Hi Hotmama, are you easily anxious? Do you get nervous or tense easily? I suffer from heart palpitations too which is what you mentioned as irregular heartbeats.  It is actually a very common ailment suffered by many people.  Take comfort, you are not the only one. I have been having this condition for years and seen heart cardiologists before.  However, they also told me that there is nothing they can do about it.  They also assured me that it is not a life-threatening condition.  I am somebody who is easily anxious and it can make the heart palpitations worse.  When I take beverages with caffeine, my heartbeats can go haywire and I cannot sleep at all..I also have a funny sensation going down my tummy when i feel these palpitations.

I try to avoid caffienated drinks but i love coffee  so i limit myself to once every few days. At times, I tell God I am going to drop dead, esp when my son drives me up the wall .  But so far so good I am still alive.

I do not have chest pains however.  Chest pains are a concern becos i remember my specialist asked me if i experienced that.  Are the drs you see heart specialists? If not, then I think you ought to see one who specialises in the heart or seek second or third opinion.

My good friend who is very stressed with work suddenly also developed heart palpitations.  She got the same answers from heart specialists.

Perhaps you should do some relaxing exercises such as strolls.  I go for pilates now and it helps me to relax and breathe well.

I hope this helps!

Thank you to all of you who took the time to answer me.  I am going to see another doctor, and keeping a journal for each of my kids, and one for my husband.  I hope to be here till all of my kids are grown, at least!  If all goes well I will still give them their journals when they are grown. All of the advice I have received is appreciated! 

If your greatest concern in this difficult time is getting prepared for a situation in which you would not be able to care for your children, then I would say that the best way to reduce that stress is to figure out exactly what you want for your children.  This was a really difficult discussion for me and my husband but we took the time and sat down to really talk about who could take care of our children if something happened to either one or even both of us.  I think if you have this discussion with your husband it will help you process the other things that you may need to process as well.  What a difficult time you are having.  As was the case in my situation, I hope that your children never need to see the plan that you made.  Good luck and take care. 

please do some investigation into glyconutrients www.glycoscience.org and www.mannatech.com . my baby girl is nearly 1. at a week old she contracted a virus that went to her heart (myocarditis) swelled and took up 70% of her chest cavity she had nearly all of her systems fail one by one. has had every invasive life threatening procedure inc open heart surg etc. she faught 4 her life hour by hour 4 3 mths she was born 3.4 kg wen we took her home she was 1.56kg and losing weight every day due to liver probs. we were given less than a 7% chance she would survive long storey short she has been left with dilated cardiomyopathy which basically means diseased heart muscle. we were told best case scenario was surgery would get her by 4 a little while hopefully till she can recieve a transplant(we were toldthis about her liver also) anyway since going onto truckloads of glyconutrients she has gotten better and better her liver has completely regenerated( apart from some gall stones which can b taken out later on) and her last heart scan showed NORMAL HEART FUNCTION she was taken off all her meds and apart from her scars u wouldnt know how sick shs been infact u wouldnt believe it! her cardiologist has told me under no cercumstances to stop wat im doing because he wouldnt have ever imagined this would b the outcome! so please find out about it. it cant hurt and wat price do put on ur health and giving ur children mum 4 a long time not a short time. also get some soy lecithin from the health food shop as it aids in cardiac function, u can put it on ur cereal. xx

First of all, I am sorry to hear about your situation. It is dificult to know what is right to do for your children and husband. I would make sure I have a good life insurance policy, that way your funeral costs, your childrens daycare (for when daddy is at work) is paid for, etc. Then I would talk to your husband, tell him he needs to learn all this stuff in case you can't do it, men need to do this anyways in case we get the flu or are in a car accident etc. I think writing your children notes about things, them as babies, things you did with them etc is a great idea. The fact that you are wanting to take action to take care of your family if the worst is going to happen I say congrats to you for being a great mom and wife. I hope everything works out ok and the doctors  find out how to help you so you can start feeling better and get on with your life.

Is there something wrong with blood pressure, low or high, anything with cholestorol. Did u go for a second opinion with doctors. Is it in ur family, heart problems. I think writing a journal even making a video for ur kids is a good idea but please try not to stress to much even if it is very hard because stress is the worst ennemy. Just take care of urself and please go for more opinions with doctors. Take care

I agree first off that you need to get a second opinion. 
Have you thought of doing a will or living will?  I'm not sure which one would be better or if there is a difference.
I know my husband and I need to get one done as we have talked many times about if one of us is on life support and there is no brain activity we don't want to be kept on.  Say it happens to him, without a living will his parents can say to keep him on and they will because not all parties agree.
Definitely keep journals and write letters to your children.  I've been keeping a journal for Alexa since I found out I was pregnant and it's even fun for me to go back and read it from the beginning and see what I was feeling and how she has progressed!
Take Care of yourself!!!

i would also talk to your hubby about this ,, so that you can have a little time out .

he needs to be involved more ,, not just for what you are going through right now,,

but point out to him what if i need to go to hospital to get my tonsiles out eg he needs to be more involed for anything that can happen to any of us so he will know how to look after both of your children

Hi Hotmama...

