Can physical activity, stress be actually detrimental to your heart?

My Heart pounds 24/7 and Doc says I'm fine?

• For three months my heart has been pounding (hard) .. so hard at times my body pulsates along with it. And when i lay on my side, I can feel it come out of my chest. When this first happend I went to the ER and they made me stay the night at the hospital because they said my heart was going through too much stress and working too hard. I then was schedualed to have the electro studies done to my heart. They did the echo, pickd up the rythmia or whatever, and did the electro study a few weeks later. The doctor said he couldnt get my heart to act up like it did and that he was sure nothing was wrong with my heart. I have still had problems since the study. went back to the cardiologist and took another EKG and he said everything looks fine .. I feel like on the edge right now and at times my limbs ( hands and feet) get red and swell up. my mom made me see an anxiety specialist .. but they said it doesn't seem like I am triggering all this. I have no idea but every time I do some physical activity my heartrate seems to be 130+ and stays that way for about an hour.My heartrate seems uncontrollable at times. My body seems out of funk. I have no idea what's wrong. sorry for the long post.

• Answer:

  If you haven't already I would recommend going back to your regular GP, explaining all of this to them and asking to see a different cardiologist. I have had arrhythmia(atrial fibrillation) for 12 years now and it was crazy scary for along time, eventually I learned to control it myself for the most part, I am also on carvedilol which made a huge difference. If you have high blood pressure also, I would mention this drug option to your doctor, also you should be on a daily aspirin regimen as arrhythmia can increase the risk of stroke, due to blood clots. If ever you feel that your heart is at an irregular rhythm for hours then definitely present to the er. One thing to keep in mind is that you could have very early signs of heart failure, this is not to scare you, as I was diagnosed this way. The thing to remember is at the very early stage of heart disease, you CAN fix it, don't believe people who tell you it's a natural course that cannot be changed. The best thing you can do is change your diet of you haven't already, take this as a warning sign, look up web sites on healthy eating. Focus on getting your body fat % down under 20%. Have your cholesterol checked, even if you are young this can still be a factor. Try working on good cardio exercise until you can get your resting heart rate down into the low 60's, mine used to be around 100 now it;s around 62. I rarely have heart problems I am now feeling healthier than I have in a long time and even the swelling in my legs has completely gone. I'm only 32 but a year ago I felt like I was 62, now I feel like I'm 21. When I used to eat very fatty foods within an hour after eating them my heart would start performing acrobatics, this happened far to many times for there to be a coincidence. Dehydration can also do the same. There are a thousand other things you can do to improve your situation, but you are doing the right thing by not ignoring this. I am not a doctor but am just coming from the point of personal experience and many hours of research. All the very best.