Heart palpitations - AIBU?

[Sterristripoff]

For the past month or two I’ve been getting daily heart palpitations, they only last a second or two but I get a few of them a day.

At the end of January I had a echocardiogram, heart MRI, chest CT scan and very many ECGs because I was fainting without any kind of warning and apparently that can be a heart thing. All came back ok.
AIBU to think that whatever these palpitations are my heart has already been fairly strenuously tested and it’s all fine? I want to try cutting caffeine/ stress/ taking vitamins. Worry wort DP wants me to go back to my GP.

@Sterristripoff your heart is in the centre of your chest

Musculoskeletal, tbh I don’t think the sensation you’re describing is connected to your heart because you’ve had the usual battery of tests and everything is fine, however, I have known consultants to implant reveals which are continuous ecg monitors for patients such as yourself so I don’t think it would be an unreasonable question to ask. Have you had any tests for epilepsy? That’s the other thing to check when people suddenly faint with no warning.

*Also because how you describe the sensation it doesn’t sound like heart palpitations.

I have palpitations/irregular beats. I had a 24 hour monitor, ultra sound, tread mill stress test, ECG and saw a consultant and he said I'm fine. He said some people just naturally have quite irregular heart beats and some people notice it and some people dont.
He said until they become very irregular they dont really worry.
I say this to make you feel a bit calmer and that it CAN be very normal. Not ruling out other issues but it could be nothing.

Have you had your thyroid checked? My heart goes like the clappers when I'm hyper.

Elsiebear90 thank you for your replies. I have no testing for epilepsy so I will ask about that and also will ask about longer monitoring. I would feel much better if I could get to the bottom of what is going on.

The sensation is at the centre of my ribs or underneath my ribs, usually on my right side.

Over the course of 9 years I suffered with minor palpitations where i would feel a sudden thunderous feeling of my neck of pounding heart bets, or a weird tickling feeling in my chest, and I didn’t go to the GP about it because it only happened once a month or so and lasted only seconds.

However, in 2012, completely out of nowhere I went into SVT, ended up in Resus needing treatment for it and then a week later it happened again. After that second episode I was commence on a beta blocker called Bisoprolol.

I was referred to cardiology and had numerous ECGs (including 24 hour ones) and an ECHO all of which showed structurally normal heart with normal rhythms.

However, because the doctor was pretty confident that my episodes of SVT were triggered by palpitations I had to have a cardiac ablation procedure. Has this been suggested to you?

Unfortunately they couldn’t locate the area of abnormality in the left side of the heart (which is where they normally originate) and although they wanted to pass through into the right side of my heart to check for abnormalities there, they couldn’t because there wasn’t an overnight bed available for me.

Anyhow, I fell pregnant a few months later and came off my beta blockers when the baby was born as I was told I couldn’t breast feed on them.

I remained perfectly fine for 5 years but then last year, I had another episode of SVT out of the blue.

I was re-prescribed the Bisoprol but as I was breast feeding (2nd baby) the cardiologist said not to take it daily but just to take one tablet if I went into SVT again as it should normalise my heart rhythm.

That was last May and although I probably have an episode of brief palpitations about once a month I thankfully haven’t gone back into SVT.

I think if it happens again I’m going to get called in for a second attempt at cardiac ablation in the right side of my heart and I dread the thought of that

I second the costochondritis. I suffered for years with palpitations and severe chest pain which led to anxiety and panic (I thought I was having heart attacks). I was saved by chiropractic which solved the problem. I still have flare-ups but run about 10k a week now.

Your heart is in the middle of your chest. And definitely remove caffeine from your diet - it's a huge cause of palpitations.

I hope everyone else who has been having wierd heart things gets to the bottom of it too. It can be really frightening!

stellabelle so where would one potentially feel heart palpitations? Centre of chest or sides of chest or would it not really matter?

Marmunia1975 I’m glad you are now feeling better. I don’t really have any chest pains so not sure it’s that.

I suddenly started fainting with no warning and had a lot of the same tears you did, but also an implantable loop recorder (ILR) that @Elsiebear90 mentioned. Did you not faint during your tilt table test then? I did, and that, with the ILR readings, gave me a diagnosis of vasovagal syncope.

I’m really surprised they haven’t ruled out neurological causes inc epilepsy. Have you just been discharged with no diagnosis? Maybe the doctors think there is a “normal” cause for the faints (dehydration/not having eaten/standing up too quickly/low blood pressure etc etc)?

TESTS not tears!

Low iron caused heart palpitations and fainting with me.

It was so bad I was wired up to several 24hour ECGs before we all realised.

Has your iron / ferritin been tested?

Wigeon I also had a brain MRI not sure if that ruled out epilepsy? I suppose it could have done.

I didn’t faint during tilt test no. I haven’t fainted for over a month. I’m hoping whatever caused that issue has resolved itself.

Conrad79 yes, my iron levels are fine.

What were your palpitations like and where in the chest where they? Starting to think it might be something else, like muscle spasms. I’m having those in my legs at the moment.

Mine caused by iron deficiency anaemia. Have a look on NHS website. I couldn't believe it!

The palpitations would cause actual chest pains. Some times it felt like a butterfly fluttering in my chest.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. It still surprises me that low iron can cause that.

It's taken 3 months to fix so far my ferritin was "undetectable" to very very low.

How old are you, op?

Bunnyfuller I’m 27.

Ok, I was going to say menopause but you’re too young for that (usually)

OP did you have witnesses to the fainting episodes? I have epilepsy and the doctors were keen to know every single detail from witnesses of my first few seizures to clarify whether it was an episode of fainting or seizure like activity.

In regards to the palpitations when I get them it usually feels like a fluttering sensation in the middle of my chest. Occasionally I get the feeling of a strong heart beat followed by a weird sensation that feels like something in my chest is dropping and it causes me to take a sharp inhale. It’s so hard to put in words!

I get a lot of palpitations and haven’t thought too much of it. But you don’t seem to be describing heart palpitations. When I have palpitations i am extremely aware of my heart beat, it seems to randomly skip some and then irregularly start banging really hard and quickly for a few beats. I don’t usually notice my heartbeat but a palpitation amplifies it. Have you described the actual sensation rather than telling the GP that they are palpitations?

Epilepsy is usually picked up during an EEG which may have been requested during a hospital admission if they suspected it could be a cause. I didn’t have one until my second witnessed seizure.

I've had palpitations, ECG came back normal, blood tests normal. Pretty sure it was anxiety with me. Work had got a bit better and they've stopped, I have them when I start feeling stressed again.