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Heart Races While Smoking. EEG And Blood Work Said Excessive Adrenaline. Heart Issues?

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Posted on Mon, 25 Jun 2012
Question: hello, my heart starts beating really fast when i smoke normal cigarettes, i dont smoke or marijuana or any of the hard core stuff, i have been having this problem for about 2 years and only occurrs as soon as i light up the cigarettes, sometime it beats really fast that i feel like i am going to have a heart attack, at times the beating lasts over 20 - 30 mins. can you help what might be the cause of this and what i should do? even thought of thinking about cigarettes can make me very very nervous which causes the heart to beat fast.
i have been to the dr, checked my blood and had a ECG and all they said was that i had too much adrenaline - and everything else ok, how ever i feel unease - as when i had the ecg the heart rate was normal, rather i feel the hospital should have carried out the ecg when the heart was beating. i also experience heart beating when i change positions as i am trying to sleep.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Robert Galamaga (6 hours later)
Hello and thank you for submitting your question.

Your question is a very good one and I will work on providing you with some good information and recommendations regarding what is going on.

From what you describe I think you may be experiencing premature ventricular contractions. this is actually very common and sometimes can cause symptoms in patients. In your case you have had a work up to rule out very worrisome types of things.

At this point if you were my patient I would consider ordering a monitoring test called a Holter monitor. This is a device what you would wear for 24 to 48 hours. The device actually record your heart rate for the entire duration that you wear it. When you were experiencing symptoms you press a button and the monitor will record what is going on with your heart. Your doctor can then review the results of this test and give you for the recommendations.

I can fully appreciate that the symptoms you're having do provide you with a significant degree of anxiety. If your doctors continue to investigate I am sure they will get to the bottom of this.

Some patients who have this type of symptom take a small dose of the medication which can prevent the heart from racing like you are experiencing.

I thank you again for submitting your question. I hope you found my response to be helpful and informative. If you have any additional concerns I would be happy to address them. Otherwise please accept my response.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Robert Galamaga (7 hours later)
i have been smoking for about 8/9 yrs, and only experienced this problem about 2 years ago, i only smoke like 2/3 times a day i am 5ft 2 and weigh about 7.5 stones - if i continue to smoke will something happen to me or what are the consequences to this?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Robert Galamaga (13 hours later)
Hello and thank you for the for the follow up question.

I have to say that any amount of smoking is potentially detrimental to your health. From the standpoint of a physician I recommend that you do your best to slowly discontinue smoking at all costs.

From what we know at this point the duration of smoking history is just as important as the number of cigarettes that a person smoked in a lifetime. With that being said I would encourage you to consider discontinuing smoking.

There are a number of things available to help you quit smoking including nicotine patches as well as some new medications which might help decrease the craving that you might have. Otherwise there are other methods including even hypnosis that seems to work for some people. Overall it is important for you first to make the decision that you want to quit. Until you reach that point it is of no benefit to even try to quit.

I thank you again for submitting your question. I hope you have found my responses to be helpful and informative. If you have been satisfied with our discussion please accept my response.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Robert Galamaga (46 hours later)
Hi,

what i was meant to ask was that, i understand smoking altogether is not good for your health, but smoking whilst the heart is beating fast, is there a risk of heart attacks or are there any risks involved during this moment?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Robert Galamaga (6 hours later)
Hello and thank you for the follow up question.

Nicotine and other chemicals in the cigarette can stimulate heart to cause a higher heart rate.
Hence, I have to say that you are at a higher risk for developing some type of arrhythmia if you smoke during a period where your heart rate is elevated.

Continuous smoking when there is baseline elevated heart rate can cause serious problems.

The short answer is yes, this is potentially XXXXXXX and I would discourage smoking altogether.

Thank you again for submitting your question. I hope you have found our exchange to be helpful. If you have other concerns please let me know.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad
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Answered by
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Dr. Robert Galamaga

Oncologist

Practicing since :2002

Answered : 2635 Questions

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Heart Races While Smoking. EEG And Blood Work Said Excessive Adrenaline. Heart Issues?

Hello and thank you for submitting your question.

Your question is a very good one and I will work on providing you with some good information and recommendations regarding what is going on.

From what you describe I think you may be experiencing premature ventricular contractions. this is actually very common and sometimes can cause symptoms in patients. In your case you have had a work up to rule out very worrisome types of things.

At this point if you were my patient I would consider ordering a monitoring test called a Holter monitor. This is a device what you would wear for 24 to 48 hours. The device actually record your heart rate for the entire duration that you wear it. When you were experiencing symptoms you press a button and the monitor will record what is going on with your heart. Your doctor can then review the results of this test and give you for the recommendations.

I can fully appreciate that the symptoms you're having do provide you with a significant degree of anxiety. If your doctors continue to investigate I am sure they will get to the bottom of this.

Some patients who have this type of symptom take a small dose of the medication which can prevent the heart from racing like you are experiencing.

I thank you again for submitting your question. I hope you found my response to be helpful and informative. If you have any additional concerns I would be happy to address them. Otherwise please accept my response.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert