heartbeats they're really you know

they've had a really bad impact on our

lives we're always worried about them

we're always worrying that something

Bad's gonna happen to us just hate the

thought of having them I can have a

completely good day and then next day

for no reason they come on and it spoils

my whole day and what do you do about

them now just so people understand what

I mean by ectopic heartbeats it is this

kind of thing where your your heart

should beat like this okay but with

ectopic beats you could be sitting there

for no reason this is what happens and

then you feel nothing and then you can a

third and then third and then you go

back okay and or sometimes you can get

this kind of thing you know normal

normal normal and some people get too

you know a double beat some people get

missed beats but in essence what it is

is a short-lived period between normal

beats where the heart flutters or misses

beats or has extra beats okay and now if

you're getting this for more than 30

seconds ie you're getting completely

irregular beats for more than 30 seconds

then it's not probably not ectopic

heartbeats but if you're getting 2 or 3

and then 2 or 3 normal beats

2 or 3 2 or 3 normal beats then that's

still called ectopic beats so it's just

important to bear in mind the

not all ectopic beats follow the same

pattern it really depends on where the

atopic beat is coming from whether

you're getting two in a row whether

you're getting three in a row

etc but in essence I speak to a lot of

people who say to me look the ectopic

beats a I'm worried about what they may

signify B I just don't like having them

because they make me feel uncomfortable

and I often try and explain to them a

few things okay the first thing to say

is that if I went out onto the street

and I called a hundred people I called

all the people on the street and said

look I need hundred such people who have

no symptoms at all from their heart who

are leading normal lives who are not

conscious of their heart at all and are

happy as Larry and I took 100 such

people and I put a halter monitor on

them 60 or 70 will of them will have an

ectopic or more than you know one

ectopic or more than one ectopic on the

whole to say having it topics is not

abnormal out of a hundred people 70 will

have some ectopic okay but these are a

hundred people who do not feel a thing

so 70 of them will probably have ectopic

beats when you look at the monitor but

they are not feeling those ectopic beats

all right so having it topic beads is

not abnormal feeling them is of course

there are some people who are getting a

lot of ectopic Sergey said more than

10,000 or 15,000 a day in that case

there may be something else going on

which is causing those ectopic beats but

in general having ectopic be and and I

actually know people who are having

20,000 dick topics and they don't feel

them at all so there is a there are two

aspects to this one why are you feeling

them - are you getting more than what

would be normal for the average

population and when I've spoken to a lot

of people

the first thing I've found if you if

there was one common theme underpinning

everything you know when you're talking

to a lot of people you're trying to work

out in your own mind what is the one

common thing that I think that links all

these people the majority of times I

found that those people who talked to me

about their hearts and there are topics

and the fact that their topics have been

bothering them have some element of

anxiety about their health either

something bad has happened to them in

the past or something bad has happened

to a loved one but they have some degree

of health related anxiety so that's the

one common thing I've found amongst a

lot of people who suffer from ectopic

smoking the second thing to say is when

it comes to length of life all right

when it comes to length of life it is

not as much about the topics or the

nature of their topics that dictates you

know your length of life but moreso who

you are okay so if you're a eight year

old person who's had five heart attacks

in the past who's had a bypass operation

who's got bad lungs then you're at

topics or more worrisome than if you're

a thirty year old person who has no

medical problems okay so it's not the

nature of their topics that worries

people the death worries doctors it's

the person that you are who are you I

use someone who is in bad health I use

someone who has had lots of problems or

heart attacks with the area or who's

been born with a bad heart

or are you actually someone who is

otherwise well if you're someone who is

otherwise well who is a healthy person

is just getting the ectopic your

prognosis by very nature of the person

who you are is much better then a person

who is who has lots of long-term chronic

conditions okay so that should reassure

a lot of people that actually if you're

otherwise young fit healthy do

everything their topics are not going to

play a major role in terms of affecting

your length of life

of course if your symptoms become really

bothersome it is important to get

checked out it is important to have an

echocardiogram so that you know that you

have a structurally normal heart that

nothing was you know that you weren't

born with a heart condition or anything

like that and it's always nice to have a

halter monitor or some kind of

monitoring so that you know that what

you're getting are definitely a topic

beats okay but that is where it comes

down to your length of life all right if

you have a structurally normal heart and

you are otherwise in good health and you

don't have a family history of someone

dropping down dead suddenly their topics

are not going to make a significant

impact on your length of life your risks

of having a major problem with the ik

topics are pretty much the same as being

on the road and being hit by a car okay

vanishingly low all right

then there is the issue of why you get

them for a lot of people the the worry

is that they they get their topics and

then they can't get rid of them and that

makes them very concerned it's a fear

that the ik topics generate and for them

I say this okay the you know I tell them

a story and sometimes that helps when I

might my son when he was a very little

boy and he was we were walking along and

he went to a beach and on the beach

there was a dog that he saw from the

distance now he was so small and the

first thing that happened is he saw the

dog and the dog started running towards

him and my son thought that this dog was

gonna harm him and therefore started

running as soon as he started running

the dog started chasing him and as the

dog chased him you know he ran and he

started getting more and more terrified

and he cried and eventually we got there

and the dog didn't really mean any harm

the dog was just being friendly but

there was my son didn't know this and

therefore he was terrified anyway that

was a really bad experience for him and

then what we started discovering is that

slowly and gradually he started

developing a real phobia for dogs so he

would he would he would initially see a

dog from a distance he would start

crying here but his would go sweaty you

could feel his heart beating he would be

terrified eventually he stopped going to

the beach because he was so worried that

he would see a dog that even the thought

