Some conditions, such as a large meal, insomnia, caffeine abuse, sleep apnea or simply anxiety can, in predisposed hearts, trigger additional electrical impulses beyond the normal heartbeat.
For several days I have been suffering from extrasystoles: I feel a “sinking heart”, a feeling of emptiness. Echocardiography and Doppler ultrasound were normal. I would like to know if extrasystoles are dangerous and if they can disappear as they appeared. I’m worried. I should add that I recently started taking an antidepressant.
He answers Massimo MapelliDepartment of Critical and Rehabilitation Cardiology, Monzino Cardiology Center, Milan (GO TO THE FORUM)
The feeling of “empty» e «heart sankWhich he reports so precisely is entirely compatible with a classical one
benign extrasystole. These are electrical impulses in addition to the normal heartbeat that affect morphologically healthy hearts in most cases, as evidenced by his echocardiogram which fortunately excludes problems in the functioning of the heart muscle and its valves. Some conditions, such as a large meal, insomnia, caffeine abuse, sleep apnea or simply anxiety they can, in predisposed hearts, increase the episodes of ectopic beats. An anxious state, in particular, sometimes triggers a vicious cycle of anxiety-extrasystoles-anxiety, capable of seriously affect the quality of life. In relation to reasons related to the electrical functioning of the heart, each added beat (“extra”, in fact) is followed by a necessary pause for the tissues that conduct the impulse to recharge. It is precisely this pause that is perceived as an anomaly. In this way, curiously, the presence of an extra heartbeat is felt as the lack of a heartbeat. For reasons still not fully understood, in some subjects the symptoms are absent even when the episodes are thousands in a day. In others it tends to present itself in an annoying way and, albeit only in sporadic cases, even disabling, even if only for the continuous feeling of having something wrong.
The solution: ignore them
Personally, since high school I have suffered from a slight visual disturbance called “myodesopsia“, More commonly known as”flying flies“. In a nutshell, these are multiple black shadows with a filiform and frayed appearance that, in perennial movement, populate the visual field in a barely perceptible way, but making themselves particularly distinguishable when the background is a clear and luminous surface, like a clear sky. . Before knowing the benign nature of the disorder, I used to stare at the horizon for long minutes in the grip of worry – sometimes certainty – of losing sight at any moment. Hell, right? Yet, once I verified the benign nature of the disorder and the absence of concrete risks, I completely forgot about it. Today, almost twenty years later, the moments in which I see flying flies, which have always remained in place, are completely episodic. As with other problems (for example tinnitus), our brain – a much more plastic and fascinating organ than the heart – has the ability to neglect impulses that he considers unimportant, blocking them at a pre-critical stage, with obvious benefits on our quality of life. A sort of highly efficient filter that decides from time to time if it’s worth bothering us. Basically there is a perfect strategy for your problem with extrasystoles, cheaper and probably more effective than other pharmacological ones: you ignore them and will see that they will be less afraid.
October 8, 2022 (change October 8, 2022 | 18:48)
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