weird sensations on the chest near the heart

I sometimes, randomly, feel strange "sensations" on my chest near the heart. It's hard to describe it. It is not pain. It is more like the (chest?) muscle moves on its own. Is it related to my CHB (currently unpaced - waiting for the appointment to install it)? Will the PM make any difference?

I've even been told by my wife to go to the ER. When I went there, they took me in overnight and released me the next day. I was told that the sensations had nothing to do with my heart. They checked for evidence of "heart attack" from my blood and also did echo and found no evidence of a heart attack. They said that heart attack pain is more like an elephant is sitting on my chest and there's no mistaking / wondering about it.

 

1 Comments

chest discomfort

by Gemita - 2020-11-04 05:39:50

Hello Koala,

Firstly, I am so glad to see from another recent post that you are preparing for your hospital admission for the implantation of a pacemaker.   You have done well to come to a decision and I hope you have a successful, safe procedure.

On the matter of chest sensations, I believe many of us with heart electrical problems will be acutely aware of weird sensations from time to time, depending on the electrical activity present or absent at any given time and the very unpredictable nature of electrical disturbances.  

The heart is a muscle and if it doesn't get a steady supply of oxygen, it may quiver, vibrate, flutter, fibrillate, pound and cause many unwanted symptoms from breathlessness, chest pain, weakness to dizziness.  Blood pressure and heart rate may surge or fall too.  After a while when this happens to me, I usually experience worsening chest pain that would probably send many patients running to ER/A&E.  However, I have got to know what is serious and what is not from my symptoms alone.   When discomfort is prolonged, I seek help.  I can usually stay calm, rest until my heart settles and finds a steady regular pace.

You did the right thing to get an opinion on your chest discomfort.  While many conditions can cause chest discomfort, particularly gastric and you have been experiencing a lot of stress lately, I find that my chest discomfort is clearly related to my electrical disturbances, since when my heart is steady, I have absolutely no chest pain.  Although you have not had a heart attack, the sensation you feel can indeed be coming from your heart because electrical disturbances can clearly cause symptoms which may result in chest discomfort.  ER/A&E doctors need to rule out a heart attack which is a pressure, heavy type pain, but to say that your heart was not causing your symptoms, in my opinion, was failing to see the bigger picture.  We have to be firm and tell them when we are experiencing symptoms during electrical disturbances.  The problem is some patients are completely asymptomatic whereas others (like me and possibly you) clearly have lots of symptoms from our heart condition.

Will the pacemaker make a difference?  For me, it most definitely has Koala.  Just to have a pacemaker that can pace me at a regular, higher heart rate has made an incredible difference.  My electrical disturbances are being tamed/stabilised by pacing and I am sure it will be the same for you too.

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