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Q: irregular, painful heartbeat
asked by: HealthFirst on July 21st, 2008
New User
For the past two, years there have been five, maybe six times, where this has happened. It's completely random, it seems (as it just woke me from my sleep) and absolutely terrifying.

My heart will start beating extremely irregularly, like instead of it's normal tha-thump tha-thump, it just beats in random, fast-paced bursts. (thump th-th-thump th-thump thump) This has lasted anywhere from 5 minutes, up to around 30 (today), is very painful in the chest area, and causes me to become short of breath and lethargic almost to the point of not being able to move.

I went to the doctor about it last year. He referred me to a specialist who then put me on a heart monitor for a couple weeks. Unfortunately, an episode didn't occur while I was hooked up to the thing, and they told me I was fine, much to my dismay.

It scares the hell out of me. Should I see another doctor? What the heck is going on?
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tufftitan2
replied on July 22nd, 2008
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Ask them to give you one of those monitors that measures your heart waves for a week or so and see what happens. I too get what you get quit often, but then again I do have a heart problem called HCM. I get what you get like 1 every week, since I was 16 and I'm only 20. I had the same 1st symptoms like you. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just saying you could have what I have. Its not too bad of a heart problem, it just means you have 2-3x's bigger heart than normal people, meaning there is more muscle in your heart so it has to pump harder for it to work the same functions as it would a normal heart, which could be the reason for your chest pain. Your best bet is to get a EKG done. That usually reveals if your heart has any irregularities.

So if you do decide to go to the doctor again, which I would advise, would be to go see a cardiologist and 1st get an EKG and then a ultrasound of your heart but only do this second test if something shows up on the 1st. Best regards to you!!
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HealthFirst
replied on July 24th, 2008
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tufftitan2 wrote:
Ask them to give you one of those monitors that measures your heart waves for a week or so and see what happens. I too get what you get quit often, but then again I do have a heart problem called HCM. I get what you get like 1 every week, since I was 16 and I'm only 20. I had the same 1st symptoms like you. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just saying you could have what I have. Its not too bad of a heart problem, it just means you have 2-3x's bigger heart than normal people, meaning there is more muscle in your heart so it has to pump harder for it to work the same functions as it would a normal heart, which could be the reason for your chest pain. Your best bet is to get a EKG done. That usually reveals if your heart has any irregularities.

So if you do decide to go to the doctor again, which I would advise, would be to go see a cardiologist and 1st get an EKG and then a ultrasound of your heart but only do this second test if something shows up on the 1st. Best regards to you!!


Thanks for the reply man. After you mentioned it, I read up on HCM. Apparently, in some cases it causes sudden cardiac death, and the symptoms are exacly what I'm going through, so I'm definitely going back to the doc.

Thank God my episodes aren't as frequent as yours. I'd be a wreck.
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