What do palpitations sound like

Palpitations tend to come and go. Unfortunately, they are usually gone by the time you get to the doctor's office. That makes pinning them down a joint effort. One of the most helpful pieces of information is your story of how your heart palpitations feel, how often they strike, and when. Try to answer some of these questions before seeing your doctor:.

A physical exam can reveal telltale signs of palpitations. Your doctor may hear a murmur or other sound when listening to your heart that suggests a problem with one of the heart's valves.

Your doctor may also blood tests if he or she suspects a thyroid imbalance , anemia , or low potassium, or other problems that can cause or contribute to palpitations. An electrocardiogram ECG is a standard tool for evaluating someone with palpitations.

This recording of your heart's electrical activity shows the heart's rhythm and any overt or subtle disturbances, but only over the course of 12 seconds or so. Your doctor may want to record your heart rhythm for longer to identify the cause of the palpitations. If your palpitations come with chest pain, your doctor may want you to have an exercise stress test.

If they come with a racing pulse or dizziness, an electrophysiology study using a special probe inserted into the heart may be in order. If you are at risk for a heart rhythm problem, or if palpitations are interfering with your life or mental health, a recording of your heart's rhythm for 24 hours or even longer may capture an electrical "signature" of the problem. Getting visual evidence of this signature can help determine how best to treat your palpitations. A Holter monitor constantly records your heart's rhythm for 24 hours as you go about your daily activities.

Small patches called electrodes are stuck onto your chest and attached to a recorder that you carry in a pocket or wear around your neck or waist.

During the test, you keep a diary of what you are doing and how you feel, along with the time of day of each entry. When you return the monitor to your doctor, he or she will look at the recording to see if there have been any irregular heart rhythms.

Twenty-four hours often isn't long enough to detect palpitations. An event recorder can monitor the heart for days or weeks. There's even an implantable recorder that can invisibly monitor the heart for a year or more. Stress and anxiety are two other key triggers of skipped beats. A two-step approach can help here. To keep palpitations away, try meditation, the relaxation response, exercise, yoga, tai chi, or another stress-busting activity. If palpitations do appear, breathing exercises or tensing and relaxing individual muscle groups in your body can help.

Deep breathing. Sit quietly and close your eyes. Place one hand on your abdomen. Breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose. Feel your abdomen move outward. Exhale through your nose or mouth, whichever feels more comfortable.

If your heart is racing unexpectedly, you can try to stop it yourself with one of the following maneuvers. However, if they don't work promptly and the symptoms persist, have someone drive you to the emergency department or call Valsalva maneuver. Pinch your nose closed with the fingers of one hand. Close your mouth. Try to breathe out forcibly through your nose. Bear down. They open to let blood into a chamber and then close to make sure blood does not flow backwards.

Many murmurs require no treatment. Some murmurs are more serious and may need treatment. These murmurs are caused by a valve that could be:. These impulses keep a healthy heart pumping by contracting and relaxing the atria and the ventricles. The primary pacemaker in your heart is the sinoatrial node of the right atrium. Both atria may beat out of sequence, or fibrillate, when this node produces disordered impulses.

The fibrillation causes irregular impulses to be transmitted through the ventricles. The result is that the atria and ventricles become uncoordinated and the heartbeats become irregular. Sometimes the cause of AFib is unknown. The disordered electrical impulses can be caused by an underlying condition.

Other causes include:. Diagnosis of heart murmurs begins with your doctor listening to your heart with a stethoscope. This is often enough to hear the murmur and to classify it. Your doctor may also order imaging tests. For instance, they may order an ultrasound to help see blood flow, or a chest X-ray to see your heart valves.

This test measures your heartbeat and can show if you have an irregularity. Certain heart murmurs may require your doctor to treat you with medication or may require surgery to repair the problem with blood flow. AFib is not necessarily serious.

It may be a condition that you can live with. Or it can present problems in some cases, like increasing your risk of having a stroke or heart failure. There are a few options available if your doctor determines you need treatment. Cardioversion will be done with an electrical shock to your heart using a defibrillator that has paddles that are applied to your chest wall. Surgical and minimally invasive procedures are available for persistent AFib. Most of the time, heart palpitations are harmless and go away on their own.

In some cases, however, there may be a medical reason behind them, called an arrhythmia abnormal heart rhythm. Even though they are common, heart palpitations can make you feel anxious and scared. There are plenty of times when your heart fluttering is nothing to be concerned about. Your heart rhythm can change because of your emotional state or activity level. For instance, smoking and using illegal drugs can increase your risk of a heart attack. To keep your heart healthy, avoid these harmful substances.

As a result, some health conditions may cause heart palpitations that signify an abnormal heart rhythm called an arrhythmia. Heart conditions that may cause an arrhythmia include:.