Strange thumping

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Nupur

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 13, 2008
Messages
411
Location
SF Bay Area, CA
All day today, since last nite, my heart is thumping kind of hard, almost against the chest wall. I can feel it if I put my hand on it. HR goes between 80 and higher. I had a bit of exertion today and it's worse now so I took a Xanax. The panick went away but thumping continues, I feel it almost shaking a bit. Is this bad? Should I be concerned? I don't feel dizzy or short of breath, but I am scared. Thanks for any advice!

Nupur
 
Nupur:

I would get it checked out ASAP -- consider going to the ER if necessary.
I had the same symptoms pre-op. As time progressed, so did the symptoms, particularly on the left side of my body.
 
Nupur,if in dought check things out,but for me when i got
my cancelled surgery call and news of accident of sugeon
my heart did the worst at my panick,all that day and all that night
just tucking my arm at rest my heart thumped so hard it could actually
be felt through that area in my left hand,i couldn't stand it
I ended up having to go after getting my doc on the phone to
get him to check and it was a panic stress on my part,i was offered
something to relax,but refused and dealt with it the whole night
along with headache,tylenol seemed to work abit for me.
It was stress and panick and it's an awful feeling when it thumps
and i could actually feel it in my hand if put near my heart area
I recall i couldnot lay down or lie on my left side.It lasted into
the next morning for me.i dont know if this is how you feel but
you should immediately get checked if worse.
take care.......i'll send some cyber prayers for you.

zipper2 (DEB)
 
You should definitely get it checked out if youre worried. Better safe than sorry. Especially since you already took xanax and now feel less panicky I would be more apt to get it checked because it might not just be anxiety.
 
Thanks all

Thanks all

DEb (zipper2) I am sorry about your surgey, what a strange thing to happen.

Marsha, it does get worse if I sleep on my left side, bad enough to wake me up.

My symptom, I think, is not caused by panic, but it causes panic. I have taken Xanax two days in a row now. I am so embarrassed to ask my husband to take me to the ER again (it has happened twice before), and we have some friends coming over tomorrow for lunch, I feel silly to cancel that for yest another "panic attack related incident". It's so hard to know what's real and what's not, and when to act. This has been the hardest part of being in the waiting room. I feel silly perhaps overacting to these things, but this has bothered me for two days now and I can't sleep. So, maybe, tomorrow if this continues, I will go to the urgent care, or if not, maybe try to see my doctor next week.

Beha, good luck with your upcoming surgery!

Thanks
Nupur
 
When I was in high school they had a paramedic come in and instruct us on CPR and he shared a lot of stories. The primary theme to his stories was that people get embarrassed when they have a health problem. They make excuses for it, they hide in the bathroom thinking it will go away, and a good majority of the people found dead are found IN the bathroom. I guess my point is that you shouldn't feel shame about it. The first year I had PVCs and PACs (which are considered harmless) I probably went to the hospital 6 or 7 times.. so I know the pure ignominy one can feel from a false alarm.

That being said, sometimes my reminder that I forgot to take my cardiac medication is when my heart pounds ridiculously hard.
 
"I am so embarrassed to ask my husband to take me to the ER again" I'm sorry but thats nuts !
Your heart is about as important as it gets... Definately more important than lunch with friends ! Especially after two days worry and sleepless nights. If you're worried, put yourself first, every time.
Hope you feel better soon.
Justin
 
i had similar experience my heart could be seen thuming through my t`shirt and when i laid down in bed it felt like a sort of earth quake and i had to get up ,i could see my heart thumping in the mirror i had 24 hour holter and turned out to be pvc`s and of no significance according to my cardiolgist ,but i would get it checked out
just read your second post about it does get worse sleeping on left side thats reminded me, that is exactly what happened to me and now i always sleep on my right side
 
Exertion and stress can cause the heart to pound strongly and in some cases will trigger an episode of SVT.
This can be scary because we feel out of control. I have gone to the ER for a few of those episodes and even when they tell me that I'm in no danger, I wait it out while in hospital.
I understand you not wanting to ruin your lunch plans; it is a reminder that we are not able to do our "normal" routine and that our condition is starting to affect our life.
Best wishes.
 
