Wiz

First of all, I am no stranger to palpitations, that skipped beat fluttering feeling where your heart gives you that nice big "thump" in your chest and throat, etc.(pvcs, pacs, or whatever, I don't know how to distinguish them)that gives you a nice little jump. Most of the time, even when they are reoccuring continuosly, there is no pain, maybe a little bit of pressure but I wouldn't call it a pain whatsoever. You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Now I'm getting something new. I am getting a short painful squeeze that lasts a millisecond behind my breastbone, an inch or so left of center and a couple of inches below my shoulder blade. In other words, in about the same area that you would feel the biggest "thump" of a PVC/PAC/whatever. I guess "squeeze" would be the best word to describe it, or a knife like jab, but more of a squeeze. It happens so quickly and is of such short duration that I haven't been able to really sit down and analyze it fully.

They are always accompanied by a couple of palpitations or a few brief seconds of fluttering, sometimes at the same time where it feels like it is part of the sensation of a palpitation, and other times it occurs a milli second before or a milli second after a palpitation or fluttering sensation, or in the middle of a fluttering sensation.
In other words, I can use the pain to predict a short 3 second or so run of palpitations, or I can use a small run of slight fluttering to predict that painful squeeze that lasts less than a second as they occur virtually at the same time, but not necessarily at the same time, they seem to be part of each other (or one causes the other?).

Anyway, I'm bringing this up as I am getting quite a few a day lately. I have had them before but they were so far and few between that I didn't worry about them. I did bring them up with a cardiologist quite a while ago and he said the pain was probably caused by that extra forceful beat. Yet on a message board a doctor commented that palpitations don't cause pain. That's why I'm reluctant to use the term "painful palpitation" just yet.
My palpitations went away almost completely for several months.

Now this pain/palp combination is back with a vengence. It occurs most commonly (in order from most to least common times) when: I bending down to pick something up quickly; after I stand up from squatting or leaning down to pick something up; quickly getting up and standing from a slouched sitting position; exercising (usually the easiest to predict as I'll get a slight fluttering or a gradual increase in fluttering seconds before it happens); just walking too fast.

Now, I have just taken on a more stressful job within the last month or so, I haven't gotten as much sleep as I'd like, and I've been drinking a bit more than usual due to the stress (not a good idea), mostly a few glasses of red wine here and there for a couple weeks (not a good idea). I cut out the alcohol completely about 9 days ago, not a drop. I do not smoke, I do not take anything with caffiene whatsoever, I haven't had anything remotely resembling a panic attack lately but I have taken a bit of Xanax here and there to take the edge off my job and stress from lack of sleep.
I do exercise and am more fit now than in the last few years, my pulse rate has decreased 10 beats per min since last year and blood pressure decreased 10 points since last year as well, both of which were normal to begin with.

I'm not sure if this is related but I'll throw it in anyway. I've also always noticed a bit of a blood pressure change on sometimes even slight posture change, ie. things get a bit hazy (vision a bit cloudy) lightheaded and I get a migraine-painful-pulsating feeling, not necessarliy limited to my head but also in my throat, chest, etc.
I do have a bit of low blood pressure from time to time over the past several years. Again, this may have no relevence.

Anyway, thanks for reading, please share your thoughts and experiences please, and I will do the same when I find out more for those of you that may experience something similiar. I will be making an appointment with a cardiologist sometime this week (probably won't see him for a couple weeks), I want to be prepared with what I should ask him.



[This message has been edited by Wiz (edited 06-14-2003).]