Hi ladies
I would be most grateful for any help and advice on heart palpitations during the perimenopause. My problems started about 7 years ago when I turned 39. I started to get missed beats and also started waking up in the night with my heart racing and pounding. Unfortunately this set off severe anxiety and I ended up with a nervous breakdown. I went to the doctor many times about my racing heart and missed beats and eventually I had an ECG and a 24hr holter monitor which were both normal. I also had a chest x-ray to look at my heart and that was normal too. Unfortunately the anxiety led me to develop agoraphobia of which I still suffer from.
Fast forward 7 years and I am still having a problem with waking up with my heart pounding at night but the worst thing is that my missed beats have got worse. Now, instead of there just being a hollow feeling in my chest and then a thud, I get the hollow feeling and then my heart seems to go bonkers. After the missed beat, it either feels like my heart is fluttering, speeding up, or beating irregularly for a few seconds. Then all of a sudden it kicks back into normal rhythm but I am left shaking with fear and feeling like I'm going to have a panic attack. Thankfully, I don't feel dizzy during the episodes or have any chest pain. This is not happening every day thank goodness, it seems to be really random. Sometimes there is 3 weeks between episodes. The trouble is that this has ruined my life and I now have severe agoraphobia because I'm scared to go out in case it happens when I'm out and about. I can just about manage to get out and walk my 2 dogs, but I do that because I have to - they have to have a walk and they do help to distract me. I can't go out shopping on my own and I haven't walked into town to go shopping on my own for 7 years now. I can only go out with my husband and even then I feel weird and dizzy if I'm walking around shops!
I am wondering whether I should go back to the doctors again because I keep worrying that I have something like Atrial Fibrillation or a heart rhythm disorder which is causing the palpitation episodes. However, I do know that palpitations are a symptom of perimenopause and I'm wondering whether this is what is happening to me. The other symptoms I've had are occasionally waking up in the night feeling hot, nightmares and pounding heart at night and anxiety. I will be 46 this summer so I guess I could be in perimenopause. I don't know what my periods are doing because I'm on the mini pill - Cerazette.
I was just wondering whether any other ladies on here have experienced similar sort of palpitations and whether there was anything that helped them like giving up caffeine or alcohol. I am just so scared about them and I keep worrying that one day my heart won't go back to the correct rhythm or I'll end up with a cardiac arrest. I'm so very sorry for the long post, I've been wanting to post this for ages but haven't got round to it. I had a scary palpitation episode this afternoon which has pushed me into it. Any help or advice would be really appreciated. I'm so scared and upset about it all.