cause all of these symptoms. There are no more tests that you can have so the bottom line is accept the results and move on. Hard to do - I know.

Steve.

Icefire · 08-31-2004, 09:51 PM

Thanks Steve. I was wondering if it was anxiety. I used to have anxiety attacks but haven't really had any for 2 years. I thought that they were long gone. I would probably think it were something else if my chest and ribs didn't hurt, along with my shoulder and or elbows when it happened. You're probably right. I need to stop worrying about it.