Skipped heart beat

COOL STORY HANZEL

Only one of those neat organs per person and if you have some irregularities you should get it checked by a cardiologist. It is a little more common at the end of exercise, but it would be nice to get an ECG and see if things look good, both at rest and during exercise. It would be nice to get the irregularity documented

They are probably preventricular contractions - PVCs. Harmless but annoying. I get them when my electrolyte balance gets screwed up, especially if I get dehydrated. Get a good multivitamin with minerals. It will take 2-3 days to restore a good balance. That Emergen-C stuff is great for that too.

It took me about 6 months to figure out how to manage it. I ended up in the emergency room one night it got so bad. It felt literally like I was skipping every other beat (you actually get 2 beats really close together with a PVC, then a long pause). Mostly for me it's when my Magnesium is low. I pop mg supplements when I start getting them

can anyone explain what this feels like?

i have had a problem a couple times where all of a sudden it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest, and the beats seemed irregular. i'm not sure if it was "skipping beats," but it wasn't normal. happened once while just sitting at dinner...another time at the end of a run. no idea what it was.

any doctors?

Have it checked, don't go off what you get here, but yes, a PVC is followed by a very strong beat. Shouldn't hurt, but they will freak you out. They are VERY common in over 35 endurance athletes.

Yes....you have narcasistic sorder - google it.

I have isolated mine to coffee along with some stress. Every fourth beat will be missing. Doctors and web info seems to concur that this is normally harmless although should be checked out.

Yes, caffiene or alcohol can make them worse. Basically the heart is an electrical organ, so anything that changes the way a charge moves in your body, such as water, electrolytes (and caffiene and alcohol affect both) can set them off. I'm talking only about PVCs though. There are some more serious things out there, so anyone with an irregular beat should get it checked first. Mine have become very easy to manage, but it took me a while to figure it out.

I have the same affliction. I went to see a cardiologist. They put me through a stress test and then sent me home with a 24 hour EKG. What they were looking for is if the problem showed up during excercise. They determined that the skipped beats only happened at rest which is common amongst athletes.

So bottom line as Jtupper has said you need to go to a cardiologist to have this checked out. Nobody can tell you that you are OK without some testing.

My seemingly harmless irregularities eventually progressed to a few bouts of atrial fibrillation (lasting for as much as 48 hours), and that is scary, because A-fib can result in some clots forming and getting sent out to who knows where (I got a tiny one go into one eye and lost a bit of sight in that eye -- permenently), and clots in the brain are no laughing matter. First thing I got rid of was coffee (about 20 years ago). Now I just stay on blood thinner to avoid clotting if the A-fib returns.

Yep, many of these posts are what both the ER Doc and my Family Doc said. My EKG (which is usually only a 25 second snap shot) did not show any issues. Sorry to say that no skip happened in the 25 seconds. But the ER Doc did clearly hear the skip with a stethoscope. This random skipping lasted lasted about 4 hours and now 5 days later I have no skips. Doc said stress(anxiety), caffine, alcohol, a cold I had all may have played a factor. I have probably had a dozen of these skip spisodes in the last 5 years. Do I worry?....you bet...even when the Doc says it's nothing to worry about. I try to convince myself if I have two seperate Docs saying it's OK what else can I do except not worry any run!

Please stop running today.

jtupper, how are you tolerating the blood thinner long-term? I was just diagnosed with a-fib myself, I am popping in and out of sinus rhythm. I am seeing a cardiologist who has me on coumadin and they are trying to decide if I am an candidate for cardioversion. In the meantime they have me on Rhythmol. I'm none too keen on a lifetime on either of the above, but am even less keen on the prospect of a shorter lifetime. This may run in the family, my father's major stroke was attributed to AF.

Email me direct with a reply if you want.

I used to get these more often when I still drank caffeinated coffee. Now that I'm on decaf I don't get them.

I keep hearing coffee may be bad. What about tea?

skippy wrote:

I keep hearing coffee may be bad. What about tea?

It's the caffeine. I don't drink or eat anything with caffeine in it any more. I used to pound coffee all day long, too. After a while you don't miss it. If I can give it up, anybody can.

Grubinski....are you an older runner?(45+) I never had issues in the past the once I turned older....bam...skipped beats.

Doc said it's caffeine and I still have a hard time believing. I've been drinking coffee for years with no issues....why now ??? When I get that flutter in my chest I get anxious as a cat.

This scares me. About 4 months ago, I was on a business trip in SF and was under severe stress and living off of little sleep, so drinking a lot of coffee. I was pretty decent shape, and doing workouts regularly, but had to skip my workout the day before for travel and business meetings. I ended the day in the Financial District after multiple meetings and some Pete's coffee, and although I was so tired that I felt nauseous, my legs felt good and fresh and I wanted to run off the stress. I ran out to Embarcadero and by the time I got to the Golden Gate I was rolling pretty good. On my way back I was flying (having not done my workout the day before) and made a tempo out of it. I flew up Fort Mason at 5 minute pace, through Fisherman's Wharf feeling great and surging, then I thought I would hit one hard surge to end it at close to the Bay Bridge. I got about 2 minutes into it and all of the sudden had a sharp pain in my chest that left me gasping for air, I eased off, but was still running about 4:40 pace, then the pain went away, so I hit it hard again, thinking that it was heartburn or something, but the pain hit me much worst. I slowed to a jog, and almost collapsed, then, with a staggered jog made it back to the office and drank some water, chilled out and went to bed early. My chest hurt for the next 2 weeks...I probably should have went to a doctor, but didn't. I just ran easy for the next few weeks, and cut down on coffee, tried to get more sleep. Scared the shit out of me though. I still am scared about it. Stress + Coffee + No Sleep + Intense Endurance Exercise = Scary Shit!

I get them at least once a month usually when lounging around on a rest day. I did get them while running just a couple of times though, over the 15 years I've been experiencing this thing.

I found that most of the time I can get rid of them by going for a brisk walk @ 90-100 bpm for 1/2 hour, take a 10' rest. Then walk back home skip beat free. Slow jog won't do it gotta keep the hb at around 90 for the procedure to work. My resting pulse is in low 40s.