Thanks everyone, I slept a little more last nite and feel slightly better (thumping not as bad) but still feeling not quite right. The last two times I have followed through and gone to the ER, they told me I was having serious panic attacks (adrenaline shock they told me one time), so naturally now I feel like maybe it's the same thing. I am going to research PVC a little and see how I feel throughout the day. I have altered lunch plans to go out instead of cooking, followed by cake at home (for celebrating a friend's birthday), but there will still be kids running around, and washing up and all that, I'll ask my husband to do more. And if at any point the thumping gets out of control, I will go to the ER today. Thanks everyone!
 
deano89 said:
i had similar experience my heart could be seen thuming through my t`shirt and when i laid down in bed it felt like a sort of earth quake and i had to get up ,i could see my heart thumping in the mirror i had 24 hour holter and turned out to be pvc`s and of no significance according to my cardiolgist ,but i would get it checked out
just read your second post about it does get worse sleeping on left side thats reminded me, that is exactly what happened to me and now i always sleep on my right side
Click to expand...

That was a great description!! For me, however, the pre-op PVC's were not as bad as the bout I had about 6 weeks post-op!! I honestly felt like a cartoon character with the big red heart bouncing out of my body!

Nupur. This stuff is scary. You have several hundred people here who will strongly agree with you how scary it can be!! You are trying to get used to it all. Please consider that part of it. Like anything, something new takes time to get used to. Did you learn to be a good driver of a car all in one day? Did you learn to be a good mother in a week? Did your first 5 meals come out perfectly? No. Not possible. There are many layers of knowledge that come from experience and practice. You are learning how to figure out what is an important physical feeling, and what is something you just need to learn to live with.

This is the approach I would like to see you take with yourself, and with your husband (who I'm sure is deeply troubled and supportive of your condition and feeling very helpless as to how to support you best....it is a difficult role). Take each new incident and learn about it. If your heart is driving you crazy, ask your cardiologist to find out why. If you have not determined that they are benign feelings with a holter monitor or other test, then you need to request one. Take a look at what you are eating. Perhaps something you are eating is setting things off. Spicy foods, chocolate, anything with caffeine.

I agree. It is the heart that sets off the panic!! Not the other way around. I don't think doctors accept this....have they ever had it??? Most have not!! So much like migraine headache sufferers, you need to figure out if anything is triggering these events and learn to adjust your life and lifestyle so they don't happen.

So if you have to cancel social things because you are trying to learn about how to live with your "heart disease" there is no way people aren't going to understand. They will probably be so very supportive and understanding. Just let them (and yourself) know that this is a difficult waiting time (the worst! worse than the 9 months waiting for that first childbirth) and you will have ups and downs and be learning as you go through it.

Okay!!! End of lecture! Sorry if I came across too strong. Please accept this thing. It isn't going to go away. You need to learn to manage it. Being embarassed (though many of us so totally understand what you are saying there....we've been feeling those feelings, honestly) is not going to work! So this is a learning experience for you, too. A life learning thing. Perhaps what you learn here will benefit you and someone else later on. That's what I told myself.....and it already has, in a way. Made me so much more patient and complete thinking.

Be strong. Be good to yourself!!

Best wishes.

Marguerite
 
Marguerite...thanks for that long lecture (and all of the other posts on this thread) thanks Nupur for asking about the pounding. I had an incident of pounding and another of flopping like a fish in my chest....both set off panic. My PCP told me "any symptom is an emergency and we have great surgeons here". I am in the waiting room for Cleveland Clinic. (not the same place as the PCP). Now my fear is if I would go to the ER they would want to rush me to surgery. And the commment about what you eat...I have cut out the licorice (black) and am feeling much better.....thanks again to this site!
 
Thank you, Marguerite and Jen. I read your post a couple of times yesterday to remind myself that there is nothing embarrassing about panic about my heart (even if I go to the ER and they say I had a panic attack). I didn't actually go to the ER, took another Xanax, and did less than usual. It was weird to see my friends clean up in my kitchen after cake and tea, but they just sat me down and asked me to relax, which was nice. I am grateful for my friends who are ready to help, and I am SOOO grateful for you all!

