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[Briony]

Don't tell me ... you also get the 'but this time it's different/worse/fatal/they'll all see I wasn't making it up when I die' feeling too?  x   

[toffeecushion]

It never reassures me knowing it has happened before. 

[ellie]

Here are a few tips that might help, I tried the  Bear Down one and it did work........


Techniques to Stop Heart Palpitations Immediately:
Cough.  Yep, a plain o'l cough can supposedly reset the rhythm of your heart.  I have tried this with limited success, but others seem to think it works great.
Bear Down.  There is no real polite way to say this, but the whole idea is to clinch your stomach muscles to mimic the act of going to the bathroom – pushing out a bowl movement (careful here…you don't want to mess up and do the real thing…).  For some reason this reroutes the circuits and the palpitations sometimes go away or at least slow down a little.
Cold Water.  Splashing cold water on your face or taking a cold shower shocks your body and resets your normal heart rhythm.  I am sure this works for some people, but I hate taking cold showers, so I usually pass on this one unless the palpitations are really bad.
Valsalva Maneuver.  A large cause of heart palpitations is the vagus nerve.  So stimulating the vagus nerve, which can affect heart rate, will sometimes stop palpitations and possibly restore your normal heart beat. To do the Valsalva maneuver you hold your nose and close your mouth while attempting to breathe out with some force (think of blowing up a balloon). Another technique is to make a fist and blow into it like you are blowing up a balloon.  If done correctly, you may experience immediate relief from your palpitations.  This technique is similar to “Bearing Down” mentioned above.
Deep Breathing Exercises.  Deep breathing exercises are great for reducing anxiety and can certainly help slow down your heart rate, which can reduce your palpitations.  So do your favorite deep breathing exercise and see if that does the trick.  I really enjoy deep breathing exercises, but when my heart is skipping a whole lot, it is hard to focus on my breathing.
Exercise.  I prefer this technique best.  I cannot alway exercise when I have a bad run of heart palpitations, especially at night.  But if I have some time in the morning or afternoon, a good cardio workout where I can get my heart rate up for an extended amount of time does wonders to restore my normal heart beat…at least for a while.

[toffeecushion]

Thanks so much, that is very helpful.  I'm going to print it out and keep it on me

[Briony]

It never reassures me knowing it has happened before.

I am just the same, Toffeecushion. It's like I become a different person as soon as they start up Good idea about printing Ellie's suggestions x

[toffeecushion]

Think my husband must be getting fed up off of it all.  Spent most of yesterday taking my pulse.  But the symptoms are very real and it scares me.  Wish I could just get on with life and not worry about every little change in the way I feel but I can't.

Thought I might start a diary of how I feel, it might help to look back on.

Have a good day, it's wet here so will probably be stuck indoors festering today.

[Millykin]

Toffeecushion
I was this way last year now it is not as bad, don't know if I learned to ignore a bit or its getting less, I do feel for you cause it is real and so scary. I used to spend days taking my pulse and because we have BP machine and one of those little finger things that take pulse and measure oxygen (family member with health problems at one point) I had them out constantly. I would be secretly sitting at night with it on my finger scared to move in case it went higher. I was sent to AE 3 times by GP because it was high 3 ecg, all fine, and sent for stress test which they couldn't do because heart rate to high! So that knocked me a bit,  sent home with 24hr monitor but they said it just showed palpitations, and few extras beats but nothing unusual. Still I panicked. I was put on a beta blocker just to try and calm me and it did work I knew my heart rate couldn't go that high on them. I stopped them in July and have been ok few blips. As Ellie suggested try a few of these things, I used to always go to bathroom brush teeth, wash face in cold water I even tried the coughing sometimes helped, x

Ellie love the avatar !

[Limpy]

Excellent tips Ellie

[Briony]

Diary could be a good idea, especially if you take it with the results of your saliva tests. When do you send those back to the company? x

[toffeecushion]

The last test is on the 1st day of my next period, on day 7 now so hope to have the results back in about 4 weeks.

[Dulciana]

I find while I'm listening to slow, gentle music, it can be quite helpful to breathe in and out with the music.  I don't actually mean breathe in time to the music, just to ebb and flow with it.

[Salad]

I've just experienced a couple of weeks of tachycardia (pulse 110) as well as periods of dizziness (my temperature went up at times too).

Long story short - I increased my Oestrogel dose and symptoms settled within 48 hours.

This hormone juggling is not an easy thing x

[Kathleen]

Hello toffeecushion.

Another technique you might want to try to reduce a fast heart rate is to hold your breath and immerse your face in cold water as doing this invokes the Mammalian Dive Reflex. This action has the effect of slowing the heart rate by ten to twenty percent.

Hope this helps you.

K.

[toffeecushion]

Thanks Kathleen, will give it a try

[missjanecobb]

I get that. It's caused a major problem for me in that my GP doesn't believe that it's a result of his forcing me to come off HRT and now I can't get travel insurance as a result.