Hello,
This is my first post on this forum and I probably will have a bit to unpack here on what’s going on with me over the last 1-1.5 years or so. I lost my dad suddenly almost 3 years ago and that has definitely caused massive anxiety (already suffered with it prior). Then the pandemic hit and then I lost my aunt to cancer at the end of 2020. I started to notice my health anxiety spiral out of control in 2020 causing me to get some PVCs/PACs. Went to a cardiologist and had an echo and month-long event monitor. Was experiencing a few a day, but then they eventually got better.
Fast forward to one day in early Jan 2021 and I began getting them constantly throughout the day. This TERRIFIED me and I saw a couple more cardiologists…again said they’re benign. I wore a 24 hr holter monitor and said I had <1% extra beats. I’ve tried every remedy I could think of. I even tried Metoprolol and it made me tired/low bp so quit. Some days I know I have probably 1-3k extra beats and not the few I happened to have while wearing the holter monitor.
Eating meals is a big trigger for me and anything that makes me anxious, bending over, hormonal fluctuations (ovulation/pms), etc. I used to be a daily coffee drinker with no heart issues except for the occasional racing heart and jitters…but nothing like this. Now, it’s like I can’t tolerate caffeine. What has changed?
**EDIT: I have switched to decaf over the past year (which I still drink now). I have tried half-caff occasionally and even no coffee whatsoever with little improvement or change.
I just don’t understand why they’d come on suddenly and not disappear like they have before. It’s so hard for me to believe that these could be caused by anxiety when in fact they themselves cause me anxiety. I’m only 30 years old and I feel like my life is over because of how debilitating they are.
Any advice or recommendations are welcome. Also, sorry for the rambling!