Does your heart sometimes skip a beat or beat a extra pump?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Not looking for medical advice - I’ve already talked to a doctor and he didn’t seem to be concerned. Just wondering if this is totally normal or not, as my doctor was an ass and didn’t really want to talk for more then five minutes.

Every day, at least a dozen times or so, I will feel my heart either skip a beat or beat an extra pump in between normal beats. This sometimes happens when I am working out very hard, but also when I am in bed trying to sleep. Sometimes it’ll happen more then once in a row and I put my fingers on my carotid artery to make sure this is really happening and it is.

The skip a beat feels like a pressure in the chest and then THUMP, a very hard beat, and then back to normal. The extra beat feels like my heart does a quick little flutter and then goes back to normal. I never feel pain, just pressure in my chest for a half a second, then all is normal.

I’m not sure if it matters, but I’m really active. I teach indoor cycling classes two or three days a week and run four days (right now it’s anywhere between 3 and 8 miles per day). My cardiovascular endurance is very good and I’m pretty healthy (except for a bit too much sugar - damn you sugar!).

Does anyone else experience this? I wonder if it related to my fitness level, so could you also post what your fitness level is as well, if you don’t mind?

#2

I get that occassionally, but by occassionally I mean maybe three or four times a year. I’m overweight and moderately fit.

#3

Yes, actually! It was terrifying as heck when that first started happening, in my early 20s.

Went to a doctor for it, and he said that it was just premature ventricular contractions, and I only had to worry if they started happening hundreds of times daily.

I’m in good shape, but got a history of heart problems in the family… Laying off caffeine, taking magnesium supplements, and keeping stress level down seemed to have helped to keep the heart flutters to a minimum, but they still occur a few times a week.

Just one of those little quirks of life, I guess!

#4

That happens (or at least happened) to me, too, mostly extra beats but the skipped ones are what got me to the doctor. All the tests (stress test, stress echo cardiogram) showed nothing wrong and the cardiologist said “Some people are just like that.”
I was in quite good condition at the time, walking twelve miles a day on my job and doing some distance running, too.

#5

Yes, I started to get this when I entered perimenopause. Cutting out alcohol and diet coke (especially the diet coke) made it go away. I was modestly overweight and generally fit.

As menopause advanced, I started getting palpitations in general, and these were fixed by my starting to take magnesium every day. Interestingly, the magnesium also took away that funny muscle twitching you get after walking or running. Another poster here said she had the same results.

#6

I got that in my twenties. Some time I go for weeks without one,(or maybe without noticing one) Most of the time one or two a day. Sometimes two or three a minute which freaked me out enough to go get a physical back in the day.

The conversation went like this:
Me: Doc, My heart is skipping beats.
Doc: You mean like a little sinking feeling in your pulse?
Me: Yes.
Doc: Ehh… hearts do that, good bye. Here’s your bill.

I have noticed that the skipped beats are much more prominent the day after drinking.

#7

Yup, I do that all the time. Well, not daily anymore, but fairly frequently.

It is very disturbing, but the doc says not to worry. (I believe the parameters were, if it happens on every set of beats for more than 5 minutes, then worry.) They have done a bunch of tests on a couple of occasions to make sure it wasn’t something problematic.

I’ve drastically reduced my caffeine, which has helped a lot. I was completely off caffeine for a while, but decided to moderate that. :stuck_out_tongue: When I was not consuming caffeine, even a small amount would cause episodes, but usually the next day. (I know that makes no sense at all, it was just the pattern that I noticed.)

Stress also causes this effect for me, again often after I’ve stopped stressing. In fact, when my heart does this repeatedly, the increased heart rate from the tiny panic attack it engenders is often enough to make it quit.

I’ve had it happen occasionally when I was exercising (which I don’t do regularly) - except that the extra beat is often so hard that it hurts. If I’ve done something to bring on the skips (e.g., anxiety attack or caffeine consumption), it will often happen after I’m relaxed in bed.

It’s weird.

#8

I first noticed this a few years ago during some very trying times in my family, and again several months later, when wI had a stressful cross-country move. I think it’s related to periods of high stress for me. I’ve also noticed it after drinking specifically Rockstar energy drink, but not Monster (??). The flutter-THUMP is EXACTLY what I experience.

This was a few years ago and I haven’t experienced it since, so I chalked it up to nerves. I’m… not exactly a fit guy, so if you have it and I had it, I doubt it’s a fitness level thing. At the time I experienced this, I had had some post-surgery physicals a year or so prior that didn’t turn up anything to be concerned about.

Surgery was unrelated, BTW. Ruptured disc in my cervical spine.

