Heart palpitations

Feeling your heart skip beats or flutter in your chest can be a worry. You want to make sure everything is OK. At Aurora Health Care, our compassionate, experienced heart experts are here to help find anything that may be causing the abnormal heart rhythm so you get the answers you need.

What are heart palpitations?

Heart palpitations feel like your heart is racing or pounding, has skipped a beat or is fluttering. Heart palpitations may feel like they're in your chest or even your neck. They usually happen for only a short time and go away quickly.

Most heart palpitations are temporary with no long-term effects and no particular cause. Some can be a sign of more serious heart conditions.

When are heart palpitations serious?

Thankfully, most heart palpitations are harmless. But it’s always a good idea to mention them to your doctor – especially if they start to happen more often, last longer or seem more intense.

Seek immediate medical attention or call 911 if you have these symptoms along with heart palpitations:

• Dizziness, light-headedness, or feeling faint
• Pain, pressure or tightness in your chest, arms or jaw
• Shortness of breath or trouble breathing
• Sweat more than usual

Medications such as cold medicines, diet pills, asthma inhalers or thyroid pills, and stimulant drugs such as cocaine or methamphetamine may also trigger an abnormal heart rhythm.

Heart conditions with heart palpitations as a symptom

Sometimes, heart palpitations may be related to heart conditions such as:

• Arrhythmia – an irregular heartbeat, such as atrial fibrillation, bradycardia or tachycardia
• Cardiomyopathy – when your heart muscle becomes enlarged, thick or stiff
• Coronary artery disease – when plaque builds up on the arteries that supply blood to your heart
• Previous heart attack – when blood flow to your heart muscle was blocked
• Heart failure – when your heart doesn’t pump well enough to circulate enough blood
• Heart valve disease – when one of your heart valves doesn’t open and close properly

Heart palpitation diagnosis

Heart palpitations can come and go, and don’t always happen during your doctor visit.

To help your doctor make the most accurate diagnosis, it’s a good idea to keep a record of your palpitations before your visit. Take notes about:

• When you experience heart palpitations
• What they feel like
• How long they last
• How often they happen
• What you think might bring them on

During your visit, your doctor will start with a thorough physical exam to help find out what causes your heart palpitations. They may order diagnostic tests such as:

• Blood and urine tests to check hormone, blood cell and electrolyte levels
• Echocardiogram, or heart ultrasound, that shows your heart’s size and motion
• Electrocardiogram (EKG) to check your heart’s electrical activity and rhythm
• Holter monitoring to track your heart’s activity for 24 to 48 hours at home
• Event monitoring to record heart rhythms for about a month
• Implantable loop recorder that monitors your heart’s rhythm for weeks or months using a device that’s implanted during a minor procedure

Find out more about our heart and vascular testing and diagnosis.

Heart palpitation treatment

If what causes your heart palpitations doesn’t seem to be anything specific, we may suggest lifestyle changes to stop heart palpitations such as:

• Avoiding caffeine and other stimulants
• Taking medications to help you quit smoking
• Practicing relaxation exercises, yoga or meditation
• Avoiding foods or activities that are triggers

If a heart condition is triggering your heart palpitations, our experienced team of specialists uses the most advanced cardiac electrophysiology procedures to treat that condition so you can get your heart back to a regular beat.

Medical treatments for heart palpitations

Depending on what’s causing the heart palpitations, your care might include:

• Medications: Beta-blockers or calcium-channel blockers to help restore your regular heart rhythm
• Cardiac ablation: Minimally invasive procedure where we guide thin catheters through blood vessels to your heart and send small energy pulses to remove the heart tissue that is causing the abnormal heart rhythm
• Hybrid ablation procedure: Combination of two treatment options into a single, innovative procedure for atrial fibrillation to restore a normal heart rhythm
• Electrical cardioversion: Quick procedure performed under anesthesia that uses small electrical pulses to return your heartbeat to a normal rhythm
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD): Device that identifies specific kinds of arrhythmia and corrects your heart’s rhythm automatically

Are you at risk for heart disease?

Knowing your risk factors of heart disease – the leading cause of death in the U.S. – can help you lower your chances of developing it. Our heart health quiz estimates your risk, determines which of your risk factors are controllable and gives you an idea what to do next based on your results.

Take the heart health quiz