Irregular heart beat

[Kash9898]

Hi, I’m kashif and I’m 17 years old. I live in the UK. I have a problem that has been continuing for a few months now. I seem to have an irregular heart beat at certain times without any designated time. It happens all of a sudden and sometimes it’s only for five minuites, other times it’s all day. If I feel the pulse there is a pause (which I can feel in my chest) and then as the pulse starts again I can feel my heart as if it’s struggling or something because that single beat after the pause is very strong. Sometimes it happens one after another. The maximum amount it’s happened is four in a row but then it continues normal and then it happens again after a while (sometimes a minute, other times after a few hours). I am very concerned and really do think I’m going to die or something. I mean if I’m going to die it’s allright but it’s the fact that it happens and I can’t stop it. I’ve been to my GP and even to the hospital a few times. When I went to the hospital they said it’s irregular but I need to go to my GP and when I go to the GP, because it doesn’t happen continuously the doctor doesn’t believe me. Whenever he checks he either misses the irregularity or it isn’t happening at the particular time. I’m very concerned. At first I thought it was arrhythmia caused by calcium/potassium etc imbalance but after changing my diet and trying few other things it hasn’t improved. It doesn’t happen while I’m exercising  but when I stop, most of the time it comes back. Please help I’m very very concerned. Thank you for your time.

[cardiowatcher]

Hi, I'm a 56 year old female and hope that my post will help some of you who FEEL your heart skipping, pounding, racing, pausing and then that hard beat/thump in your chest after what feels like your heart has stopped!  I have them all! I have skipped beats, PAC's, and atrial tachycardias for twenty years!  But that's not all!  Just recently, I was diagnosed with supra-ventricular tachycardias (SVT's).  All these irregularities were  diagnosed while wearing event monitors many times throughout my life. In addition to all these arrythmias, I was hospitalized for Atrial Fibrillation in December 2000, which lasted about three hours before they finally injected something in my arm to bring my heart back to normal rhythm. The good thing, is that all of these irregularties were in the atria, where these arrythmias originate, but are benign. I get these irregularites all the time, and although bothersome... I do not take any medication for them. I am not afraid anymore when they happen. Having these beats for twenty years I have learned that I am not going to die from them.  Anyway, I just wanted to say that you should wear the event monitor according to when and how many times a day or week or month you usually get your symptoms. In other words, if you get them a lot (like me), just wearing the monitor for three days usually picks up the irregular beats. Wearing the monitor for one week is even better though. Good luck to all of you and I hope this helped.





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[Kash9898]

thank you for all the replies. your help has been much appreciated. i just thought it was a bit odd you know the feeling in my chest everytime it went irregular but yea i'll talk to my GP again and make him listen to it until he believes me :p. thanks again

[jcatron]

Your symptoms sound like either PVC or PAC.  These are just early polarizations of your heart before the Sinus Node recharges and initiates another beat.  Everything I have read about this condition is benign.  Although they can be very bothersome, I do not think you are in any immediate harm.  I was diagnosed with benign frequent PVC just 7 months ago.  My holter monitor showed 3,400 of these things in 24 hours.  I also had a stress echo done which was fine.  So in a normally strucutred heart, please try not to be alarmed.  

[deedle1976]

Hi Kash,  I'm assuming that because you are in the UK you are on the NHS, in which case you are unlikely to be sent for an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) if your initial tests are normal.
You could push your doctor to arrange for you to have a holter monitor or event monitor to catch the rhythm. The skip and thump you describe sounds VERY like PVCs (Premature Ventricular contractions) or PAC (premature atrial contractions).  If you are just having PVCs/PACs it's very unlikely you GP will send you for an Echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart). Basically almost everyone has PVCs or PACs on a daily basis but most people just don't feel them or don't pay any attention to them. During a recent 24 hour study of 625 people with healthy hearts 81% of people had PACs and 63% had PVCS. If an echo were necessary for PVCs and PACs, almost the entire population would need to have one done. They will probably only send you for echo is you are having them very frequently, in the thousands per day.
I had this skipping sensation more than once per minute every minute, every day and it was just PVCs. Even with 1786 PVCs per day caught on holter it was not initally deemed necessary for me to have an Echo and only done as a precaution because I also had several ECG abnormalities and because I was pregnant. The echo was all normal of course.
I think that in America it is common to have an echo done even when the holter results are normal as most people have private healthcare (and also because of the risk of legal action if something were missed).
So a good place to start would be to ask your GP for a holter monitor to confirm the nature of the rhythm that's causing these symptoms. If something abnormal is found they will send you for an echo but if just PVCs or PACs are found they will most likely leave it at that and possibly offer you a betablocker if you cannot tolerate the sensation of  the palpitations. You are a bit young to be starting on drugs though. Gd luck. Don't worry too much while you are waiting for your tests. I'm sure you'll be just fine!

[Cleveland Clinic]

It sounds like you need an ultrasound of the heart and an event monitor to decide what is the actual cause of these sympotms. But provided that your heart function is normal ( this is diagnosed with the heart ultrasound),  then you most likely are having frequent PACs and while this can be disconcerting it is not life threatening. Now if there are abnormalities in either the holter or heart function, then you may need further medical therapy and or follow up with a specialist.