#9

Premature Ventricular Beat (or Contraction). Happens to me a half a dozen times per year. My doctor said it was because of a “shitty” little weak electrical signal that gets thrown in there and tries to create an extra little weak beat. The weak little beat gums up the works a little, screws up the rhythm, and that final big thump is your heart putting its foot down, sending all the collected blood on in its rightful direction and getting the whole heart solidly back on beat. It’s kinda like Keef is wandering off on his own and Ronnie’s looking for his fags, see, not contributing, and Charlie’s got to put his foot down, right, wiv a big beat and get them geezers back on track.

#10

In the end of my twenties, i get it a lot too (not so many per day though). If i drop dead, might as well.,

#11

Ahahahahaha! Very good description.

I think I’ll start taking magnesium and see what happens. I don’t drink alcohol, but I do have two cups of coffee every day.

I’m glad I’m not alone, and also glad I’m not alone in that is sends some people into a panic attack (me too!). I can control that now, but it was rough going for a while.

#12

You are having a symptom loosely grouped under “palpitations.”

These can range from totally benign to harbingers of sudden death, and many many specific rhythm abnormalities underlie them, from premature ventricular and atrial contractions to short runs of atrial fibrillation or various supraventricular tachycardias.

The extent of evaluation is dependent on many factors (and no; a wallet biopsy should not be one of them).

Capturing rhythm disturbances with a recording mechanism such as an EKG or an electronic monitoring device can be quite useful, although both the abnormal beats and an understanding of any underlying condition of the heart are required for a proper evaluation.

#13

I first started having those things in my early twenties. Mentioned them over the years to all my doctors and none of them was concerned in the slightest. Usually they would come in ones or twos (the palpitations, not the doctors), but sometimes often enough to be annoying. Some years ago they got bad enough that I started drinking decaffeinated coffee, which helped. Since then I’ve gone on and off drinking regular coffee, without much effect.

Since I’ve turned 80, I’ve decided those palpitations don’t mean very much. And since this thread came up, I’ve just realized that they haven’t occurred in over at least a year. Getting older must have some advantages. I remember my Father mentioning once that he had this problem. He only made it to 90, so it doesn’t seem to be very deadly.

If your doctor isn’t concerned, I wouldn’t be either.

#14

Odd… I have been noticing this happening recently, and actually thought about nstarting a thread here about it.

I have noticed that it happens more frequently if I eat a couple dark chocolate covered coffee beans. Probably should stop those, but *DAMN *they’re good…

#15

I have ectopics (skipped beats, not extra, in my case) come and go all the time. I haven’t been able to figure out a reason for them, but I’ve been assured by doctors there’s nothing wrong with me. They seem to be more prominent when I’m at my fittest. Or more noticeable, because my resting heart rate is much slower. I don’t know. Anyhow, they really bugged the crap out of me. At their worst, I’d have several ectopics a minute. Last year, it really took a psychological toll on me, seriously worried the crap out of me, even though I had been assured there’s nothing wrong with me. Reduction in caffeine didn’t make a smidgen of difference. They went away this winter, and I’ve only had the mildest ectopics from time to time. There has been no significant change in my lifestyle. My diet is as healthy as it was before. If anything, I’m perhaps under slightly more stress. But the ectopics have virtually disappeared. My current fitness level is I run about 20-25 miles per week. When I was having a lot of ectopics, my fitness level was running 30-35 miles per week.

Get yourself checked out, but it’s not an uncommon occurrence and very often (I dare say usually, but IANADoctor) is benign.

#16

Creepy, ain’t it? Especially when just falling off to sleep? Makes you think of mortality and stuff.

#17

I had really bad palpitations during Christmas a couple years ago that lasted a few days. It was a horrible feeling! (I did do a lot of drinking that week, though it never happened in previous years.) I called my medical center and told whoever answered about it and in a bored voice she said maybe I should stop drinking coffee, alcohol, and give up the cigs. I did stop coffee cold turkey, and THAT was TRULY frightening, it felt like I had the flu - headaches and talk about tired! Switched to decaff for a while. The palpitations went away, but it was a horrid feeling.

#18

I have had something like this for about 10 years now. I thought it was skipped beats, but when it finally happened when I was hooked up to a machine, it turned out that my heart was “throwing” extra beats. The doctor said that there are different types of this, and what I had was no reason for concern.

I will go weeks without having any, then maybe it will bother me for five minutes and go away, a few times a year it may bother me for a couple of hours. It only seems to last ten seconds or so, then stops, then comes back in a few minutes.

I am taking Metoprolol for high blood pressure and the doctor said that this medication also helps prevent this problem, so it usually only bothers me nowadays when I am due to take a pill.

It doesn’t come with exertion, it doesn’t cause any pain or discomfort. The only way I know it is happening is I get a feeling deep in my throat from when the heart tries to set things straight again.

#19

Omg I love this thread. I thought I was the only one this happened to, and that I was gonna die from it. Cool.

#20

Look up “ectopic heart beat” and you’ll find support groups for it. Reading them can help ease your worries. Also made me realize that as enervating as my symptoms were, many have it much, much worse. Mine at least go away for long periods of time.