|
|
Other Names: Irregular Heartbeat, Heart Pounding, Fluttering In the Chest, Heart Doing a Flip-Flop, Racing Heart Beat Palpitation
On this page:
Heart palpitations are an uncomfortable awareness of the heart beating rapidly
or irregularly like the heart is skipping a beat or there is an extra heart beat.
Sometimes the pulsations of rapidly beating heart can be visible or felt in the
neck.
Return to top 
- Hyperthyroidism
- Anemia
- Dehydration
- Excessive use of caffeine, nicotine and alcohol.
- Mitral valve prolapse
- Mitral valve stenosis
- Tachycardia or rapid heart rate
- Extra heart beat or extra systole
- Arrhythmias
- Congenital heart disease
- Medication such as thyroid pills, caffeine, appetite suppressants, anti-asthmatics
(such as Theo-Dur), anti-arrhythmics, beta blockers, cocaine, psychotropics,
and sympathomimetics
- Metabolic and respiratory disorders such as respiratory acidosis, metabolic
acidosis, hyperventilation and hypoxemia
- Stress, anxiety, nervousness, fear, excitement
- Anxiety or panic attacks
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Exercise
Return to top
- Follow your physician's prescribed treatment and advice to treat the underlying
cause.
- Palpitations due to heart disease are usually accompanied by light headedness
or fainting.
- Combination of emotional support, psychological counselling and anxiolytic
medications like benzodiazepines are helpful to relieve the symptoms of palpitation
due to anxiety.
- Some effective coping strategies include encouraging fearful patients to
confront the problem directly, to try to view the situation as a problem to
be solved or as a challenge, to try to obtain complete information, to try
to be flexible (taking things as they come), to think of major events as a
series of step-by-step tasks, and to encourage the use of resources and support.
- Behavioral interventions like hypnosis, meditation, progressive relaxation,
guided imagery, and biofeedback can be used to treat anxiety symptoms that
are associated with painful procedures, pain syndromes, crisis situations,
anticipatory fears, and depressive syndromes.
Return to top
|
