Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
What Causes Fluttering Feeling In Chest, Skipped Heart Beats And Excessive Stress?
Posted on
Sun, 22 Nov 2015
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Sun, 22 Nov 2015
Answered on
Wed, 9 Dec 2015
Last reviewed on
Question : 28 year old female. Pregnant 8 weeks. Feeling of flutters in my chest and or heart skipping beats. Sometimes four times throughout a day, twice throughout a week but no longer than a few weeks in between. I went through tremendous stress (sadness & anger) when I was 24-26. Also drug (stimulant type) and alcohol use at the same time of age 24-26. (Symptoms have happen since I was 26.) One episode I had at age 26 was after getting very mad I felt like an elephant was on my heart almost lost my breath and was gasping to breathe again, my chest even hurt a little afterwards. Even after I would take gummy vitamins specifically women's one a day my heart area would spontaneously hurt shortly after and when I would take off from the vitamins it would go away( Age 27). I notice every time I get too mad or anxious seems like my heart will do something funny like beat stronger or skip a beat, this happens also if I feel over worked for the day. I work many days throughout the week with seldom weekdays available (specifically 4) during a month to schedule doctor visits and when I get off many places of business are closed. I go to local health clinics for minor health reasons like earache etc. Question, Is my pregnancy safe to carry right now or will it endanger my health? My obgyn feels I will be just fine. He says that since it was a few years ago that I had unhealthy behaviors it should not be of concern now. But I feel like the baby will be fine but not me. I feel that I will not be able to stand the delivery physically.
Brief Answer:
I would explain as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully read your question and would explain that your symptoms seem to be related to anxiety.
You should know that it is quite normal to experience chest discomfort and palpitations during anxiety or anger, because of the physiological activation of the sympathetic system, which causes an increase in your heart rate, even ectopic heart beats and an increase in the frequency or respiration.
Anyway I would recommend performing some tests to exclude a possible supraventricular arrhythmia, which could mimic this symptomatology:
- a resting ECG and a cardiac ultrasound to examine your heart function and structure
- an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring is necessary to examine your heart rhythm trends during the day
-blood lab tests (complete blood count, thyroid hormone levels, blood electrolytes, kidney and liver function tests), to exclude possible metabolic changes which could trigger a possible cardiac arrhythmia.
It is important for you and your baby to exclude a possible cardiac arrhythmia.
For the moment, there is no reason for your pregnancy to be considered non safe. Palpitations are more frequent through pregnant women, because of the physiological changes that occur in their body.
If all the above tests result normal, the main cause of your symptoms would remain just pure anxiety.
In such case I would recommend consulting with a specialist of the field, to help you manage your anxiety.
Psychotherapy, mediation, recreational activities and light physical activity (walking in fresh air) would help reduce your anxiety.
I would also advise you to avoid caffeine and emotional stress which could trigger your symptomatology.
Hope to have been helpful!
Feel free to ask any other questions whenever you need!
Best regards!
Dr. Iliri
I would explain as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully read your question and would explain that your symptoms seem to be related to anxiety.
You should know that it is quite normal to experience chest discomfort and palpitations during anxiety or anger, because of the physiological activation of the sympathetic system, which causes an increase in your heart rate, even ectopic heart beats and an increase in the frequency or respiration.
Anyway I would recommend performing some tests to exclude a possible supraventricular arrhythmia, which could mimic this symptomatology:
- a resting ECG and a cardiac ultrasound to examine your heart function and structure
- an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring is necessary to examine your heart rhythm trends during the day
-blood lab tests (complete blood count, thyroid hormone levels, blood electrolytes, kidney and liver function tests), to exclude possible metabolic changes which could trigger a possible cardiac arrhythmia.
It is important for you and your baby to exclude a possible cardiac arrhythmia.
For the moment, there is no reason for your pregnancy to be considered non safe. Palpitations are more frequent through pregnant women, because of the physiological changes that occur in their body.
If all the above tests result normal, the main cause of your symptoms would remain just pure anxiety.
In such case I would recommend consulting with a specialist of the field, to help you manage your anxiety.
Psychotherapy, mediation, recreational activities and light physical activity (walking in fresh air) would help reduce your anxiety.
I would also advise you to avoid caffeine and emotional stress which could trigger your symptomatology.
Hope to have been helpful!
Feel free to ask any other questions whenever you need!
Best regards!
Dr. Iliri
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