of going to the beach was so unappealing

to all right

and increasingly the effects of just

knowing that there was a dog in the area

would be terrifying for him having said

that the dog had never really done him

any harm it was just for the fear of

what the dog could do and the fear of

the unknown which caused him all these

symptoms without actually anything bad

happening to him he was manifesting

symptoms of sweaty palms of a heart fast

heart rate of a dry mouth you know

terrified and then eventually the thing

to do was we had to get him back and

reintroduce him to dogs because at the

end of the day he couldn't leave that

lead his life being fearful of dogs so

eventually there was the time that we

had to get him to confront a dog and he

was terrified but soon he realized that

the dog didn't mean in many harm and

once he started realizing that the dog

didn't mean in many harm

he stopped getting scared of dogs and

because he stops getting scared of dogs

all those symptoms that he was being man

afraid that he was manifesting

disappeared and now he's very

well-adjusted not scared of dogs in fact

we have a dog and he's fine

so a topic beats all like this again if

topic beats are like that dog you are

fearful of it because you don't know

what it means okay

and the more you worry about it

the more fear it generates there are

several things that happen when you have

fear because you are worried about these

ectopic beats and what they could

signify number one

what does fear do fear lowers your

threshold for picking things up alright

you can't do this flight of right

response if you're watching a scary

movie for example and you

you feel fear you will notice how

quickly you jump you know you could be

watching a scary movie and if the bell

rings you will jump having said that if

you're busy and you're not watching a

scary movie you don't think twice when

the bell rings why this discrepancy the

discrepancy between the since the same

stimulus the same bell ring if it's a

busy day you've got your kids at home

you're running around the bell rings it

doesn't cause anything the same to tell

the same intensity but if you're fearful

and you're watching a scary movie in the

middle of the night that would stimulate

a completely different reaction to your

body in your body and that is the whole

thing about fear it generates it lowers

your threshold for picking things up all

right it makes you far more aware it

causes changes in within your body for

the same stimulus that you are certain

external in another person doesn't cause

anything so if I have an ectopic and I'm

not fearful I may not notice anything I

may not even notice an ectopic whereas

if you're someone who is fearful you

will notice it a lot more that's the

first thing the second thing is when you

get fearful you can start

hyperventilating okay so when you're

developing when you're fearful when

you're worried about what's going on

you start hyperventilating when you

start hyperventilating what happens you

change the ionic balance within the

blood stream and a lot of people when

they hyperventilate they get tingling in

their hands because their calcium levels

and their magnesium levels change and

then remember things like magnesium do

you have an electrical impact on the

heart and a relative magnesium

deficiency just caused by

hyperventilating can cause more wreck

topics to happen okay so that's the

other thing that if if you become

fearful not only do you notice those

that topics that are there but you also

generate more it topics and therefore

and that is why you know calming down

and once you calm down their topics

slowly go away

the third thing to say is that so

they're so we've talked about the fact

that yeah it lowers your threshold

number two when you become fearful your

uric topics can increase number three if

fear is also incredibly inflammatory

fear is a stress hormone if this very

fear brings about stress it causes the

release of things like cortisol and

adrenaline so your heart will beat

faster

your you are going to be more irritable

and it is very inflammatory to the body

and that is another reason why heck

topics come about and why people get so

many ectopic so it is really really

important to develop strategies by which

you can conquer your fear I promise you

if you've been checked out if you have a

structurally normal heart if you don't

have any family history of heart disease

all right then

your problem is your fear and your fear

is not necessarily justified if you've

been checked out your risks of something

bad happening to you are pretty well

much the same as someone crossing the

road and being hit by a car doesn't mean

it will never happen it doesn't mean

that you know you won't hear of the

isolated incident of a person collapsing

and dying but those are isolated

incidents you hear them because they're

there they are they are newsworthy but

the majority of people are fine and

certainly in my own experience wherever

I've had young people who come to me you

know after a little bit of reassurance

their palpitations miraculously go away

but they don't go away completely they

come back again at times of fear at

times of stress and once you start

conquering your fear and you realize

that your problem is not your ectopic

beats okay it is the fear that they're

associated with the fear that something

is wrong the fear that maybe this time

it's different

the fear that has someone missed

anything and I promise you that the

majority of egg topics

are generally benign if you're otherwise

healthy it's as good as it gets so I

wouldn't worry about the ectopic I've

spoken to I spoke to a lady who said you

know she had three children and her

oldest one was I think 16 years old and

she said you know I've had these topics

for 25 years and they've destroyed my

life and I said well you've known these

are topics longer than you've known your

own children all right so why are you so

fearful of them you know these are

topics have been your friend

the minute you start welcoming these of

chocolates the minute you start saying

actually I'm not fearful of you because

you've been with me so long and I have

not come to any harm I know you don't

mean anything bad the minute you start

thinking like that those if topics will

go away okay I promise you they will go

away but you have to but there has to be

a change in mindset you have to stop

being fearful those ik topics are like

the dog that was terrorizing my child

but the day my son started accepting him

started thinking of it as a friend the

dog didn't bother him anymore all right

so this was helpful a little bit

different to what I normally do but I do

think that you know sometimes I go

through the Facebook pages that the

forums that so many people are so

fearful of all the bad things that can

happen I promise you from the heart

perspective then those bad things are

not going to happen all right

you should get checked out you should

have a doctor that you can trust and as

long as you have confidence in your

doctor and your doctor does your tests

and tells you that your heart is fine

don't worry you're gonna be fine

all right so I hope this was useful and

you can contact me on this is my name

Sanjay Gupta this is my website your

cardiology co uk and this is my Facebook

page so thank you so much for listening

take a bang