A lot of my work involves talking to and reassuring people who suffer from ectopic heart beats which seem to cause a tonne of anxiety and really seem to have a negative impact on quality of life. Most patients I have spoken to have already seen a doctor for them and the doctor has told them that they are not dangerous but for may this reassurance is seldom enough.
The anxious mind needs more than that cursory pat on the shoulder. Part of the reason I think is that when ectopic beats are felt they are uncomfortable and scary and the anxious mind starts asking all sorts of questions – some rational and others irrational. The poor patient goes looking for answers and eventually ends up scouring the internet and ending up even more confused and terrified. In this video, I wanted to help reassure patients by helping them ask and answer some rational question about ectopic heart beats.
If we think rationally, ectopic heart beats are only really important for 2 reasons:
1) They may be a sign of something wrong with the heart and therefore they may represent some sort of warning that something bad may happen in the future – so a useful analogy would be that ectopic beats are like baby snakes and you are worried that there may be a mother snake waiting to bite nearby
2) The ectopic beats in themselves are causing the heart and the patient some form of damage – ok so there is no mother snake nearby but could the baby snakes bite?
So once you have answered those 2 questions, you can be reliably reassured that no harm will befall you and often that reassurance can go a long way to getting rid of them.
Thank you so much for listening and watching. I would love to know what you thought of this video. I am planning to do a live facebook chat later tonight so if you have any questions you want me to answer, please join me for the facebook chat by typing in @yorkcardiologist in your facebook search bar. I will also post a transcript of this video on my website www.drsanjayguptacardiologist.com
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