Readers Respond: Tell Us About Your Palpitations

Responses: 154

Readers always find it helpful to hear about the experiences of others who have been in the same boat. So tell us:

What turned out to be the cause of your palpitations?

How was the diagnosis finally made?

Did learning the diagnosis lead to effective treatment, or at least, relieve your worries?

NOTE:This is not an interactive comment section. If you'd like to participate in a real DISCUSSION about palpitations - or any other heart-related issue - please go to our (free) Forum. Share Your Experience

Palpitations

About 4 yrs ago I developed cervical disc problems, eventually had a fusion of C5,6,7. I also had unexplained facial and scalp numbness, intermittent. But I also developed heart palpitations. They last a few seconds to sometimes 10 seconds with occasional dizziness. I get them almost daily. I cant drink coffee, its a sure fire way to get one. A diet coke is ok some of the time. I accidently drank a Pepsi One one time and I fought to stay concious they were so bad. I get them when I look down and read something. My Dr. prescribed Metropolol which has reduced them but they still recur. Its very annoying as I deal with people in my job. Cant tell you how many times Ive tried to hold it together in meetings.

—Guest DK

Tightness and palpitations (sort of)

I'm not sure if I just don't know how to breathe properly or if I am having a real issue. My symptoms include a fast heartbeat and some tightness in my chest. Some say it could be stress related, but I'm starting to get concerned. Has anyone ever experienced this sort of feeling?

—Guest Karen

palpatations returned

Last year as I left my job and was about to lose my health insurance I suddenly started experiencing palpitations. I was sure I was having a heart attack, but I went to the Dr. and they checked everything, EKG, etc, and couldn't find anything wrong with me. Eventually felt better and they almost completely stopped, now 11 months later, they are back. I don't want to go back to the Dr. because I don't want to blow $30K or more for another diagnosis of "sorry, we don't know what it is". Sure would have helped if my Dr. had mentioned that it could be palpatations.

—Guest danb

heart palpitations

I've been dealing with heart palpitations for at least seven years and today i had a chest pain associated with a sharp pain down my left arm. I had ecg's and other tests done in the past with no sollution to the cause. After i eat or lift something heavy is when they occur. Once told that it was my vegas nurve?

—Guest jason mccormick

palpitations

i get them once in awhile and they can occur for a while up to three hours or even more i do suffer from anxierty.my sister once gave me sleeping tablets to carm me and when i awoke they were gone. It is frighting when i get then but at this stage im pretty use to them!!!help please

—Guest wendy tatem

heart paltationr

has palpitation for couple of months, every time i went doctors kept on saying it was anxiety

—Guest b

Palpatations last 3 months

i have been suffering from these for around 3 months now. I had a few episodes when I was around 23 yrs old at night. Fast forward to now I am 42 now and lately they have come back but so much more now like daily lunch time to night. I was advised by my dr to lower the tea and coffee intake and break my thyroid med in half at night and take just half daily. I have hypothyroidism. It seemed to work for about 3 days but now they are back again. I haven't read anything that indicates they eventually go away. My dr doesn't seem to really have an explanation.

—Guest mel2009

Palpatations last 3 months

i have been suffering from these for around 3 months now. I had a few episodes when I was around 23 yrs old at night. Fast forward to now I am 42 now and lately they have come back but so much more now like daily lunch time to night. I was advised by my dr to lower the tea and coffee intake and break my thyroid med in half at night and take just half daily. I have hypothyroidism. It seemed to work for about 3 days but now they are back again. I haven't read anything that indicates they eventually go away. My dr doesn't seem to really have an explanation.

—Guest mel2009

Aspartame trigger

I started having palpitations about a month ago, they told me to quit caffeine and it helped but not much, then i had a large coke with no change in my palpitations. Then i had a half of a coke zero and my heart went nuts. Since i have tested various products with ASPARTAME in it and found all of them to increase my palpitations! if you read about aspartame its known to cause palpitations and tachycardia. something to think about if you've tried everything else! Just about anything sugar free has aspartame in it. and some things u wouldnt expect like certain vitamins.

—Guest Brooke

cant figure it out

I am 25 years old. I have a cardiologist that I have been seeing for about a year. He diagnosed me with having palpitations and gave me Inderal. I have had these really painful, sharp chest pains so i went to the hospital, the cardiologist in there diagnosed me with having tachycardia and PVCs, and said I should be taking Zebeta. I dont know how to find out everything that is wrong in my chest area

—Guest Jay Cook

Palpatations due to Anemia

I started having palpitations this summer & they would wake me up in the middle of the night. I finally went tot the Dr. after they weren't stopping & after eliminating caffeine at night & everything else I could think of & it turns out I'm anemic. Apparently, anemia can cause palpitations. I've been on Iron supplements for about a week & am waiting for the palpitations to subside. They have lessoned, but seem to mainly strike @ night - maybe when I'm most relaxed or winding down. If you are having them, get your blood work done & check for anemia!

—Guest Janice

Cheryl

I have a cholesteral level of 238 and am a smoker. Not much over weight. I am 5'9 and weigh 190 I am experiencing constant heart palpitations. I take simivastatin and COQ10

—Guest Cheryl Hilvers

palpitations

I had them every day and I hated it. I finally got rid of them. I took a protocol of supplements from Standard Process, light excercise, 2 tbls of flax oil a day. It took about 2 weeks for them to stop when I started the above protocol. Email me if anyone wants to know the exact process. I'm so happy they are gone

—Guest Spritz2@yahoo

Palpitations

Recently I have been experiencing chest pains and two nights ago I had, what seemed to be, fairly bad palpitations. I went to the hospital ,as my dense dr. Claimed it was muscular stress due to training, my blood pressure was 156/74 when first examined at the hospital and went down after an hour or so. I had an ECG/EKG??? And at the time It didn't seem to good but I wasn't told the results. I had a chest xray which showed nothing wrong. I was told to come bak a few hours later for an assessment with a CAT team where I had another ECG?? Which, this time, was ok. Blood test which were fine and a urine sample which was also fine. But this only rules out an infection as the xray only showed the air in my lungs and bones. Since then, two days ago, I still have pain in the centre of my chest which gets worse later on in the day and at night, especially when I'm lying down. I'm17 gym alot, I haven't had the best childhood, I wasn't abused just neglected u may say. Could this be psycological

—Guest Ed

Palpitations

I started having palpitations since last 04 months , when I woke up during night feeling like my heart is thumping very abnormal. This continued for 10 secs. Then again I felt palpitations once or tiwice and sometimes thrice during last 04 months. My Doctor has advised me Holter Test and reduce tea/cofee.

—Guest Ajay Singh