Palpitations are symptoms of everything from short or long-term stress to a variety of arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). They may feel alarming, but do not always reflect a serious heart condition.
Stress, exercise, medication or, rarely, a medical condition can trigger them. Although heart palpitations can be worrisome, they're usually harmless. Rarely, heart palpitations can be a symptom of a more serious heart condition, such as an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), that might require treatment.
A palpitation — a skipped, extra or irregular heartbeat — is a type of abnormal heart rhythm, or arrhythmia.
An arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm, where the heart beats irregularly, too fast or too slowly. A palpitation is a short-lived feeling of your heart racing, fluttering, thumping or pounding in your chest. An occasional palpitation that does not affect your general health is not usually something to worry about.
You may feel this in your chest, neck, or throat. Palpitations can happen at anytime, even if you are resting or doing normal activities. Although they can be unpleasant, palpitations are common and, in most cases, harmless.
These sensations are called heart palpitations. For most people, heart palpitations are a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence. Others have dozens of these heart flutters a day, sometimes so strong that they feel like a heart attack. Most palpitations are caused by a harmless hiccup in the heart's rhythm.
You should contact your doctor if you experience heart palpitations frequently, for longer than a few seconds, or if they are accompanied by dizziness, loss of consciousness, chest or upper body pain, nausea, excessive or unusual sweating, and shortness of breath.
But sometimes people mistake heart palpitations for a more serious condition called atrial fibrillation, or AFib. AFib occurs when rapid electrical signals cause the heart's two upper chambers to contract very fast and irregularly.
Sustained heart palpitations lasting more than 30 seconds are considered a medical emergency. They could indicate pre-existing heart diseases such as coronary artery disease or heart valve disorders.
Patients can be in atrial fibrillation for many years without harm, but some patients with very little symptoms may have too rapid and irregular a rhythm present with symptoms of heart failure. There may also be some increased risk of stroke because of blood clots that can form in association with atrial fibrillation.
A normal ECG usually excludes major problems. However, if someone is suffering from intermittent palpitations, it suggests that there's an intermittent heart rhythm disorder that may not be picked up on an ECG when the patient feels perfectly well.
When should I speak to my GP? If you're experiencing what feels like frequent or prolonged episodes of palpitations, or you're also having symptoms such as chest pain or dizziness when you have these episodes, it's a good idea to talk to your GP.
Most of the time, they're caused by stress and anxiety, or because you've had too much caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol. They can also happen when you're pregnant. In rare cases, palpitations can be a sign of a more serious heart condition. If you have heart palpitations, see your doctor.
If you have heart palpitations with severe shortness of breath, chest pain or fainting, seek emergency medical attention. If your palpitations are brief and there are no other worrisome signs or symptoms, make an appointment to see your health care provider.
If they happen frequently or last for longer periods, it could be an indicator of a more serious heart condition like an irregular heartbeat, an overactive thyroid, or heart disease.
Heart Palpitations and Anxiety. Heart palpitations due to anxiety feel like your heart is racing, fluttering, pounding or skipping a beat. Your heartbeat can increase in response to specific stressful situations. You may also have palpitations due to an anxiety disorder (excessive or persistent worry).
Distract Your Mind Remember that actively thinking about your heartbeat can trigger palpitations and/or make them worse and more pronounced.
Article Sections. Palpitations—sensations of a rapid or irregular heartbeat—are most often caused by cardiac arrhythmias or anxiety.
Heart palpitations that are severe or go on for a long time could be signs or red flags of a serious heart problem that is a health emergency.
Some reasons you may experience heart palpitations that don't signify a medical problem with your heart include: Certain emotions, such as anxiety, stress, panic or fear. Too much caffeine. Nicotine from smoking cigarettes or using an e-cigarette.
Red flags in palpitations
Acute dizziness could signify a serious arrhythmia, profound bradycardia, or atrioventricular (AV) heart block. Shortness of breath might be present if the patient suffers from anxiety, ACS or structural defects (such as atrial septal defect) but this is rare.
While EKGs are used to reveal arrhythmias, heart palpitations, narrowing arteries, blocked arteries, and other heart problems, an echocardiogram can provide a more detailed picture of heart health, being used to diagnose or exclude heart disease and heart conditions.
Holter monitoring - A patient wears a portable EKG device that records heart rhythm and rate daily. This device can detect palpitations that did not occur during an electrocardiogram test.
Blood Testing. Doctors can also order blood tests to diagnose heart arrhythmia. The tests reveal the levels of potassium, calcium, and magnesium in a patient's body, which play a critical role in the heart's electrical system.
Did you know that some digital automatic blood pressure monitors can identify the possible presence of arrhythmia? This disorder, whose most common form is atrial fibrillation, causes an irregular, sometimes rapid heartbeat and makes the heart less effective at pumping the blood.