“Why do I have palpitations?”
I am a 39 year old woman and I am suddenly feeling heart palpitations at odd times. It just feels like I am losing control and I may pass out. Why do I have this weird feeling?
9 Answers
YOU MAY HAVE AN ABNORMAL ELECTRICAL CONNECTION IN YOUR HEART THAT IS COMMONLY DIAGNOSED WITH AN ELECTROCARDIOGRAM OR EKG RECORDINGS AND EP STUDIES
The cause for your symptoms may be something benign, but arrhythmias should be ruled out. I suggest you see a cardiologist for an evaluation.
Best to seek out medical help immediately for those symptoms
Naji Kholaif
Cardiologist
Palpitations are a very common symptom, especially for young and middle aged females. The majority of cases are related to anxiety and stress, but some are related to abnormal heart rhythms. It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference. Talk to your doctor and see if you need an EKG and and if you need further testing if it's normal, like a 24 -hour holter monitor (basically it looks at your heart rhythm for 24 hours).
Julia G. Ansari
Cardiologist
You can have cardiac arrhythmia. Get a holter to see if there is any abnormality in heart rhythm, when you have these episodes.
If you are otherwise healthy, your symptoms may suggest some kind of arrhythmia when the heart suddenly starts beating fast. Oftentimes, this is related to an extra beat by the heart which triggers a fast electric cycle taking over the normal heart cycle, this often happens because of presence of an abnormal “extra wire” since birth. This extra route may cause the heart to run fast in circles, and if medications don’t stop or prevent these cycles, a specialist may have do a procedure called Electrophysiology study and Ablation to help shut down the electric cycles to permanently block them from conducting electrical activity. Different kinds of fast heart beats are known and treatments vary. You need to have a cardiologist see you and some kind of cardiac monitoring usually necessary at the beginning to find out why you are feeling the palpitations.
Must consider paroxysmal arrhythmias such as paroxysmal supraventricular tachyarrhythmias - holter monitor or more prolonged event monitor fro 30 days to pick up the arrhythmia. Simple baseline Ekg is a must followed by lasts including CBC, complete metabolic profile and thyroid function - possibly echocardiogram to rule out structural cardiac muscle/valvular causes.
Your symptoms suggest "paroxysmal tachycardia" i.e. attacks of very fast heartbeats which suddenly sart and stop. They can usually be prevented with medications or by a heart catheter procedure called ablation. The first step is to identify which type of tachycardia they are – the simplest way, if they go on for more than a few seconds, is to buy an AliveCor device to record an attack on your phone and show it to your cardiologist.
Yes I would check basic lab tests, including hormones, and a complete physical exam. In addition, would get a holter monitor to see what these palpitations truly are.
