i have had this all my life. my heart beats fast and i get dizzy.i feel like i am going to faint. what is it?

Question

How i stop this *episode* is i sit very still, and put my fingers down my throat until i gag, then i hold my breath. this manages to slow my heart down back to its normal pace. I know this sounds bizarre and when i told my doctor about it, he give me an ekg. Since i wasnt having the episode at the time of the ekg, nothing showed up and i felt stupid because the doctor said he couldnt find anything. I am 46 now, and although the episodes have diminished, i still get them. I have never gotten one at work, but if i did, i would have to stop what im doing, before i fainted. What is wrong with me?

Answer 1

What you are experiencing is not as unusual as you think. The symptoms are consistent with a condition called paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT). Holding your breath is one of the techniques recommended for self-treatment. If you want to get an accurate diagnosis of your condition, you need to see a cardiologist, who can attach a small heart monitor that records your heart for a week or two, or at least until you experience one of the episodes. After looking at the monitor output, the doc can help you decide whether using breath-holding is adequate, or whether surgery would help. Surgery usually consists of making a shallow cut across part of the heart muscle with highly focused ultrasound or radiowaves.

Answer 2

Honey!Don't feel stupid. You're concerned so that's what's important.Now a little more info on the heart beats would have been easier to reply.However I'll give you 2 types of problems see if any match up ..
1.ANXIETY = AN ATTACK.
This comes and goes.
a.Fast Heart beat Palpitations(this can be caused by caffiene, anemia too)
b.Sweating dizziness.pulsating forehead..
nausea.It starts off with something major to make you feel panicky. But after any small incident can trigger it..
I think this could be your problem ...because you sit down and consentrate on the following, gagging rids the nauseous feeling and just resting until you feel better...
I also think this has become a bit of a habit where you dread these episodes happening get anxious about it, of course you get those feelings then it does happen.I feel you're too busy at work, so you don't have time to worry about this occuring, therefore it doesn't.
2. ATRIAL FIBRILLATION.
Happens to any age.comes and goes to begin with .Then stays around..
NB. FLUTTERING Feeling in your Heart.
"LIKE BUTTERFLIES." very fast pounding heart beat.Sometimes you can see it pulsating under your clothes. It can go up into your neck both sides pounding, feeling like someone is trying to choke you.(Caused by the blood flow hitting 2 sensors not 1 gathering in the ATRIUM hence the butterflies..) then flowing to the lower chamber, hitting a sensor there as normal.
b. Sweating, fatigue, nausea, dizziness, tightness across the chest. due to muscle over working.It is infrequent to begin with, but does increase with time. So not always happening when you go for an ECG.Best thing is to go to ER when it's occuring, so they can check it out.Use the defibrillators on you, to reset your Heart rhythm. All being well no more problems. I've had this for awhile but only picked up in early April. It's more common in people who have had Rheumatic fever, or a heart murmur. But anyone can get it.
If they decide Medication is the better way to treat it. Then You'll be on Blood thinner, Asprin or Warfrin to prevent clots forming, from the collecting blood in the atrium and blocking vital organs.
b. A medication that slows your heart rate. ie. Digoxin.
Well! I hope this does help you.Good Luck! Ciao

Answer 3

when I was 16 I started getting something that felt like my heart would just stop and then race to start back up and catch up. I would also get very very light headed and feel like fainting. I had ekg and ekg after ekg even wore 24 hour and week long heart monitors. It wasnt till I was 30 that they finally caught it. They explained to me that I was having heart pauses with PVC's. They told me that the heart pauses are normal and millions of pple have them and dont even know it. But when the PVC's get involved they have to watch it a little closer and usually prescribe medications. PVC's can put a person into cardiac arrest. Just be patient and if the get any worse call your doctor right away. If you do have an irregular heart beat then gagging yourself maybe knocking your beats to normal but I can't imagine that it is really helping all that much. Have you seen a Cardiologist, if not I would ask your family doc. to refer you to one. better to be safe then sorry. Good luck

Answer 4

This sounds pretty scarey. They can monitor your heart continuously during the day by hooking you up to a portable EKG and a recording device to observe you for 24 hours. Don't feel stupid. It's your health, and doctors tend to not take women's health issues seriously enough. You need a referral to a cardiologist.

That being said, could you be having panic attacks? My mom used to have them and she thought she was having a heart episode. Let me look for a decent link.

Add: There's also a condition knows as Wolf-Parkinsons-White condition (WPW) which causes a rapid heartbeat. See the link from the American Heart Association below. But a good cardiologist can save you a lot of stupid answers on Y!A.

Answer 5

You need to see a cardiac electrophysiologist. You have supraventricular tachycardia which can be further diagnosed by this type of cardiologist.
I did the same thing for years and went to the ER in a hospital and they kept telling me I was having panic attacs. My heart beat so fast, I would almost pass out, but not quite. It would come and last for a few minutes then go away, so no one ever believed me.
Finally I went to St. Johns hospital and they fixed me forever. I had a radiofrequency ablation. It was life altering. Finally, I am free of that fast heart beat.
By shoving your fingers down your throat and gagging, you are doing what is called a valsalva maneuver which causes you to vasovagal and lowers your heart rate. You can throw yourself into an arrythmia doing this, so you should quit that.
PS: I am a RN

Answer 6

It must be supra ventricular tachycardia ! Called SVT in this heart rate goes fast and some time not countable ! One of my friend has it since many years ! He is on cardiac drugs like calcium channel blockers and beta blockers and now he feels fine ! The only solution is surgical ablation of this extra path way ! See our heart rate starts when impulse is generated in the SA node situated in the right atrium of the heart ! This impulse goes down to Av nose and here the muscle fibers behaves like nerve fibers and the vicious cycle established and this creates this increase in the heart rates ! If we go inside the heart and block this path way than we can cure it permanently so ask your cardiologist for to make His bundle EKG going in the heart via cardiac catheterisation if you want a permanent cure other wise the drug will take care of it but you have to continue the drugs life time and there no harm OK Always YouRsmE

Answer 7

I am not a doctor, but I am the wife of a heart patient. And I believe you should see a cardiologist ASAP. Your doctor was not very thorough and should have referred you to a specialist. Go on your own. You seem to have handled it so far, but as you get older, this may change. You are way too young to die.

Answer 8

Im no doctor but it sounds like an anxiety attack. A friend of mine has them sometimes. He says his heart beats really fast and he has to sit down. While they are happening it is really quite scary for anyone around cause he cant explain what is happeing.

Answer 9

Seth. Yeah, he brings a totally warm feeling to my heart and soul. When I talk to him it makes me feel like I'm going down a thousand roller coaster drops at the same time =D

Answer 10

I had that problem some too, even in my 20's. I found out that I am extra sensitive to caffeine. Just one cup of tea will make my heart act up. Totally avoid caffeine and see if that helps.