Heartbeat keeps skipping a beat

[Ben565]

Hi, I've noticed this for a while now. My heart beats normally, but then keeps stuttering/ skipping a beat. And then the next beat is more of a thump.

Its a bit disconcerting. I did cold water swimming in November and that seemed to aggrevate it more.

I tried to capture it on the heart rate app built into my phone (see picture) you can see there's a long drawn out beat. Instead of a series of regular beats.

The app isn't especially scientific, but it shows what I'm feeling.

Whats going on? Do I need to go see my GP about it ?

[Ben565]

I should add, resting rate is about 65-75bpm usually. I don't smoke, I do drink, active but don't exercise as much as I should. And no other health issues.

Its like palpitations.

[Engineer46 in reply to Ben565]

Ectopic beats are not skipped beats but are "beats in the wrong place" either earlier or later than expected - so to us they can feel like a skipped beat followed by a strong beat.

Most of us have a few every day but usually we don't notice them and they are regarded as benign.

In addition to stress, they can also be brought on by alcohol consumption. In this respect, binge drinking is the worst way to use alcohol as far as the heart is concerned and may eventually trigger atrial fibrillation.

Two things you could do. Try not drinking alcohol for seven days and see if they go away and ask your GP to give you an ECG to reassure you that your heart is in good shape.

Best wishes,

Paul

[Yumz199725]

Sounds like you might be getting ectopic beats is this a new thing, what's the history with your health probably best to mention it to your GP, anxiety can cause these aswell are you under any new stress?. Did your phone say that the ECG was abnormal? Hope you get some reassurance and some answers to why this is happening to you. I know what this is like happend for ages before my consultant took me seriously I had few holter monitors and eventually picked it up my palpitations on there and I'm now on verapamil 40mg x2 so please persue this don't leave it better to be safe then sorry. 😘

[Palpman]

I'm sorry that you find yourself on this forum but welcome.That pic is probably from the Samsung Health App as it looks like my ectopic beats.

Most of us here have those annoying skipped and double beats.

Normally when your heart skips a beat then the following one is felt as being more forceful. This is because the heart compensates for the missed beat by beating harder.

These can occur without reason or can be brought on by certain foods and drinks such as caffeine, alcohol, sugar and in my case, chocolate.

Hopefully it was a once off and not happen again.

Some people have one occasionally and some can have them continuesly.

Most are quite common and benign.

[deniseinmilden]

Hiya!

As the others have said, it seems like you're getting/noticing your ectopics.

By all means speak to a Dr for reassurance but if that's all they are, be prepared for a dismissive reaction.

You need to be getting several a minute all the time before anyone is likely to do anything about them.

You might find they come and go. I can get 8 or 10 a minute sometimes without it causing any problems but can also go hours without getting them.

There are 2 sorts - PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) and PACs (premature atrial contractions), depending on what part of your heart is involved. PVCs are more common but neither is really of major consequence.

This is purely anecdotal layman speak but it seems that people get them more in relation to heart stress and it's really likely that the cold water swimming put your heart under stress. Don't do it - for all the faddy stuff about it, it's not really good for you and can be quite harmful/deadly.

If you need reassurance, it's almost always fine if your heart actually does miss a beat - which is called AV block. There are several versions of this, depending on how it misses them and in what pattern. I get them - totally missed beats - but they don't really affect what I do unless I get more than 3 a minute, and I can get up to 20 in a minute sometimes, which does slow me up, but still isn't in any way life threatening.

I'm guessing you're slim - thinner people have less cushioning fat around their heart so tend to feel ectopics more.

If you see them as just a way of your heart saying "hi, look after me - I'm looking after you" it takes the potential scariness of them away and might make you think twice about jumping in cold water and doing other risky things!

They aren't bad per se and could well be your life saver if they remind you to make lifestyle adjustments - drink less, eat better, keep fitter - to favour your heart health.

[meadfoot]

Sounds like ectopkc beats to me. I have them regularly and they can be extremely intense. Why not have a check up with your GP for a full diagnosis and reassurance, Hope they settle very soon. Not sure the cold water swimming is such a good idea until you have been checked out. Best wishes.

[Ben565]

Thanks for all the replies. Its been happening for a while now, couple of years or so maybe. Sometimes more noticeable than other times. Swimming in November really set it off though for a good few hours afterwards.

