Ruralgurl,
If your T4 is okay, your thyroid is fine. I could go on and on about that, but just know that it is fine. Rather by accident, you stated the source of your problem. You mentioned adrenaline rushes and anxiety attacks. Beta Blockers ARE a valid way to suppress the effects of that, although they will take their toll on your body.
You also mentioned that you realized that you've always had the problem, but didn't know what it was. You have had tons of heart testing, and you should realize that you are EMPOWERED by knowing that your heart is fine, and you aren't going to keel over. So, I know that the 'sodium pump' thing gets very complicated and turns into trying to understand lots of chemistry terms. I will give you a couple of simple hints.
Magnesium is calming. If you try to supplement magnesium too quickly, it will act as a laxative. Magnesium is poorly taken up in the digestive tract, and anything with a laxative effect will reduce assimilation. You can drink milk of magnesia or epsom salts as laxatives without gaining any benefit from the magnesium. I use a supplement called "calm" by Peter Gillham. (His cal mag drink is also good, I've used it too) One tsp. morning and one at night. I also soak in epsom salts bath 2 to 3 times per week (with added sodium bicarbonate known more commonly as baking soda). The idea is to change the ratio of calcium to magnesium that is stored in your body tissues. This takes time. The concept of cal/mag ratio of 2:1 in virtually all dietary supplements is based on... (drumroll) the ratio found in bone. How lame is that? You want to achieve a ratio of 1:1 and correct the imbalance of stored minerals in the body tissue. With a poor diet, calcium and magnesium are not well assimilated because our digestive systems become overly acid. Adding vinegar, lime or lemon juice to veggies (salad dressings, etc.) helps to assimilate the minerals. Some people put apple cider vinegar in their water, some people drink 'mineral water' (sodium bicarbonate), you can add a pinch of baking soda (some people use salt) to coffee grounds to neutralize the acidity and improve the flavor of coffee. Green tea is also alkalizing, with many other nutritional benefits. The heart muscle uses stored calcium to pump (push blood) and magnesium to relax (pull blood).
The next hint is potassium. Sodium and potassium are the primary electrolytes that send the positive and negative charges through the body (sodium pump). Processed food is all loaded with too much sodium, and potassium supplements are limited to such a dinky dose, they're worthless. White sugar has the potassium removed, and sold separately in molasses, and then years of eating stuff with white sugar and not enough veggies, etc. gets us all out of whack. Most salt substitutes are potassium chloride. I use salt substitute heavily, not for the taste so much, but for the potassium. Also, I eat lots of veggies, use powdered kelp instead of soy sauce or fish sauce, take spirulina, alfalfa, and avoid stuff with sugar. I use baking soda to neutralize acid, as it does not drive up blood pressure the way salt does. That gets into the chloride, bicarbonate, sulfate, etc. part of the sodium pump explanations.
Virtually all of the minerals that the body needs depend on balanced ratios. I seriously doubt that the new "buzz" about Vitamin D is correct. (The old "buzz" about balancing Vitamin A with Vitamin D seems to have died.) People are calcium deficient because they are magnesium deficient. The body can't use calcium without sufficient magnesium. Increasing potassium works better than decreasing sodium, but the potassium to sodium balance should be something like 16:1, so reducing sodium AND increasing potassium works. The body systems will filter out any mineral that exists in excess (unless drugs interfere), or where the balancing mineral doesn't exist. Because the "dietary guidelines" are pure garbage, I try to get a variety of minerals from various sources. Spirulina, alfalfa, parsley and other green herbs are all good sources of mixed minerals.
There is also the "anxiety" issue, and when I was skipping heart beats and running a pulse rate of up to 151 beats per minute, it was absolutely anxiety, stress, and terror. I was overdosing on adrenaline in a genuine "fight or flight" reaction. Obviously, it is easy to get into discussions that aren't really appropriate here. Holistic companies often advertise "mind, body and spirit" or something similar. There is a very solid and real truth behind it. One thing that you can probably do without much trouble is find a way to go for a walk in a pleasant place. Look at the surroundings, see that they are safe. Maybe look around to find something pretty. Notice things that you like about the place, like maybe the smell of a tree as you walk past, or how silly that barking dog is. You don't even have to walk fast (like a work-out) but breathe the air and clear your mind.
If you decide to quit taking beta blockers at some point, you need to wean off slowly. Cut the dosage in half, wait two weeks and cut it in half again. When you get down to dinky dosage, take one every other day for a week or so before ending. If you feel too tired and lousy from the Beta Blockers, you might just cut your dose in half. I started feeling better as soon as I did that much. Doctors don't seem to look for the minimum dosage as much as they should. If you reduce the dosage and symptoms return, you can just raise it back up.
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I mean I don't want to shut down anything that is working in my favour to burn these pounds!
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