Normally, a person should not feel his heartbeat. Stable heart function cannot be accompanied by discomfort. People who regularly feel their heartbeat are dealing with various cardiovascular ailments. However, palpitations that are short-term, situational in nature, can be caused by stress, increased physical activity, dietary habits, and lack of oxygen in the room. If the patient constantly “feels” the beats of his heart, we are talking about pathological phenomena.
People who regularly feel their heartbeat are dealing with various cardiovascular ailments.
Psychological reasons
The main psychosomatic causes include:
- emotional stress;
- depression;
- panic attacks;
- stress.
Indeed, in an anxious state, a person’s heart begins to work faster, and consequently, symptoms such as sweating, tremors, shortness of breath appear, and, of course, the body gives a signal in the form of a palpable heartbeat.
If you feel your heart beating and all possible diseases have been ruled out, there is another way to solve the problem - eliminating stress and conflicts. If the cause of your palpitations is psychosomatics, then you should change your lifestyle. Give up stressful work, change or expand your social circle, try to eliminate any stress.
Consider adopting new healthy habits, such as walking in the fresh air, playing sports, or visiting health resorts. If possible, go to the sea to breathe the salty air. Take a course of massage, electrophoresis. Give up bad habits: smoking, drinking coffee or tea, energy drinks that stimulate the nervous system, and, of course, overeating. If your heart palpitations are caused by illnesses such as a panic attack or depression, consult a psychiatrist. These ailments are treated with medication.
Basic and additional symptoms for cardiac diseases
It is customary to distinguish between two types of extrasystole. Functional extrasystole is mainly recorded at a young age, in people who neglect the rules of a healthy lifestyle. In most cases, it goes away on its own and does not require complex therapy.
The appearance of organic extrasystole is most often observed in people who have crossed the threshold of 50 years of age. It requires a serious approach with the use of complex therapy medications. Most often it occurs during the development of angina attacks (both stress and rest). In this case, the following symptoms appear:
- Headache and dizziness occur, which may be accompanied by the development of fainting.
- There is a feeling of lack of air, and as a result shortness of breath appears.
- The patient notes increased sweating.
- A push in the heart area is accompanied by a feeling of it “fading.”
- A feeling of anxiety and panic appears.
Normal heart condition
Before we look at the main medical reasons why a person can feel their heartbeat, it is worth deciding how many heartbeats there should be on average per minute. The heart is a biological engine for the distillation of blood. In order to saturate the cells of organs with oxygen, the heart works continuously throughout life. It has three states: relaxation, atrial contraction and ventricular contraction. Normal heart rate is approximately 60-80 beats per minute.
Going beyond these indicators is a deviation. There are external reasons why the number of heart beats may increase or decrease. You can feel the heart beating just by putting your ear to your chest, or using a phonendoscope. You need to measure your pulse at rest. Before this, you need to clarify the patient’s well-being and his diagnosis. The pulse depends on the time of day, temperature and humidity, the mood and mental state of a person, and age.
As already mentioned, in an excited emotional state, the number of heart beats per minute in a person increases. When the temperature rises, the heart rate also increases, and when the temperature drops, it slows down. Children tend to have a much faster pulse than adults. It can be up to 120 beats per minute, but with age it decreases and at the age of 15, during teenage puberty, it returns to normal - 60 beats.
Why does the heart beat intermittently and other rhythm disturbances?
Interruptions in the functioning of the heart - changes in the strength, frequency and regularity of contractions. Such disorders in medicine are called arrhythmia, which is a symptom of other diseases. Arrhythmia is usually not considered an independent disease; only sometimes a short-term and spontaneous arrhythmia is present in a completely healthy person.
Often, when there is a malfunction in the heart, a person experiences other symptoms, such as shortness of breath, pain, and others. Much depends on the cause of the arrhythmia, which can be not only problems with the heart itself, but even osteochondrosis, VSD, and sometimes a person feels problems after eating. It is important to understand why the heart rhythm is disrupted, how it manifests itself and what to do about it.
Atrial fibrillation
The most common abnormality in the field of cardiology is atrial fibrillation. It is determined by the following symptoms: the heart either stops, then starts beating sharply, as if you had just run a cross-country race. A person hears the sound of a heartbeat. The main symptoms also include difficulty breathing, dizziness, and chest pain. Often the disease is asymptomatic, which is a more dangerous condition for a person, because not diagnosed in time can cost health or even life.
If we talk about the physiological features of this disease, then instead of a full contraction of the atria, fibrillation occurs, that is, incomplete contraction, while the ventricles of the heart contract to 160 beats per minute. This is very dangerous for the heart, as it experiences incredible overload. The first symptoms may occur during times of stress. The consequences of the disease manifest themselves in the form of strokes, heart attacks and various heart diseases. If the sound of the heartbeat is noticeable even at rest, this is a serious signal from the body.
The main causes of arrhythmia are hereditary or congenital heart disease and valve disease. Another cause is coronary heart disease. Also, improper functioning of the organs responsible for hormones affects the heart muscle.
Like any disease, arrhythmia is better prevented than treated. Heart health is affected by a person's lifestyle. Play sports, get rid of bad habits that have a detrimental effect on the heart, worry less and you will never know what it means to feel your heartbeat in a calm state.
Why does the heart beat intermittently and other rhythm disturbances?
