What Kinds of Arrhythmias Produce Palpitations?
Most people with palpitations have some type of cardiac arrhythmia. Virtually any arrhythmia can cause palpitations, but the most common causes of palpitations are premature atrial complexes (PACs), premature ventricular complexes (PVCs), episodes of atrial fibrillation and episodes of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). However, in some cases palpitations can be caused by more dangerous arrhythmias, such as ventricular tachycardia.
Life-threatening arrhythmias are usually seen in patients with underlying heart disease, so it is especially important to identify the cause of palpitations in individuals who have underlying heart disease or who have significant risk factors for heart disease (such as family history, smoking history, high cholesterol, overweight, sedentary lifestyle). Not all people who report palpitations have heart arrhythmias. The same sorts of symptoms can be caused by musculoskeletal problems or gastrointestinal disturbances, such as gas.
Don’t Let These Mistakes Happen to You
Doctors commonly make two mistakes in their attempt to determine the cause of palpitations:
- They often miss the arrhythmia that is causing them.
- And they often attribute the palpitations to an arrhythmia that is actually not causing them.
Mistake 1: The doctor will order an ECG (which records the heart rhythm for only 12 seconds) or a Holter monitor study (which records the heart rhythm for only 24 hours), and during this time of monitoring the patient will not have either palpitations or an arrhythmia. All too often, the doctor will then inappropriately conclude that the palpitations are not related to an arrhythmia. Worse, the doctor may tell the patient that the symptoms are “all in your head.” Actually, the doctor’s workup was just inadequate.
To make a correct diagnosis, the palpitations and ECG must occur at the same time. If the palpitations occur only intermittently, and especially if they do not occur every single day, instead of doing an ECG or a 24-hour Holter study, the doctor should order an event recorder study. The event recorder study can continuously record the heart rhythm for weeks at a time – however long it takes to “capture” an episode of palpitations. It’s really quite simple – record the ECG for as long as it takes for the patient to have an episode of palpitations, and then look to see what the heart rhythm is during the palpitations.
Mistake 2: The doctor will see an arrhythmia during monitoring that is not associated with palpitations, and blame the palpitations on that arrhythmia. This is wrong. To say an arrhythmia is causing palpitations, the arrhythmia and the palpitations must occur at the same time. Once again, monitoring must continue until palpitations occur, so that the heart rhythm can be examined at the time of the palpitations.
Since doctors frequently make these two mistakes, it is important for you to keep in mind this simple rule if you have palpitations: To make a correct diagnosis, an ECG must be recorded at the very time the palpitations are taking place. If your doctor thinks the workup is complete before this has been accomplished, then you must redirect his or her efforts through gentle reminders, guile, appeals to reason, righteous indignation or whatever it takes.
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