Now, the thumping has not gone away, although I am less freaked about it. I think that I am just beginning to get symptoms. When I walk up the stairs, I feel it more. When I walk up the stairs with the laundry basket, phew! I can feel my heart in my ears. When I lift up the big pan of spagetti to drain it in the sink, the thumping is loud. So this is all pointing to symptoms. I do question myself, how come I didn't feel this 6 months ago, and now that I have the diagnosis, I feel every heartbeat? And I think I may have had this in the past and ignored it, or it has gotten worse in the last few months. My next appointment and ECHO is supposed to be in March, and I think I will insist that I start talking to surgeons at Stanford. In the meantime, I think maybe I should call them at least and ask what this thumping could point to (btw, I check my HR with a BP monitor, it never shows abnormal beat, but resting HR is way high, like always 85 or above).

For those of you who have had symptoms before MR, I don't know what were the first signs. I am reassuring myself every day when I panic that there is no risk of sudden cardiac failure from these symptoms I am experiencing, but it doesn't seem to work : ) So my Xanax pills are disappering fast.

Thank you, again, for listening and reminding me that THIS IS A BIG DEAL! OK, now back to work.

Nupur
 
I'm sorry about your thumping.....when I started to have severe symptoms my cardio had me book appts every 3 months so that he could keep an eye on me. At one point my echo numbers changed very rapidly over a period of 6 mths. It may be wise to follow through with those surgeon visits. It might actually help to relax you.
Best wishes.
 
Hi Nupur
my first symptoms well i didnt call them symptoms they were lttle things like you say things got just a little different eg when i was weight training id had enough after 20 mins only 10 mins less than normal ! swimming and cross trainer just seemed slighlty harder ,i was putting it down to motivation and age!! getting older!! then i had the night with the earth quake in bed ,heart thumping !! so i went to my GP who listened to my murmur and looked a bit taken aback and stated its very loud and that was the start of my journey .i was 21 when first diagnosed with MVP now told i must have surgery should meet with the surgeon in the next few weeks
i can still do almost anything now if it wasnt for being a complete fitness fanatic i probably wouldnt of noticed the changes, the symptoms havent got worse infact if you said to me today how do you feel ? the answer would be great ! i only do very light training now, yet i have severe regurgitation the cardio siad the heart is excellent at compensating i do light training not because i cant do heavy but to be on the safe side !
the other things i notice are a tad more tiredness. if i sit down and do nothing i can easily go to sleep ,again i put this down to age! if i am busy i can go all day no problem !
the changes i think are very subtle because of the heart working harder we dont notice as much as we would if the heart had carried on in the same routine.

Dean
 
I've had a strongly-thumping heart both before and after surgery. Before surgery it was accompanied by shortness of breath and low blood pressure. After surgery it's just annoying.

Hopefully the next time it does that you can get to the ER or doctor and they can check your heart while it's misbehaving. If it turns out that there is nothing wrong (besides whatever needs to be surgically fixed) then you can relax when it happens in the future. If there IS something wrong, they will catch it!
 
Yeah, Dean, I remember you first post ( another person facing surgery in their 40s!). I think the more fit and athletic you are the less symptoms you feel, or that's what I was told, coz your heart copes with it better. I keep telling myself my "symptoms" maybe psychological, but unfortunately they are not : ) Good luck preparing for your surgery!

Thanks ponygirlmom! I read about your recent visit to the ER. Wish my son was older (he is 6) to better deal with this, but I told him he should call 911 if he ever sees me collapsed. Hope I didn't traumatize him.
 
Nupur I too wonder if I had this pounding and "flip flopping" before they made the dx.
I like Dean blamed much of the tiredness and pounding on old age. I no longer carry the clothes baskets up stairs.....and "stroll" rather than the fast walking I did in the past.
No more walking up the inclines of the bridges here. My surgeon on a "live chat" last week said not to limit yourself as far as stair climbing while waiting for surgery.......but because it scares me so much I do. The pounding after the surgery information did not make me happy. I was hoping to put an end to these things after the surgery. But like someone said earlier....learning to live with heart disease. When they thought mine was aortic valve before the TEE they mentioned "sudden death" but not since the Mitral valve regurg was dx'd.
 
By the way...what is "normal" for heart beat. I have always been told each person is different..like a runner may be in the high 40's...but 80 may be normal for me.
 
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