What Causes Heart Palpitations In An Elderly Person?

Posted on Mon, 12 Jun 2017

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 Answered on

Mon, 3 Jul 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : I am a 52 year old woman and have been having heart palpations for a few days that last all day, energy level is not normal,could this be an anxiety issues?

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
I would recommend performing some tests :

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for asking on HCM!

Regarding your concern, I would explain that before concluding that your symptoms are caused by anxiety, it is necessary exclude other possible metabolic causes ( chronic anemia, thyroid dysfunction, electrolyte imbalance, kidney or liver disease, etc. ).

For this reason, I would recommend consulting with your attending physician for a careful physical examination and some tests :

- complete blood count
- fasting glucose levels
- thyroid hormone levels
- blood electrolytes
- kidney and liver function tests
- a resting ECG and cardiac ultrasound.

If all these tests result normal, you should consider anxiety as the main cause of your complaints.

I would also recommend you to closely monitor your blood pressure values. Low blood pressure can mimic this situation.

Hope to have been helpful!

Kind regards,

Dr. Iliri

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad