Painful Heartbeats, Have Mitral Valve And Tricuspid Prolapse. Should I Be Concerned?

Posted on Thu, 30 Aug 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 Answered on

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : I am experiencing, over recent days, three incidents of painful hearbeats, that feel strong and hurt a bit. Previously, I've had the occasional "catch-up" beat, when carrying something heavy upstairs or exercising a lot. I have two slight valve prolapses, mitral valve and tricuspid. One of them is minor, the other shows some regurgitation on an ultrasound, but all else was well on an EKG and an ultrasound a few months ago. Now-I'm having a series of hard, somewhat painful beats, perhaps 10 in a row before they stop. These seem to have occurred on days on which I was tired. I drink one cup of coffee per day-the beats can be many hours later. Am losing weight slowly and carefully over recent weeks, with my usual moderate exercise, have taken off 8 pounds or so in the last month.Should I be concerned? Thank you. I am living overseas, where health care is uneven, and am not sure if I should seek consultation.

Answered by Dr. Sudhir (8 hours later)

Hello.

Your symptoms are suggestive of heart palpitation or arrhythmias.Cardiac palpitation is uncomfortable and unusual awareness of the heartbeat.Mismatch or disturbances in electric impulses in heart are generally underlying cause for this symptoms.

Most cases are harmless and dont need treatment.One needs to get evaluated for this.A primary evaluation with ECG can help to evaluate the condition.If at all a static ECG is normal a 24 hours ECG monitoring can help in this case.

I would suggest you to see doctor for clinical evaluation and consider getting the investigations done.In most cases medication can provide good symptomatic relief.Once diagnosis is confirmed an appropriate treatment can be proposed.

Please ask if there are further questions or if want me to explain anything.Thank you.Take care.Best luck.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Sudhir (14 hours later)

Is frequency of the palpitation important? If this doesn't happen again for a week, or more, is it still significant enough for a consultation? While this has happened several times in the last week, there was no evidence of it today; I am wondering what kind of frequency is of concern. Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Sudhir (30 minutes later)

The frequency doesn't matter, but all cases do need a primary evaluation.

So even though this not causing any other symptoms I would recommend a consultation.

Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar