Another ER visit

So I was making progress last week working on releasing fear in the face of pain and other symptoms. By Friday, my pain level was improved and I enjoyed lunch out with a friend and even bought my christmas tree. The intern I have been skyping with from PPC assured me I was doing well and all the extra symptoms I was feeling were expected and indicated to her that TMS tberapy is working. Enter funny heart beats and low heart rate friday night. Like HR 32. Then it would go back up to normal. Since I have some cardiac issues, I could not handle this and after 2 hr I was in the ER. They found nothing to explain what I was describing after blood work, Ekg, chest xray and about 3 hr of constant monitorong. I came home with the dx of palpitations and need to follow up with my cardiologist. (Just did that in oct). So today the palpitations are back and I am working On trying to calm myself. Would love to hear from anyone who has had this symptom. Or anyone with some encouraging words. Thank you.

 

Your good news and confirmation are above. When I get a good check-up at the doc's I walk or skip out of the office elated--why aren't you? I had a TMS panic attack a few years back that took me on a midnight visit to the ER, fearing it was a heart-attack. The kindly ER doctor told me such chest pains, and bleeds, from over-use of NSAIDS, were the two biggest reasons for ER visits--I went home totally relieved, slept well and chalked it off to TMS anxiety.

 

You would think I would settle down and I am grateful that they didnt find anything wrong. But I am really struggling with the fear of any type of cardiac symptoms since I have paroxysmal a-fib. I am doing a lot better having pain or other symptoms and not being so fearful, but that cardiac stuff scares me really bad. I had such a good day friday - pain levels were down, balance problem was better...and then BAM enter cardiac issue. I am just having some positive dialogue with myself and journaling and trying to forget about this weekend.

 

What's that? Was it confirmed during your ER exam? Could it also be TMS?

 

Atrial fibrillation is an arrhythmia - irregular heart rhythm. And paroxysmal means it is intermittent. I take medications daily and have stayed in normal rhythm since sept 2016. In the ER there was no sign of it. I was in normal rhythm. I have often wondered if TMS contributes to it. Sarno related tms to palpitations but I have never read anything relating it to afib. Although, palpitations sometimes preceed afib. That is why I am struggling with this. Still trying to get a grip on the fear.

 

So it may be TMS?! Start doing your research regarding whether it can be TMS--do a search here and at TMS Help. See a TMS physician for an objective opinion. Why would you NOT consider that it may be TMS?

 

I would LOVE to find out it's TMS. I have tried searching on this site but havent found afib specifically. My health insurance is changing in january so a visit to a tms physician may be more feasible. I think it would really help me to have a personal visit. Some of us are really all the way around the bend! LOL

 

Folks, help her out with her afib/may be TMS?!?! I have to play.
cheers,
tt

 

With a quick google I found calmclinic.com. I have no idea of validity of that site, but it might encourage you to search. It said a-fib can be physical, and that a dr can tell if it is, but can also be mind/body control or anxiety. What has your doc said is wrong with your heart? Maybe its nothing. The mind is amazing, but sometimes its confused when trying to protect us.

 

When they diagnosed me with afib, they just said it was a rapid erratic beating of the 2 upper chambers of the heart - the atria. Somehow the electrical signal gets initiated in the wrong place in the heart and triggers the arrhythmia. And of course they dont know what causes it or how to fix it, though they can treat it with some meds and procedures. But the MD's always tell u its unpredictable and u never know when it will act up. that right there perpetuates terrible anxiety. Some people are actually chronically in afib. Others like me have episodes and then come out of it. Thanks for helping search for this.

 

I remember a couple of decades ago there was a radio/tv doc who was creating media hysteria about MVP/ mitral valve prolapse, a supposed heart condition. My gf at the time was freaking out because she was dx'ed with it because she was "tall". Years later it came out it was media generated hysteria and if MVP existed it was harmless. The tv doc who created it went on to have a line of reading glasses sold on revolving racks in drug stores.

I recommend you see your doc, or as many docs for second opinions, until you learn as much as you can about your heart condition, as to whether it is serious, or a normal TMS type of anomaly. Your fears may be based on not having enough knowledge as to whether your condition is serious or not.

 

That sort of medical explanation from a TMS perspective usually means it's a normal anomaly, like gray hair of the spine is in relation to herniated discs. I did a quick perusal of the TMS literature, looking in the indexes and glossaries for heart conditions. The general answers were that "irregular" heart beats CAN be and usually are due to anxiety. The heart is one of the first organs to react to the release of adrenaline due to emotions. The heart naturally pumps faster in response to fearful situations--the fight/flight response. I recommend anyone here get a small library of TMS books together as part of their medicine cabinet, all four of Dr. Sarnos's books (so you have one left after you lend them out), Steven Ray Ozanich's , "THE GREAT PAIN DECEPTION" a TMS tome text for its great glossary of TMS conditons and as many other TMS books necessary to read until you turn the corner on your thinking about the causes of pain and trust yourself as much as the docs.

It sounds like you've been to the docs for your heart "condition", did they tell you to restrict your activities? I recall on one of my first doctor visits as a child, the doc saying to my dad that I had a heart-murmer--the doc was a cardiologist so he likely had a keen ear for any quirks in hearts. More then fifty years later I still remember it. You get labeled and compartmentalized by such loose medical talk. Since then I've completed thirteen marathons and hundreds of 5 and 10k races at respectable speeds and play tennis and swim daily.

I don't know the particulars of your case--and as per the TMS literature--you should get a medical work-up to rule out anything serious--sounds like you've been checked out at least a couple of times. Docs I've known, either leave you with a warning on the way out, to scare you healthy, because if you're healthy, they may not see you for a long time, and, like your mother did, wants to put a little fear of the Lord into you until your next office visit. Or, the kind of doc I have now, who will tell me a symptom is not a big deal--although his P.A., (physician's assistant), likes to scare me more.

So, back to you, look up "heart" or heart conditions, in the good TMS books, and you'll find many citations that irregular heart beats can be TMS/emotionally related.

 

Thanks TT for all your responses and for checking into the literature. I will certainly keep up the search as well. I do have and have read all 4 of Sarno's books and will get Steve O's for Christmas! I have a list of books I am making my way through. I have been followed closely by 3 different cardiologists since Dec 2011 when I got this diagnosis. Have had all the tests including treadmill. Never was told to limit activity. The problem for me is in the electrical conduction in the heart - not blocked arteries. I have always felt down deep it was anxiety driven. Ever since this last ER visit, I am in way more pain, with recurrent balance issues and just scared again about my health. It is hard to stand up to the cardiac fears - just another set back. I will work on breaking the pain cycle as many others have done. I had some success before the er, so I can do it again. Many thanks again.

 

I don't want you keeling over on my watch, but that tells me you can do whatever you want without fear. There's a thing called "defensive medicine" today, where docs administer every test to avoid malpractice lawsuits for having missed anything. This really runs the costs up of healthcare and probably results in notes on patients charts recording every normal anomaly to justify administering the tests. If you've survived since 2011 without a heart-attack, where's the problem?

And there's the old SYMPTOM SUBSTITUTION, one TMS symptom fades out of memory and like bop-a-mole a new anxiety creating symptom takes it's place to keep the joy robbing distractions going and going.

So it sounds like your heart is fine if the docs didn't restrict your activities. Keep reading the TMS books until your un-C is convinced you don't need it's protection for every life event. Find a TMS physician to consult with if there's one in your vicinity, or take a TMS vacation and bring your charts with you for an objective work-up. Or, consult with one by phone or with a TMS practitioner or counselor to run the particulars of your case by.

 

Be careful here...I thought I had benign mitral valve prolapse for years..In May a cardiologist checked me out here in Thailand and found out I had CAVS--calcified aortic stenosis that will result in open heart surgery/valve replacement and a host of other cardiac risks as the valve goes down hill. As I get older I less and less suspect TMS and realize, at age 56, that my best years are behind me and that death and detorioration are close at hand