alt Hacker NewsI have frequent ectopic beats that I feel as a flutter / heavy beat on my chest. The doc says it won't kill me but it is extremely uncomfortable at times. This has been a great material to learn about the inner workings of heart cells.
BTW Here's an ECG from my Apple Watch showing 3 such beats (you can't miss them): https://link.ekin.dev/l1Vc3Gdf
If you happen to have these, just get checked out by a cardiologist. They are almost always benign but the frequency / daily amount are reasons for concern.
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Many (most?) people get ectopic beats, but the threshold for noticing them seems to differ. Being stressed/anxious makes them more noticeable. There's a self-reinforcing feedback loop: the more you notice them & worry about them, the easier you will notice them ...
The thing about arrhythmias is that they can only cause damage while they're happening, but ectopics are only a problem for a single beat, which is not going to impact your oxygenation or blood pressure or anything else. Even a bunch of them every day won't cause any damage.
I used to get them occasionally. A few years back I started doing loads of cardio exercise and I noticed a while back that I hadn't had the flutter for a long time. I always wondered if it was due to increased cardiac fitness.
I had some of those, verified by ECG. Cut down on coffee a bit, they went away.
I had something similar for many years (triggered by an episode of afib brought-on by triggering my vagus nerve). The one thing that has helped me fully get rid of these (after YEARS of trial-and-error) was getting onto beta blockers (Propranolol).
These have COMPLETELY gotten rid of my ectopic beats and also helped me deal with the health anxiety.
If you ever want to talk, feel free to hit me up (contact info in profile).