A lot of times I don't notice it. And the samsung app isn't able to record it over a period of time

[Mo2s]

hello! Look up ‘york cardiologist’ on YouTube, he’s a cardiologist with loooaads of videos about skipped beats And things like that. He basically says as long as your heart is structurally normal, skipped beats are very very common and shouldn’t be a problem but he also understands why they scare people because they feel weird and unpleasant. So deffo mention it to a doctor but I really wouldn’t worry about this

(Ps I get them every day and have since I was a kid but I’ve had an echocardiogram and my heart is normal)

[I-a-n-]

I've been getting them on and off before and after my atrial flutter ablation in April this year. It is a little distressing and is always worse the more you focus on it, which increases anxiety, which increases the rate they occur. Try some deep breathing for 3 minutes, focusing only on the breath.

[I-a-n-]

Oh and best wishes!

[Hidden]

Iv had these since my mid 20s. Sometimes even making me feel like my hearts stopped and even triggering full blown panic attacks. I found exercise was the best solution to these. Avoiding too much caffeine. Getting good sleep. The usual stuff. It really does help.Fast forward 10 years to my mid 30s after having a near fatal heart attack out of the blue and now heart failure, well. These skipped beats are a norm. Sometimes its non stop. Other night i had a big one that literally had me jumping out of my skin thinking my heart fully stopped and went dizzy. Scary stuff huh.

But id say yours sound pretty ok. Nothing to worry about if theres no other symptoms.

[Chinkoflight]

Hi BenPrecautionary principle operates here. You've noticed it for two years, it became more pronounced after recent exercise. Time to give your GP a chance to shine and do what they do, preventative health care observations. Maybe ask for a nurse based health check. They should have a practice nurse who can do a short hitch up to an ECG which may or (not unlikely) show nothing unusual. They might refer you. If you have access to a blood pressure monitor take a few home readings before you go to the surgery as they are generally more reliable.

I don't think the cause is the wild swimming which as part of a cardiovascular fitness programme like Couch to 5k is generally a good thing. However, if that bit of strenuous activity is causing you to notice unusual palpitations then again precautionary principle might be appropriate. BUT you shouldn't just stop all exercise.

If you are GP averse and want to gather more evidence then you might invest in a Kardia ECG pocket device which is surprisingly good. My GP says the printouts are better than the practice wired up ECG. It's a pocket device and if you keep it handy you can take a reading when you are having a noticeable event and you will retain the information. The supporting app is free but you can also subscribe (I don't) to get expert interpretation for a very modest fee.

It's likely on the positive side that an ECG would say normal sinus rhythm with ectopic beats, your snap shop looks a bit like that. Kardia can give that reassurance with a high degree of clinical accuracy. Or it might suggest a problem especially if it records a series of ectopics in the short measuring window.

A health check picking up the low HR, referred me on to specialists 7 years ago and it was reassuring to have the investigations and be told okay. As well as heart, blood tests etc for cholesterol and any other indicators.

Then get back on with your life and maybe exercise and wild swim more than you currently do so that you can say your are fit with certainty.

Or you can not do a great deal until you actually do 'fall over' and belatedly but never too late get on the health kick as I have done at the age of 70 regretting I didn't do more in my 40's.....

Couch to 5k could be a good starting point.

[jaysen]

both myself any my partner are experiencing exactly this.

it's been happening for the last couple of years.

however today it's just getting on my nerves!!

so i came here to post about it.

i think something sinister is going on

i 've been monitoring my heartbeat and the symtoms started with one in 11 beats missing. and it was consistent.

there would just be no beat where the 11th should have been and then the 12 (or first of the next 11 would be a thud.

i've watched this number decrease over the last year down to 7 beats then a beat missing.

today im down to two beats then missing the third! but now there is no thud on the fourth beat.

this repeats over and over and has nothing to do with my state of mind or anxiety or activity or blood oxygen level or bpm of the heart.

it's all happening at resting and also happening with exercise

like i mentioned before this is happening to both myself and my partner at the same time with totally different upbringing and ages and health.

i find it highly unlikely that this is a coincidence and i suspect something that we are consuming is the cause.

i'm afraid that i suspect once this starts happening every other beat i'll be dead.

it's like a countdown clock

EDIT i suspect it's the milk and it happens worse every year around winter time, when the cows are being fed RAPESEED cake etc.