Is it possible my heart stopped???

Question

I have been getting pains in chest for a while had a whole heap of test ecg or ekg about 3 or 4 times had an ultra sound on heart had to walk then jog on treadmill in front of cardiologist all fine. Had blood tests all fine, But recently i have become obsessed with checking my pulse seeing as though i have a rapid heart beat. Sometime i feel that my pulse stops i dont know if that really happens or if it is just my mind playing tricks seeing as though i have anxiety and am a worrier. and i know that once your heart stops your dead basically everything shuts down but that didnt happen to me it just felt as though my pulse stopped can this really happen it has happened a couple of times

Answer 1

When you have anxiety (I do also), you can make yourself so stressed that you start to experience palpitations, which are very unpleasant but common and not dangerous. If you feel like you're having those kinds of sensations, go and see your GP, cut out caffeine and try to de-stress as much as you can.

Answer 2

If your really heartbeat stopped, you'd notice it very quickly by losing consciousness within 5-6 seconds. It's not something that often happens to most people, even with cardiac problems.

Cardiac arrests do happen of course, but they typically occur to people with an irregular heartbeat or due to EXTREMELY fast heartbeat. Irregular heartbeat is a bit hard to mask. If you had it, your tests would have discovered it. And in order for the heart to shut itself down due to fast heart rate, it'd have beat at least 160 bpm.

I had a similar problem and most likely it's connected to anxiety and unhealthy lifestyle. I thought there's something wrong with my heart and even ended up in the emergency room a couple of times. In the end, it made some big changes to my life: I lost weight, quit smoking and started running. Now my heartbeat is actually lower than normal, which is excellent.

Answer 3

Worrying will cause a rapid heart beat/pulse.  You've had all the tests to show that there's nothing wrong with you, so just accept that and stop worrying.  You will end up making yourself sick if you keep focusing on your health like this.  Sometimes it's difficult to find your pulse but if your heart stopped beating you would certainly be dead.  It sounds like you're still alive to me!  Relax and get on with living!