palpitations in neck?

[Sandy]

I have heart palpitations that I feel daily.  I was wondering if you could tell me why I get them so hard in the left hand side of my neck.  I can feel them extremely hard in my chest and neck at the same time.  I have been for all tests and all have come back negative although I never asked about why I feel them so hard in this area.  It feels like a rush of blood (it is really hard to explain), along with the irregular beating.  Also could you please tell me what this is called - I sometimes get an irregular beat (like a bump, bump close together) every minute or so.  This will sometimes go on for 5 - 10 minutes and it really scares me.  I can feel it doing something weird in the left hand side of my neck when I put my fingers on my pulse point.  Thank you for any input.

[patrica]

Did you have a lot of heart palpitations as well?

[kd re: longstanding MR]

Did you have a carotid dopplar test?  I used to have something similar to what you mentioned and it came from a narrowed carotid artery in my neck.

[mrsally]

Sandy, I also have strong pulsations felt in my neck/throat - so much so that I went the an ENT to have it checked out. I had difficulty sleeping on either side on a pillow. I felt I was being strangled and could not wear turtle-neck shirts. The ENT sent me for an MRI which was negative for anything. I have congenital heart disease and various problems, and the answer was that the doctors felt it was somehow related to PVC's and maybe a heart valve - but more than likely heart related. AT times I even get pulsating light flashes in my eyes feeling like it is coming from my throat- when I try to sleep. Very bothersome but I'm not worried about it - just learning to live with it.

[My experience]

I also wondered why sometimes you can actually SEE my pulse on the left side of my neck, although my pulse is generally difficult to locate.  I asked the nurse the last time I was at the doctor and she said it might be blood backing up in my ventricles.  (That sounded bad to me, but they didn't seem at all concerned about it.)

[patrica]

I forgot to add to my above posting that they have caught four pvc's in a row on a holter monitor but say it is no big deal because I don't have any heart disease.  Is that not considered v-tach?????

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Dear Sandy,

What you are describing is consistent with premature ventricular contractions or PVCs.  There are many, many postings concerning PVCs on this site that you can browse.  As far as feeling them strongly in your neck, I'm not sure I have a good explaination.  The heart is left sided and the blood pulse is transmitted throughout the body including some major vessels in the neck, so perhaps this is what you are feeling.