The pattern or rhythm of a heart beat can also tell you what's going on: a panic attack typically brings a constant rapid heart rate, while AFib causes an erratic heart rate. If your heart seems to be skipping beats, or speeding up then slowing down and speeding up again, it's more likely that AFib is to blame.
Listen to your heartbeat: Your heartbeat will be very erratic with AFib, while with palpitations it'll beat fast but in a steady pattern and slowly return to normal.
Feeling angry or stressed about work may make AFib. Having anxiety increases the risk of AFib.
Heart Palpitations and Anxiety. Heart palpitations due to anxiety feel like your heart is racing, fluttering, pounding or skipping a beat. Your heartbeat can increase in response to specific stressful situations. You may also have palpitations due to an anxiety disorder (excessive or persistent worry).
Anxiety is a common cause of heart palpitations and usually isn't something to worry about. However, it is normal for your heartbeat to speed up in stressful situations, sometimes palpitations may become more frequent, intense, unpredictable, or impact your general functioning and well-being.
Whether it is due to short-term test nervousness or a chronic condition, anxiety may be associated with certain ECG abnormalities, including T-wave inversion.
Tachycardia – an abnormally rapid heart rate – can disguise itself as AFib, because it's often a symptom of AFib. Tachycardia can come from an infection, heart disease, congenital abnormalities, or a number of other causes, and can easily be mistaken for persistent AFib. Anxiety or panic attacks.
When you have atrial fibrillation, you might notice a skipped heartbeat, and then feel a thud or thump, followed by your heart racing for an extended amount of time. Or you might feel heart palpitations or fluttering or jumping of your heart. Or you might experience sweating or chest pain, mimicking a heart attack.
Anxiety Can Cause Arrhythmia
It is known that a person's heartbeat may speed up during times of stress (as a result of the fight or flight system), but an arrhythmia tends to be much more sudden and does not always come during times of intense anxiety.
firmly place the index and middle finger of your right hand on your left wrist, at the base of the thumb (between the wrist and the tendon attached to the thumb) using the second hand on a clock or watch, count the number of beats for 30 seconds, and then double that number to get your heart rate in beats per minute.
For many people, A-fib may have no symptoms. However, A-fib may cause a fast, pounding heartbeat (palpitations), shortness of breath or weakness.
About atrial fibrillation
A normal heart rate, when you are resting, should be between 60 and 100 beats a minute. In atrial fibrillation, it may be over 140 beats a minute.
Ways a person can try to stop an A-fib episode on their own include taking slow, deep breaths, or coughing. The ideal way for a person to stop an A-fib episode is to see a doctor for evaluation and treatment of their symptoms, including treatment of any underlying disorders.
A strange fluttering sensation in your chest. These are common symptoms of anxiety or a panic attack, but they are also signs of a dangerous heart condition called atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat.
People may experience symptoms such as palpitations (a noticeably rapid, strong or irregular heart beat), dizziness, breathlessness and tiredness. Sometimes people have no symptoms at all.
Paroxysmal Afib lasts less than one week and usually stops on its own without treatment. (Paroxysmal is pronounced par-ək-ˈsiz-məl.) Persistent Afib lasts more than one week and needs treatment. Long-standing persistent Afib lasts more than a year and is sometimes difficult to treat.
Recognizing the warning signs of silent AFib
Patients with silent AFib may experience faint symptoms associated with the condition and assume they are unrelated to their heart health. If you feel dizzy, notice a fluttering in the chest, or experience repeated fatigue, you should see a doctor as soon as possible.
What happens to your heart rate during a panic attack? In many cases, a panic attack triggers a fast heart rate, also known as tachycardia. The heart rate may speed up to 200 beats per minute or even faster.
Cardiophobia is defined as an anxiety disorder of persons characterized by repeated complaints of chest pain, heart palpitations, and other somatic sensations accompanied by fears of having a heart attack and of dying.
Distract Your Mind Remember that actively thinking about your heartbeat can trigger palpitations and/or make them worse and more pronounced.
"Chest pain, rapid heartbeat and breathlessness may result when an insufficient amount of blood reaches the heart muscle," says Tung. (See "Symptoms" below.) One of the key distinctions between the two is that a heart attack often develops during physical exertion, whereas a panic attack can occur at rest.
Propranolol treats the physical symptoms of anxiety – for example, it stops your heart beating too fast. You'll usually only take propranolol for a short time.
Antianxiety medications: If your heart palpitations are due to anxiety, your healthcare provider may prescribe an anti-anxiety medication, called an anxiolytic. These medications will help you to relax. These may include lorazepam (Ativan®), or alprazolam (Xanax®).