Heart palpitations
November 23, 2014 | 15,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Ralf Berg
Dear specialists, dear doctors,
Today I have been suffering from palpitations all day again. It is a strange feeling in the lower neck area and chest area, with no pain or anything similar. I just feel like my body is vibrating, causing me to be very tense and extremely focused on it. My breathing is also very irregular as a result. The slightest stimuli or smoking a cigarette intensify the feeling and palpitations. What can I do about this and where could it come from? I just measured my blood pressure and was so tense that my heart was beating quite fast when I inhaled, and the beats abruptly slowed down when I exhaled slowly. It's strange. Last week I also had a long-term ECG because I sometimes experience heart palpitations. The results are pending and it is starting to worry me.
Dear questioner,
first of all, it is a normal reflex for the breathing rate to be faster during inhalation and slower during exhalation. Especially in stressful situations and when the autonomic nervous system is tense, these effects can be clearly felt with careful self-observation. This is not threatening.
The findings in your long-term ECG are not serious either. It is normal for up to 3% of all heartbeats to be extra beats, called extrasystoles. These are differentiated depending on where they originate. Everyone has them. The difference between you and the vast majority of people (about 90%) is that you can feel them while others do not even notice them.
It is completely understandable that one then focuses on them because they find it unsettling, and of course, they become more aware of the heart rate variability. However, this does not make it dangerous. Since your long-term ECG has already been done and no dangerous heart rhythm disturbances were found, no treatment is necessary.
What you can do is quite simple: you need distraction. This can be light physical activity, engaging in a stimulating conversation, or anything else that directs your attention to something else so that you can ignore the heart palpitations or simply not notice them anymore.
So, you do not need to worry. You are experiencing so-called autonomic heart symptoms.
With best regards, Dr. R. Berg
