Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Heart Palpitations

For the past couple of days, I have been getting these small flutters in my heart, like my heart is skipping a beat, which I think are heart palpitations. They're happening pretty frequently, about 10 times per hour. I have gotten these before, but only once in a while. Never this frequently. I'm not sure what to do about it since I don't have any other symptoms, such as shortness of breath or dizziness.

Last night, I called the advice nurse hotline, and, after describing what was going on, she suggested that I contact my doctor. My primary care doctor is my gynecologist, so I guess I could give her office a call. It sounds like a weird thing to ask a gynecologist, but I'm sure she could at least point me in the right direction.

I hate how discouraging this feels. I want so badly to move forward in recovery, not to be held back by the damage that I've done to my body. Through all the years of purging, I rarely thought about how much damage I might have been doing to my body. Recently, I also started having troubles with my lower jaw been sore and locking up. Didn't think about that happening when I was obsessing about my size!

Have any of you had issues with heart palpitations?

-Emily

3 comments:

  1. I have had diaphragm cramps - it squeezes and it feels scary and I can feel a dizzy spell but it is not dangerous. Part of it is surely due to malnutrition, maybe a part psychological, panicky feelings and over-worrying.

    I would call your doc and find out. It is probably not anything too serious, but if you get it checked you can save a lot of worrying time.

    Don't get discouraged because of this. In life there will always be "something not perfectly right" or something you could worry about, and then end up soothing the bad feelings with ED behaviors. Just see this as a little test, and that you can overcome it.

    Now is the chance to get better, and start living again. I am trying to apply my own advice. I have been eating like I should for the past week. Hugs!

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  2. Definitely call your doctor. This could be happening for all sorts of reasons - reasons I heard given include: low potassium from purging, refeeding syndrome, or general weakness in your heart.
    I'm sure your primary care doctor could at least direct to someone w skills in this area.

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  3. HI Emily,
    Glad you are getting yourself to the doctor. As PJ said, there are a wealth of explanations for the symptom, so caution not to jump to conclusions (which may increase your anxiety, and, and, and,...)
    Also glad to hear you are taking this as a wake up call.

    Keep us posted, please!

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