in desperate need of help/ guidance for weird skipped beat feeling in chest.

ok im a 28 year old male, 5’10, 240 lbs (i know). this problem started when i was 179 lbs, running 3-10 miles a day, boxing, lifting, etc. I was due to go in for a double hip labral tear surgery, did a 10 mile run because i wasn’t sure when I’d be able to again, i had a little anxiety after the run, was sitting on a couch scrolling through my phone and i got what felt like a thump in my chest that also had the feeling of going down a drop on a roller coaster at the same time, it lasts for a fraction of a second, but it is a physical thump feeling in the center of my chest, anyway, i freak out a bit and forget about it. surgery goes well ( i didn’t die ) the hips still feel like shit, and i packed on alot of weight as you can tell in the 4 months of laying in bed and my only exercise being walking with a walker, leg raises and butt / thigh squeezes. fast forward 4 months, we move into a new house, we are finishing the basement and im going up and down off of a paint bucket to hit some spots on the wall, and boom, chest feeling is back. so anyway, im still used to being very sedentary, nothing is improving, i try to work out, little 3 mile jogs here or there, but the feeling becomes more and more frequent. i eventually start going to the ER quite frequently thinking im dying, due to the constant chest pain and these weird sensations. in total, the tests ive had in the last 2 years are, multiple EKG, chest x-ray, lung ct scan that also looked at my heart valves, a stress test on a treadmill, an echo, a holter monitor during which time i recorded multiple of the sensations and doctor saw nothing on the readings when i asked him about them, i had the test from a stomach doctor where they put a tube down your throat, they found acid, ive had pretty much every test aside from the catheter test to check your heart that way. I don’t know what to do. oh yeah i almost forgot, so recently ive been trying really hard to break my cycle of bad diet and no exercise, ive been doing a beginner hiit workout about 4 times a week, walking on treadmill or just going for walks, shadowboxing again, so after these workouts i stretch, and one of the stretches I do is i hold onto something and go into a deep squat, i make sure to breathe and when i stand up without fail i nearly pass out (im down there for like 30 seconds to a minute max) my heart starts thumping really hard, head starts hurting, the same thing happens from time to time walking upstairs, i can still run and feel fine, do a hiit workout feel fine, but if i walk up a flight of stairs my heart is pumping and im out of breath. so far im down 10 lbs. but i still feel absolutely horrible

to be fair to you and in hopes that i get a response I will be totally transparent, my diet is mostly spicy, whether that be if im eating chicken rice and broccoli for dinner, i will dump hot sauce on it, its like an addiction in its own, the spicy food. and I also use nicotine and have even since i boxed, i smoked when i was younger, vaped for about a year, and for about 2-3 years been chewing nicotine gum/ zyn/ other smokeless tobaccoless nicotine. I’ve went off of the nicotine for almost a weak and the sensations persisted. I am still open to that being the cause.

basically, I am a shell of my former self, i am depressed, I am lost, I feel like half of a man because im scared to bend over or do a squat or anything for fear of this sensation. I appreciate this forum and hope for a response. thanks.

OH By the way, all of my tests came back normal.

Hi there,

I’m sorry to hear about the struggles you’ve been going through. From what you describe it sounds like you have had an exceptionally thorough medical evaluation for these palpitations, and at this point it appears unlikely that there is an underlying heart-related cause for these symptoms. This is not to say that the symptoms you are experiencing aren’t real, but rather that we may not be able to identify a single specific “cause” for them. However, the good news is that when the battery of tests you have undergone comes back normal and reassuring, it does help us interpret the meaning of these symptoms: specifically, that they do not represent anything dangerous, ominous, or life-threatening. And sometimes just knowing this – that the symptoms are most likely benign – then it can provide a lot of relief and reassurance, even if they can be uncomfortable or distressing to experience in the moment.

One thing from your post that jumped out to me is your discussion about how you are experiencing depression - have you sought out any sort of mental health treatment to help you work through that side of things? This is clearly a complex situation, and for the most part is beyond the scope of what we’re able to provide simple answers for via a forum – but that would be my first target here, since it does not seem (based on the information you’ve provided) that additional cardiac evaluation would be helpful.

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Man, this is such a thoughtful, nuanced, and compassionate response – I’m always impressed with you guys, but this one really stands out for me. I’ve had various arrythmias (eventually repaired via two ablations) that gave me some of the symptoms @heartissues is describing, and the anxiety it caused was really debilitating – I really did wonder if I was dying a few times. I hope @heartissues gets some comfort from your answer and suggestions, and I hope you know what a great thing you do by answering questions here in such a supportive manner. You’re a good dude, Austin.

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hi sorry for the late response im so use to getting no answers that I just forget about the questions i’ve asked everywhere. Can depression really cause me to just feel my heart thumping in my chest all day and these weird sudden drops in my chest? or the constant chest pain upon deep breaths or losing my voice mid sentence? if it can then man i am one effed up guy in the head. it’s just so weird to me the dropping sensation in my chest started at my peak of physical fitness right before the surgery. maybe it is just anxiety and i am a basket case but this feels so real and awful. i feel so bad every day i can’t remember my last normal day

thank you buddy