What Are Palpitations?

Palpitations are the sensation of being aware of your heartbeat.

They may feel like:

• Rapid heartbeat
• Pounding heartbeat
• Fluttering
• Irregular beats
• Skipped or extra beats

Palpitations may result from completely normal heart rhythms or from an underlying arrhythmia.

Possible causes include:

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Lack of sleep
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Dehydration
• Fever
• Thyroid disorders
• Anemia
• Medications
• Atrial fibrillation
• SVT
• PVCs
• Ventricular arrhythmias

The most important part of the evaluation is often recording the heart rhythm during symptoms.

Depending on the frequency of episodes, ECG, Holter monitoring, prolonged rhythm monitoring, exercise testing, echocardiography, or blood tests may be required.

Treatment depends on the underlying cause.