Hi All,
I am a pro endurance athlete. This summer, I had my second atrial fibrillation, vagally mediated (occurs at rest, seated, after a very cold drink). It occured after 1 week or so of having lots of ectopic beats.
I did an echocardiogram, stress test, holter monitor that showed some premature atrial contractions (that can be normal for athletes detraining a lot -which happened due to an accident-).
Otherwise, everything was normal. This was confirmed by a cardiologist and electrophysiologist.
I am also having quite a few muscles twitches, in different areas, that come and go.
I am just back in training, and my heart rate seems unusually high for me, and the recovery is really not fast, this also comes with a feeling of shortness of breath (mostly at rest, and on and off)...
Right now, I am really scared to have something very serious that hasn't be diagnosed. The muscle twitches make me think I could have ALS (which really scares me), the shortness of breath makes me think it could be lung related...
I haven't seen a neurologist (I did see an acupuncturist on friday though and felt great afterwards), but I am tired of seeing drs. now and am wondering if all this is not simply anxiety/stress/depression(??) as the last 2 months have been very stressful for my wife and me...
Right now, I am really scared to have something very serious that hasn't be diagnosed. The muscle twitches make me think I could have ALS (which really scares me), the shortness of breath makes me think it could be lung related...
I haven't seen a neurologist (I did see an acupuncturist on friday though and felt great afterwards), but I am tired of seeing drs. now and am wondering if all this is not simply anxiety/stress/depression(??) as the last 2 months have been very stressful for my wife and me...
You have the classic "medstudentitis" (not that you're a med student, but it's something that med students get) which is basically an episode of hypervigilance. During my first two years of med school, I suffered from bouts of hypervigilance non-stop and it really worried me thinking that I had all these health problems when I was, in fact, okay.
I think the reason you felt better after your trip to the acupuncturist is because you were relaxed. If you stop and really think about it, you probably have a headache rightnow...or an ache in your foot, or a stomach ache. But normally, we don't notice these things; however, once hypervigilance starts, you'll notice the smallest little twitch, ache or pain, and this translates in to you thinking that there is something seriously wrong.
However, the atrial fibrillation was not "created"
(or was it?)
I had two, each time induced when mildly dehydrated, after training, and after drinking something very cold very fast. good thing is that it is easy to control this trigger if it is the only one.
one thing, that I still get, is extremely fast heart rate when changing position, or when training....although this is all relative.
This morning I got back in training, and running 7'/mi my HR was in the 160s instead of the 130s.
when sitting my HR is normal. when standing up, it gets high (around 90, against normal at 35)...
it could be POTS? however, I never feel anywhere near fainting...I ran 40' this morning and even though my HR was high, I was not ready to faint...
not sure if this is only psychological, or if other tests should be done...
I have a severe googleite case though...not a med student, but I am a Dr. in comp. science (as pro endurance sports does not really make you live, unless your name is lance) so I self diagnosed myself
successively with ALS, pheochromocytoma, POTS, etc...
can the mental really be that strong at tricking you?
Heart/Stress/Scared 
