What causes heart palpitations?

[Youngwoman94]

I started getting heart palpitations at 22 years old. It happened once and I thought I was dying of a heart attack. Went to the ER everything normal. Went to a Cardiologist and wore a 30 day halter monitor. Results came back as normal but every time I recorded a palp the DR said it was showing as an extra beat.. nothing that would cause harm it’s perfectly normal and everyone gets them. Told me I will not die from them. They are random and come maybe a few times a month. I noticed when my anxiety isn’t under attack I do not get them. A year later it was happening frequently so I went to a different cardiologist some testes and procedures done and was giving the same results. Sometimes when I get a strong heart palpitations as I like to call it. I immediately have to have a bowel movement. The heart palpitations scare me every time like it’s the first time I ever had one. So my anxiety puts me in a panic and I can’t calm down because I think I’m going to have a heart attack. I would like answers other than it’s going to be okay. If I could figure out what causes I maybe can avoid those things.

I have read previous post and see some people are going through the same thing as me. Just wanting to know what has worked for other people and know that I am not alone in this

[Alishacori]

I’m 24 and I get PVCs every time my HR gets above 100. Doctors guess is adrenaline. Plus it’s doesnt help that I have severe anxiety. I take a beta blocker and will only get them occasionally. I still get them though whenever I exert myself too much and get my HR above 130ish

[Stjopa]

My problem is adrenaline..

[MacShakespeare]

PVC's have a dozen triggers and a Cardiologist won't have the means to chase them down.  The 30-day halter was a great idea.  Your heart is fine.  You will need to experiment with evertying from caffine to the position you tend to sleep in to doing research on how to control the Vagus nerve (it can be done).  This is on you but you CAN do this.  Do the research online.  I recommend the Vagus nerve stuff first.  Here's a place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dtPN4xrY4U

[Jenn1302]

I can relate. I've had premature beats (PVCs and PACs) on and off for the past 6 years. They suck. I hate them and I feel every single PVC. They've recently gotten so bad that they've been keeping me up at night. All night.

My PVCs seem to be related to my stomach and vagus nerve (see Roemheld Syndrome or Gastric-Cardia). I get palpitations when my vagus nerve gets irritated (e.g. gas, squeezing my stomach, a tight tank top, bending over after eating, and sometimes even just gravity). For a while there I had a way of controlling them, but now that they're significantly worse and more frequent there's not much I can do to make them go away.

There's this doctor from York Cardiology who has a bunch of videos on YouTube. They pretty much explain everything. To my understanding the way it works is that your heart is prone to misfiring and your vagus nerve sends signals to override it. When the vagus nerve gets irritated it fails to override the misfiring and premature beats happen.  

Adrenaline (e.g. stress) and sleep deprivation make the heart more irritable and more likely to beat too soon. Electrolyte imbalances and structural issues can also cause this.

[Youngwoman94]

I have read about the vagus nerve. I don’t not consume any caffeine. I do think it maybe adrenaline related. As I have anxiety & always find myself anxious.

[hdhntr]

easy for the doctors to say even if it's true but you MUST remain calm. i am going to be 68 and have had them all my life, just not very often. now they are occuring much more frequently and my trigger was cough medicine from january when I had persistant cough. stopped taking it end of january yet flutters/palpatations persist, sometime stopping for several days and last night going on for hours which never happened before. point is I am still here and you can't become overwrought or it will make your condition worse. accept it's going to happen and it becomes more of an annoyance than scary, try deep breathing, deep diaphram cough, hold your breath and then press down hard while sitting even dunk your head in bowl with ice and water in it to shock you back to normal. best of luck to you and remain calm.

[Youngwoman94]

You made a great point about your age & still getting them. There is hope, it always makes me think something bad will happen. I try to always remain calm but it doesn’t always work.

[dongato17]

Your question is a good one without a lot of definitive answers.  Basically you just have to start eliminating things one by one (caffeine, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, etc.) and see if it makes a difference or not.  I've done all of these and still have not found the trigger yet.  If it makes you feel better, I've been having 1000+ per day lately.  :-)

[Youngwoman94]

Thank you for your response. Yes you definitely made me feel better I only get them here and there. I couldn’t image having them all day long. I hope you find your trigger! Do you just get used to them & ignore it? I’m still in he phase of panicking when it happens.

[dongato17]

Hey sorry for not replying sooner. Yeah I'm getting where I can ignore them better. It's a slow process. ;-) I take a beta blocker now that makes them feel lighter.