MVP/Heart worries/palpitations

[Loubelle87]

Back again :(

so my health anxiety almost always revolves around worries about my heart.

I just can't believe that my palpitations are down to anxiety when they seem to me to be a positional problem. If I lie back on the sofa I get them, if I lie on my right side I get them. Just now I sat back on the sofa and I got them.

my palpitations are always in my throat - that little dip at the bottom of your neck - and they last seconds. I check my pulse and it seems normal, if not only slightly faster.

I had a holtor monitor fitted for 48 hours nearly a month ago but have heard nothing from my doctor. Is it me who is supposed to follow up? I thought doctors got in contact.

Anyway, I'm worried that I have mitral valve prolapse as I seem to tick all the boxes thanks to Doctor Google (bad me, slapped wrist).

I also suffer from coughing after eating and regurgitation and for a time wondered if it was an oesophagal spasm. 5 minutes after eating anything I have a cough for about 20 mins and it feels mucusy in the back of my throat.

Does anyone else have these symptoms?

The palpitations are what scare me the most and I do worry it's MVP and I'll drop dead suddenly :(

But I'm also worried if it's all linked to symptom I'm having with regurgitation and coughing. I rarely have chest pain but sometimes get pains in my back and in both arms.

xxx

[jackanory84]

Hi loubelle87

You are preaching to the converted here! I am suffering from palpitations as we speak! I had a holster monitor a few months ago and it took the hospital ages to send the results to my doctor. Thankfully my sinus rhythm was fine and that's the concern with palpitations I think.

I have learnt to stop Googling; trust me, you will only ever feel worse!

Follow up with your go to see if they have your results, but look at it this way; if it was urgent, you would have been notified by now.

I am just having to learn to live with palpitations. My fiancé sometimes has to remind me that I'm ok, but in the whole, my mind has been put at ease following the monitor.

Try and stay calm, do something to take your mind off it. I exercise and that helps. You won't feel like doing it, but it'll make you feel better.

Hope tht helps and hope you feel better soon

X

[Pinktel]

I have MVP and it is of no clinical significance. If I have certain operations I may be advised to have anti biotics but even now my cardiologist says most antibiotic treatment is unnecessary. Apart from feeling a few harmless and annoying symptoms it has no impact on anything and I am at no more risk of cardiac issues than somebody without MVP. What concerned you so much if you did have it?

[panickyme]

I also have MVP, and there is no fear with that. They are harmless. My Doctor says some people feel it, and some people don't. I am just one of the lucky ones that can feel it. Pinktel is right there is no impact at all, and we are no more at risk for cardio issues then someone without. I worry about heart attacks, but not MVP :hugs:

[Loubelle87]

Thanks for your responses.

I think it's because I get flutters and thuds in my throat from sittin in a certain way and they in turn make me feel short of breath and I have to sit up quickly to make them go away. They are purely positional as well which makes me think it might be something like MVP.

I am so frightened that there is something veyr wrong with my heart. Only recently I was feeling so much better but the palpitations were still coming.

I know my anxiety has got better becuase I've put on a stone in weight, which I desperately needed, but my heart worries are still there.

I also get pins and needles in my right hand and last night I had a quick tightness in my chest and I quickly sat up straight in a panic and didn't want to move unless it happened again.

I've had ECGs and a holtor monitor but what I woudl relaly like, to put my mind at ease is an echocardiogram but I doubt my GP will allow me to have one :(

I'm worried that Ill have a heart attack, stroke or I'll just drop dead at any moment. :weep:

[Pinktel]

Not meaning this to sound flippant (totally relate to your worries) but if you do drop down dead of a stroke or a heart attack it will be nothing to do with whether or not you have MVP. The only times it is not benign and needs some attention is if the valve is SO floppy it is allowing MAJOR regurgitation - and you would know without doubt already if you have that as not only would your GP be hearing it very clearly whenever they listened with a stethoscope but the heart investigations would have picked it up.

Read some of the board messages about palpitations etc. You need to get to a point where you can believe that the investigations you have had so far are telling you your heart is fine. If your doctor is telling you the palpitations are benign you have to trust them (easier said than done I know).

You sound like you would benefit from some CBT. Can you investigate the possibility of having some? What is the provision like in your area?

We are all on here battling our own demons and daily we are facing the worst feelings and symptoms, but we have to keep believing that there are solutions out there and we can manage our panic to a degree to improve our quality of life. Hope this helps to put your mind at rest because if what you are fearing is the MVP then that in itself is not a clinical worry for you. If you have other heart fears then you need to work through those perhaps with a therapist? It IS something that can be worked through :hugs:

[rsanchez]

Just as Pinktel said, if it's MVP then you won't drop dead from that. Get in touch with your doc about your monitor results. If they're fine you can rest easy, well as easy as you can with anxiety.

[Loubelle87]

Thanks Pinktel. I've actually already had a course of CBT and counselling and I'm having my last session tomorrow as I am feeling so much better.

I just can't attribute these palpitatins to anxiety because they happen only in different positipns like bending over or lying a certain way. That's why I thought of MVP and wanted t know if anyone with MVP has these symptoms.

I will go back t the doctor but I hate going now as I just feel they will fob me off. I won't back down though. My anxiety is miles better now and I've put on a stone just by feeling happier and less anxious. xx

[panickyme]

I know when we get things in our heads how scarey it is. As I told you I have MVP, and when it does act up I can feel it when I lay on certain sides, or move a certain way. (but they are harmless, they just feel weird) Doctor say chocolate, and caffeine will bring them on also. :hugs: