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My heart is fluttering or quivering

My heart has been fluttering and when i am feeling my pulse when i have a flutter my pulse stops then starts once the flutter has stopped. Only lasts a second. I’m 27 male, I first felt this when I was about 20. I’m in good shape and have had ekgs, chest X-ray, and echo. All came back normal. It just scares me every time it happens!

Thanks for the help.
2 Responses
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20748650 tn?1521032211
COMMUNITY LEADER
Might not be Any of the Above. PVC Or PAC.

You just need longer term monitoring to really be sure.  

Here’s some data on Caffeine by the way. Not sure what conclusions to draw, if any. Was worth a shot though to see how it responds.

http://electrophysiology.onlinejacc.org/content/4/4/425?_ga=2.244052550.2131199207.1579830271-1859351574.1579830271
Helpful - 0
20748650 tn?1521032211
COMMUNITY LEADER
Have you had any ambulatory monitoring, such as a Holter Monitor, Event Monitor or loop recorder used on you? This would be something similar to an EKG or a patch which you would wear home with you and either mail to a company or return to your doctor. If so, did you experience any symptoms while wearing the device? Do you have the results from this device? Are there any specific triggers you can think of which cause these events? Do you ever experience any dizziness or fainting? Are you able to exercise without passing out and can you keep up with the average person your age/ activity level? Do you have any family history of sudden cardiac death before the age of 50?

The more of these questions you are able to answer the easier it will be to grant an opinion. However it should be noted that you can not receive an ethical diagnosis from anyone on the internet. Ultimately this community exists to educate but can not possibly give you any sort of accurate information about your specific situation without first actually seeing you in person.

Respectfully;
2210485
Helpful - 0
11 Comments
Thanks for the reply. I have worn a Holter twice. Once for a week and another time for 48 hours. Nothing out of the ordinary was found. Had a few pvcs and PACs but they said that is normal. I did not experience the bad flutter feeling though as  it doesn’t happen often and is so random. No family history of heart disease. I have always been involved in sports and I continue to do cardio. I never have passed out but I do get the feeling sometimes when I stand up from sitting, laugh hard, or just completing a hard workout. I’m just wondering I’d anyone experiences something similar. Cardiologist doesn’t seem to think it’s bad but has not told me what it could be.
Cardiologist is probably correct in his assessment that it’s likely low risk.

However to be 100% sure you would need to have a holter or some similar monitor on your body when you experience the event.

Some of your descriptions of the event triggers sounds like PVC activity (completion of Hard workout in particular).

It’s also not particularly uncommon for PVC’s to appear in patterns of even brief runs of ventricular tachycardia (EG Idiopathic RVOT VT)

However regardless of the cause you would still be low risk. Even ventricular tachycardia, an otherwise life threatening rhythm can go untreated and pose little danger to some individuals. Just depends on the type and nature of the VT.  The dangerous VTs usually are found in individuals with heart failure or prior heart attacks whereas in healthier people they’re benign,

Are you female or male? If female.. do these episodes correspond to any phases in the menstral cycle? How about specific times of the day? Do you tend to have episodes more in the afternoons or morning or night etc etc? This would help clarify too..
I am male. They happen very randomly. I’d say they seem to happen the most late afternoon/early evening.
That sounds very much like an idiopathic Focal ectopic problem.

Almost Everything you describe sounds like an outflow tract PVC.

PVC ARE normal. However some folks are more sensitive to them than others.

There’s actually a good chance that caffeine consumption, in the form of black coffee without excess sugars and such would help your problem. Apart from that they have beta blockers and calcium channel blockers but these rarely do much of anything.
Also if you’re really athletic, Atheletes heart can precipitate idiopathic focal Ectopy as well.

What’s your resting pulse rate? Often times these sorts of rhythm disturbances you describe are associated more with slow heart rates than fast ones.

Athletic people have big strong and slow hearts, that slowness is an optimal preceding ground for ectopics.

That’s why they like to strike in the morning and in the evening. These are transitional hours when the heart is slow. They also tend to get aggravated when the heart is SLOWING down after exercise as opposed to speeding up.

Sometimes caffeine reduces this burden by keeping the resting heart rate up and through some complex mechanisms involving a thing we call a “ryanodine receptor” in heart muscle cells.

Other times the ectopy has a “critical rate of induction” Attained by consumption; in which case caffeine can increase burden.

Not sure the statistic but I suspect In this case the effect would be to suppress the ectopy. In any case caffeine alone isn’t really particularly dangerous for folks with heart conditions, so it’s worth a shot.

Of not here however, substances found in energy drinks and certain substances which can be added to a caffeinated beverage can be quite dangerous, so bitter and plain is the way to go here unfortunately. Caffeine also has a laundry list of side effects to include seriously messing with your sleep routine. So bear this in mind as well when making a decision.
Thanks you very much for your responses. This does sound like a possibility. I am athletic and have a resting heart rate in the low 50s and sometimes upper 40s. I appreciate the input.
No problem!

Your rate is indeed low! Sucks you have palpitations but they are unfortunately likely to be a byproduct of all them gains! Don’t sweat them too much!

If you start getting dizzy, fainting or notice a reduced peak exercise capacity then that may be the time to get concerned!
Hi just had another strong flutter. This one I felt in my chest up to my throat. I was working on my computer when I got it. This was long enough I was able to feel my pulse. It was a beatbeat...beat...beatbeat. Then back to normal. Hate the feeling and always causes me more anxiety over it. I went back to my previous Holter results and did see I had one run of 3 PVCs that was thought to be NSVT. Now I’m worried again
Don’t be. It’s not uncommon for PVC to appear as NSVT.

Did you try coffee?
I drank some coffee the other morning and got a bad flutter. I’m starting to think that my bad flutters may be some PACs? I had some couplets on my 48 hour monitor but I didn’t have this intense flutter during.
It’s unusual for a PAC to be that symptomatic but not unheard of.

I think you need a longer term monitor. Maybe 2 weeks.

You need to have that intense fluttering on the monitor.
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