Heart Fear Syndrome
Heart stumbling due to stress can also be a sign of a so-called heart anxiety syndrome, which most frequently affects middle-aged men who know people with organic heart disease in their close circle of acquaintances or relatives. The heart disease of the close person acts as a permanent stress event (stressor) on the person affected and, due to the patient’s lack of resistance, triggers a panic disorder that occurs in attacks and attacks. Despite having a completely healthy heart, patients experience severe anxiety attacks with a sharp rise in blood pressure, dizziness, sweating and chest pain. Heart stumbling can also be part of these symptoms, which are very similar to a heart attack. The heart anxiety syndrome is one of the psychosomatic disorders: Despite a healthy heart, the patient experiences severe symptoms of a heart disease that is triggered solely by the fear of it.
Symptoms
Heart stuttering is expressed in the feeling that the heart suddenly makes a stop, which only lasts a short moment and does not significantly disturb the heart rhythm. In the case of a heart stumble due to stress, many of these interruptions are often strung together so that the person affected perceives a clearly irregular heartbeat. In addition to the heart stumbling, the pulse can be felt in the chest and neck.
The heart stumbling may be accompanied by chest pain, dizziness and anxiety. However, all these symptoms are not caused by organic heart disease, but can only be explained by the effects of the stress reaction on the heart. Stress is one of the main causes of heart stumbling.
Often there is a rather harmless cause behind the heart stumbling, but there are also reasons to consult a doctor. One of them is when breathing difficulties occur in addition to the heart stutter. In this case, shortness of breath is a sign that the pumping capacity of the heart is limited by the stumbling and the stress to such an extent that not enough blood reaches the lungs and the rest of the body.
As a result, the blood is no longer completely saturated with oxygen, which triggers further stress in the body and leads to increased work of breathing. Subjectively, a feeling of breathlessness develops. It is possible that the shortness of breath in heart stumps is not only caused by stress, but also by other causes such as electrolyte shifts or structural problems.Therefore, in cases of respiratory distress, a cardiologist should always be consulted to determine blood values, write an ECG with or without exercise, or perform an ultrasound of the heart.
It may then be necessary to initiate therapy, for example with antiarrhythmic medication. If the heart is found to be healthy, the shortness of breath is also rather harmless. It is likely that the shortness of breath is caused by a mixture of stress and heart stumbling and the resulting anxiety. Nevertheless, there is still the possibility of treating the heart stumbling with medication.
