Castwell,

Reading your article this week, do you mean you had heart palpitations (sp?)? This is where your heart pounds like its trying to put itself through your chest, or like you just ran a mile, yet you are not out of breath and you have been sitting down watching TV the whole time. Is this the kind of symptoms that you are describing?

Assuming that is so, then smoking most likely had nothing to do with that, although there are excellent reasons for not smoking or quitting if you do. How do I know about HP's? I have been getting them since I was 16, I will be 38 in a couple of weeks. Never smoked (ok, took a drag on a cigarette someone threw out of their car window when I was 6 or 7, choked so bad that I never was tempted to try it again). Never drank (ok, took sips from my dad's beer when I was 5 or younger, forgot when dad gave it up). Never did illegal drugs (no exceptions). I have been tested and re-tested 9 days 'til Sunday and noone's ever really come up with any explanation for it. Finally, the Cardiologist that I am seeing prescribed a Beta blocker and that seems to be working real well, I have only had one real episode in the last 3 years, prior to that, it was at least an annual event and in high school almost a monthly event.

It appears to be hereditary, although I did not find that out until my parents were in the process of getting a divorce (about 10 years after my first episode). I will not mention which parent hid this from me, but one of my parents has had these episodes and one of my nephews has had episodes of these, for some reason my two sisters have not and none of my aunts, uncles and/or cousins have that I am aware of.

Anyway, while it is very good that you no longer smoke, if you were having heart palpitations, it very likely was not due to smoking.

Paul