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Question about ectopic heartbeats

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Male, 36, 6', approx 270lb, caucasian. Hi, I was diagnosed with ectopic beats last year after years of strange flutters and skipped beats ranging from a few times a day to once every month or so. 2 days ago however I woke up at 6am to it happening once every 10 seconds or so, and after a few minutes of this my heart rate increased dramatically and began pounding really hard. I panicked, worrying about the fact I had 3 young children in the house and was otherwise alone, and called 999. While I was waiting for the ambulance my heart rate calmed down but the high frequency of the skipped beats remained and in fact carried on for the rest of the day. In hospital I had a chest x-ray, bloods taken twice and did an ECG, all of which were apparently normal. The doctor said no skipped beats were recorded on the ECG in the ambulance either even though I know they happened and the paramedic said he could see them. Eventually I was released from the Same Day Emergency Care unit and advised they'd book me in for an echo of my heart to check there was no damage but otherwise they are sticking with it being ectopic beats and they are harmless. Since then I have had periods where it has subsided and I haven't felt any strange sensations in my chest for hours, and other periods where it is highly frequent, ranging from once every few seconds to once a minute or so. I am becoming increasingly alarmed at this and feel I cannot relax as it's a very unsettling feeling and in the years since this first happened I've never experienced anything this bad. Currently it has been going on for about 4 hours and I also find myself quite out of breath not doing anything. My question is are you happy with what the hospital and my GPs have done in the past? Or do you think I need to push for some further investigation and have a reason to be concerned. Thanks

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Posted
Feb 12, 2026 at 8:52 PM UTC
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