Consult City's Top Doctors, The Minute You Need To

First Consultation starting
@ ₹349 ₹599

3985
Cardiologists

60150
Cases done
by Cardiologists

1552
Hospitals

Overview

Palpitations are an abnormality of heartbeat that is characterized by the awareness of the contractions of the cardiac muscles in the chest. It is both a medical diagnosis and a symptom. It could be of variable duration, frequency, continuous or intermittent. Palpitations can be precipitated by diarrhea or vomiting.

Palpitations Symptoms

Various symptoms can be associated with palpitations such as follows:

Shortness of the breath
A Headache
Chest pain
Dizziness
Sweating
Hand tingling
Nervousness
Fainting or light-headedness

Palpitations Causes

There are four main causes of palpitation as follows:

Inappropriate stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system (extra-cardiac): Palpitation can be caused due to the stimulation of the vagus nerve by stress or anxiety due to the chronic or acute elevation in catecholamines or glucocorticoids.

Sympathetic overdrive: Sympathetic stimulation due to panic disorders, hypoxia, low RBC count, etc.

Hyperdynamic circulation: Hyperdynamic circulation as a result of valvular incompetence, hypercapnia, thyrotoxicosis, etc.

Diseases Associated with Palpitations

There are scores of diseases associated with palpitations such as follows:

Coronary Artery Disease: When the palpitations are related with a chest pain, it suggests the presence of coronary artery disease.
Pericardial Disease: If a chest pain subsides on leaning forward, it suggests the presence of pericardial disease.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Palpitation that takes place on a regular basis with exertion would be due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Diagnosis of Palpitations

At mfine you would find experienced palpitation specialist, who would listen to the heart with the help of a stethoscope and try to find the signs of the medical conditions. In case he suspects palpitations brought about by arrhythmia, he would suggest tests such as electrocardiogram, holter monitoring, event recording, and echocardiogram.

Understanding Palpitations

Palpitations are the sensory symptom that causes the unpleasant feeling of the irregular, the forceful and rapid beating of the heart. It creates a pounding, flip-flopping or fluttering sensation in the chest which could be due to stimulation of the vagus nerve, for hyperdynamic circulation due to vulvular incompetence etc.

Palpitations Treatment

Treatment of palpitations depends on the cause and the severity. The expertise of a specialist is required if palpitations occur due to defect in the heart muscles. Palpitations due to stimulation of the vagus nerve are due to stress and anxiety and hence the best techniques are massage and meditation. With the respect to hyperstimulation of vagus nerve, tricyclic antidepressants, antihistamines, and anticholinergic can be used to inhibit the impact of acetylcholine for activating vagus nerve and hence it reduces its interference on the normal rhythm of the heart.

With mfine, patients can get in touch with adept cardiologists, who would suggest then the right treatment and advice.

At mfine, you would get in touch with palpitations doctors near me.