Interruptions in the functioning of the heart - changes in the strength, frequency and regularity of contractions. Such disorders in medicine are called arrhythmia, which is a symptom of other diseases. Arrhythmia is usually not considered an independent disease; only sometimes a short-term and spontaneous arrhythmia is present in a completely healthy person.
Often, when there is a malfunction in the heart, a person experiences other symptoms, such as shortness of breath, pain, and others. Much depends on the cause of the arrhythmia, which can be not only problems with the heart itself, but even osteochondrosis, VSD, and sometimes a person feels problems after eating. It is important to understand why the heart rhythm is disrupted, how it manifests itself and what to do about it.
Treatment of atrial fibrillation
Before starting treatment, it is necessary to determine the source of the disorder, namely with the interruption of which valve or ventricle it is associated with. It is necessary to completely examine the entire cardiovascular system. The course of treatment consists of lifelong observation by a cardiologist, drug treatment, and, in some cases, surgical procedures. Most often, arrhythmia is classified as a chronic pathology, and surgical intervention is rarely required. It is necessary for people with congenital heart disease and is performed in children under 14 years of age when drug treatment is ineffective.
Diagnostic procedures
Regular feeling of a strong heartbeat with a normal pulse requires contacting a cardiologist. The specialist finds out what other symptoms are troubling the patient and prescribes manipulations that help establish an accurate diagnosis, such as:
- electrocardiography;
- diagnostics of the heart and other internal organs using ultrasound;
- general laboratory blood test;
- hormone analysis;
- daily monitoring of heart rate and blood pressure.
Tachycardia is the main cause of severe pounding in the chest
The second most common heart disease is tachycardia. Normally, at rest in an adult, the number of beats per minute should be up to 80 times. But if you find that the number of beats is 100, then quickly make an appointment with a cardiologist. Due to intense work, the heart beats harder and, as a result, is more noticeable to a person.
If the number of beats exceeds this norm, this is one of the signs of tachycardia. Naturally, the disease negatively affects the functioning of the heart - the ventricles do not have time to fill with blood, so there is a deterioration in the blood supply to organs and tissues, and as a result, there is a lack of oxygen.
As a rule, the cause of tachycardia and a constant feeling of palpitations are excessive physical exertion, sunstroke, and diseases of the body, both infectious and viral. Treatment is very simple if you consult a doctor in time. If the necessary drug treatment is provided, heart problems should not arise. After a certain period, tachycardia, if left untreated, becomes chronic, which leads to a worsening of the condition, a person feels the heart beating more strongly, heart disease and inflammation of the myocardium appear.
To summarize, we determine that tachycardia is the main cause of a strong heartbeat, as a result of which a person can hear his own beats. From this we conclude that normally a person should not hear his own heartbeat.
Myths and truth about VSD
Alexander Ivanovich BELENKO
Head and leading specialist of the clinical center for autonomic neurology, doctor of the highest category, candidate of medical sciences, clinician with extensive experience in the field of laser therapy, author of scientific works on functional methods of studying the autonomic nervous system.
—Put yourself in the doctor’s shoes. The patient's tests are fine. All kinds of examinations from ultrasound to MRI show the norm. And the patient comes to you every week and complains that he feels bad, can’t breathe, his heart is pounding, he’s sweating, that he constantly calls an ambulance, etc. Such a person cannot be called healthy, but he does not have a specific disease. This is VSD - a diagnosis for all occasions, as I call it...
Other reasons
Non-cardiological causes of palpitations in the chest also include:
- vegetative-vascular dystonia;
- anemia;
- neurosis;
- menopause;
- elevated temperature.
These diseases are accompanied by the following symptoms: dizziness, shortness of breath, suffocation, increased fatigue, sweating, chest pain. Treatment of these diseases is carried out by a specialist.
How to get rid of palpitations
In addition to special cases, there is general treatment. First of all, go to your local clinic and see a general practitioner, who will refer you for a general blood and urine test. After conducting these examinations, he can identify pathology in other organ systems, after which he will refer you to a cardiologist. He will conduct the following tests:
- Ultrasound of the heart;
- ECG;
- ECG with stress.
If abnormalities are detected, the doctor may refer you for the next test - heart monitoring for several days. The device will measure your pulse, blood pressure and breathing rate for 2-3 days, after which a diagnosis will be made based on the data.
It is also necessary to exclude complications of diseases, determine and make an accurate diagnosis. It is important to comply with therapy. If your health worsens, you should consult your doctor again. Most often, corticosteroids and cardio medications are prescribed for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Speaking about the most popular tablets that are used to treat cardiovascular diseases, we need to name “Aspirin”, “Captopril”, “Nebilet”, “Panangin”. All medications should be taken only after a doctor's prescription. As for non-pharmaceutical methods of treating the heart, examples of effective herbal medicine are a decoction of valerian herb, mint tinctures and tea with chamomile flowers.
How can a doctor help with a strong heartbeat?
If you have a complaint about palpitations, you should contact a general practitioner or cardiologist.
When a patient complains of increased heartbeat, it is first necessary to establish its cause - whether it is of physiological or pathological origin. For this purpose, laboratory and instrumental studies may be prescribed, including ECG, echocardiography (ultrasound of the heart), and radiography of the heart. After identifying the cause of the increased heart rate, a course of treatment is prescribed aimed at eliminating pathological factors. Normalization of the heartbeat is achieved through treatment with antiarrhythmic drugs. Such drugs should not be taken on your own; they should be prescribed by a doctor in accordance with the condition of your body, established on the basis of a medical examination. Otherwise, the treatment result may be negative.