My daughter writes love letters to her children for them to read when they reach the important milestones in their lives... She says she looks forward to seeing how differently she views things in years to come.

Another alternative to letters / journals would be filming a few personal messages...  Imagine sitting with the family on the eve of the children's wedding or on their 21st birthday & comparing the dreams you have for them now with the accomplishments they have achieved...

Please don't view this time in your life in fear, rather look at it as an opportunity to prepare ahead... Looking back over the years with a touch of nostalgia you'll be able to say...'WOW is that what I thought then...'

Keeping positive can be hard in these situations, however it's very important for you to TRY to eliminate as much anxiety over your health as possible. I know it's not easy but our thought patterns can play a major role in the final outcome achieved.

Notice that I have highlighted aspects of this post that see YOU in the children's life for a L O N G    L o n g    L O N G time... Believe in the Positive...

Thoughts & Prayers are with you

Hi

Go and get another opion as anything to do with the Heart is serious. My daughter was born with a heart condiont and is still recovering from her 3 open heart operation in 5 years.

You need to be strong and also enjoy the time the kids are around you have fun that they will remember if anything happens to you.

Good luck and see a heart specialist they surely can help you

its called heart palpatations

i had then for 3 years at times it pumps sooo strong that you can see it through your clothes ,, also my x  partners also going through it now

they tell you not to have coffee because it makes the heart pump faster ...as well as the alcohol,,

i went to mant doc about this also

mine i found out was related to stress i had 3 month old twins and i was alone ..

one doc gave my tablets to regulate it  and told me to take them everytime it started up.. but they didnt work for me

it would hit me at differnt times ,, when i was walking to the shops ,, when i went out with a few friends at night ,, and when i was out with friends i didnt even feel stressed but it still happened .

i went off cofeee etc for awhile and just tryed to relax a little more ( hard to relax when you have children) but i found my own way to relax and it finally went away

even if you are not stressed at the moment your  subconcious tells you differnt

my x still is having his and he also has been to many docs and they tell him that theres nothing wrong with him,, i told him hes got to find something he likes to do and try to relax and not run arround and be worried about things as much

its scarey as it hurts also

you can go to another doc and tell him its heart pulpitations and how do you regulate them

after i got mine undercontroll , i started to over sweat so the stress took on another roll in my body ,, i went to docs about that also they where like umm dont know ,, not much help from them at all ,,

i used to use my mind alot to try to controll it and have slow long breaths to help with it all

anyway once i knew a little more about it it did go away

you need a little quiet time for yourself

i was anxious about alot of things on the inside and that was the key i found out in the end that triggered it off ( the palpitations and then the sweat )

im not a doc and maybe yours are differnt but from what i read it sounds like what i had for 3 years

now my next issue is headaches , so i got passed two things but have yet to figure out the next

info on this ,,,,,,Palpitations can be caused by anxiety, arrhythmias, caffeine, certain medications, cocaine and other amphetamines, emotional stress, overeating, panic, somatization, and vigorous exercise. There may be no other symptoms. But, anxiety, dizziness, shortness of breath, and chest pain may be signs of more severe arrhythmias

go have a look at this site about it ,, theres a few things on there

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/palpitations.jsp

http://www.healthline.com/search?q1=heart%20palpitations&utm_source=no_health_channel&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=serp&utm_term=heart%20palpitations

and heres the google page that has many things on this

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=heart+palpitations&spell=1

have a look and see if its what you are going through ,,

then u need to find a way to relaxxxxxx

Hi Hotmama,  I can understand your worry and the need to be prepared but you can't worry yourself sick, or sicker in this case.  I don't really know your situation with your heart so I might be way off base here, but my mom had similar problems to those you mentiioned with her heart, and the doctors didn't know what was going on until one day 2 - 3 years after the start of her heart problems she had a seizure.  It turned out that the reason her heart was going all wacky was that she was having a seizure, but she wasn't lossing consciousness.  My mom is now on anti seizure medication and has been seizure free for over 4 years now.  I don't know if that helps but it goes to show that doctors don't always know, and it doesn't necessarily mean the worst.