Better to be safe than sorry-Palptiation

Palpitations can be attributed to one of three main causes:

   1. Hyperdynamic circulation (valvular incompetence, thyrotoxicosis, hypercapnia, pyrexia, anemia, pregnancy).
   2. Sympathetic overdrive (panic disorders, hypoglycemia, hypoxia, levocetirizine antihistamines, anemia, heart failure, mitral valve prolapse).[3]
   3. Cardiac dysrhythmias (premature atrial contraction, junctional escape beat, premature ventricular contraction, atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, heart block).
Symptoms

Many times, the person experiencing palpitations may not be aware of anything apart from the abnormal heart rhythm itself. But palpitations can be associated with other things such as tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, dizziness or light-headedness. Depending on the type of rhythm problem, these symptoms may be just momentary or more prolonged. Actual blackouts or near blackouts, associated with palpitations, should be taken seriously because they often indicate the presence of important underlying heart disease. Another symptom is pain in arms or legs sometimes lasting through the night before the palpitation.

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A palpitation is an abnormality of heartbeat  that causes a conscious awareness of its beating,[1]  whether it is too slow, too fast, irregular, or at its normal frequency. The word may also refer to this sensation itself. [2]  It can be caused by (but should not be confused with) ectopic beat, which is a more specific diagnosis.

The difference between an abnormal awareness and a normal awareness is that the former interrupts other thoughts, whereas the latter is almost always caused by a concentration on the beating of one's heart. Palpitations may be brought on by overexertion, adrenaline, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, and other drugs, disease (such as hyperthyroidism and pheochromocytoma) or as a symptom of panic disorder. More colloquially, it can also refer to a shaking motion. It can also happen in mitral stenosis.
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(notice panic disorder is was listed towards the end)
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Nearly everyone experiences an occasional awareness of their heart beating, but when it occurs frequently, it can indicate a problem. Palpitations may be associated with heart problems, but also with anemias and thyroid malfunction.


Attacks can last for a few seconds or hours, and may occur very infrequently, or more than daily. Palpitations alongside other symptoms, including sweating, faintness, chest pain or dizziness, indicate irregular or poor heart function and should be investigated.

Palpitations may also be associated with anxiety and panic attacks, in which case psychological assessment is recommended. This is a common disorder associated with many common medications such as anti-depressants.

Palpitations can also occur from blood loss, excessive pain, or lack of oxygen.

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Its always better to be safe than sorry.

[mum2four]

Don't Let These Mistakes Happen to You
Doctors commonly make two major mistakes in their attempt to determine whether an arrhythmia is causing the palpitations: They often miss the arrhythmia that is causing the palpitations, and they often attribute the palpitations to an arrhythmia that is not causing them.

Mistake 1: The doctor will order an ECG (which records the heart rhythm for 12 seconds) or a Holter monitor study (which records the heart rhythm for 24 hours), and during that time the patient will not experience palpitations. Then, not seeing an arrhythmia, the doctor will declare that there is no arrhythmia causing the palpitations. Worse, the doctor may tell the patient that the symptoms are “all in your head.” But often, the arrhythmia that is causing the palpitations just happened not to occur during the arbitrary monitoring period. The doctor’s workup was inadequate.

To make a correct diagnosis, the palpitations and ECG must occur at the same time. If the palpitations occur only intermittently, and especially if they do not occur every single day, instead of doing an ECG or a 24-hour Holter study, the doctor should order an event recorder study. The event recorder study can continuously record the heart rhythm for weeks at a time – however long it takes to “capture” an episode of palpitations. It’s really quite simple – record the ECG for as long as it takes for the patient to have an episode of palpitations, then look to see what the heart rhythm is during the palpitations.

Mistake 2: The doctor will see an arrhythmia during monitoring that is not associated with palpitations, and blame the palpitations on that arrhythmia. This is wrong. To say an arrhythmia is causing palpitations, the arrhythmia and the palpitations must occur at the same time. Once again, monitoring must continue until palpitations occur, so that the heart rhythm can be examined at the time of the palpitations.

Since doctors frequently make these two mistakes, it is important for patients to keep in mind the simple rule: To make a correct diagnosis, the ECG must be recorded at the very time the palpitations are taking place. If this has not been accomplished, the patient must redirect the physician's efforts through gentle reminders, guile, appeals to reason, righteous indignation, or whatever it takes.

[mum2four]

while trying to diagnoise my problem I kept having to say the Dr's that I was having the most symptom while standing so how was having an ECG laying down going to catch any posiable heart involvement if I was not given any test while standing up once I got see a cardioligist that listen to me I was diagnoised pretty easy.

I just had to post the above as it exactly why I always say better to safe than sorry. My energy is returning now all because I refused to give up telling the Dr what I knew to be true you have to recreate the effents that make you feel the the worst in order to catch any problem speically when it comes to ECG's.