something triggered

Something set off my anxiety yesterday. I was house sitting for some people and all was fine. I stayed a little later and was still there when they came home. I started having heart palpitations. I was glad to see them and wanted to visit. They are my friends and I hadn't seen them much lately. But for some reason the excitement set off the palpitations ("skipping", "irregularity"). It was better by the time I left and then during the night it started again. I was so sleepy but was disturbed each time I tried to go to sleep by my heart "skipping". I get a vicious cycle and sometimes I can't just talk my way out. It has to run it's course. The more I worry about it, the more it happens. This happens to me most in social situations which is obviously a social anxiety symptom. Or sometimes subconscious thoughts set it off. All I know is there are things that trigger this-consciously or unconsciously. I was told this thing I have with my heart is part of my anxiety disorder. Tests were once run but I don't believe thoroughly as could have been done. I did research. I'm no doctor but I do believe mitral valve prolapse might have something to do with this. Stress aggravates it. I have 0% courage to get a doctor to check it out. I do know in most cases, this is not a dangerous health risk. I've suffered from these "palpitations" since 1985 and I'm still alive. I inherited it from my mother. her diagnosis was never made on hers either. She did in fact have a heart attack in 2004 but the doctors said it was NOT from the palpitations but from some other cause- not high cholesterol but another problem. A name I cannot remember....
She takes heart medicine now. Still gets palpitations but not near as bad as what I suffer. It's made my life pretty hard. I try to make the best of things. Though nobody understands half of what I am up against every day of my life, I do. It's not easy.
I'd say two-thirds of my life has pretty much been a living hell. That sounds a bit negative, I know but sometimes I am going to be out-spoken in these blogs. ( I bet you're laughing at me right now. You've seen worse blogs!)I posted in the previous blogs that thinking positive does not mean denying reality or that there are not bad things in life. I can't believe that all positive thinkers don't have bad days. He/she must be some sort of "perfect" person. lmho! But really, it's serious emotional stress I am dealing with everyday. Not such a pretty picture.