Heart Palpitations

Heart palpitations are a feeling that your heart is thrashing too exhausting or too quick, skipping a beat, or fluttering. You may notice heart palpitations in your chest, throat, or neck.

Heart palpitations can be annoying or scary. They usually are not serious or harmful, though, and often get away on their own. Most of the time, they're connected to stress and anxiety or to consumption of stimulants like caffein, nicotine, or alcohol. Palpitations also usually occur throughout gestation.

In rare cases, palpitations can be a symptom of a additional serious cardiovascular disease. Therefore, if you have heart palpitations, make arrangements to see your doctor. And seek immediate medical attention if on with palpitations, you experience shortness of breath, dizziness, chest pain, or fainting.

After taking your medical history and conducting a physical communication, your doctor may order tests that will either make sure or rule out an underlying cause. If an underlying cause is found, the right treatment can cut back or eliminate palpitations. If your palpitations are not associated with an underlying cause, lifestyle changes, including stress management and the dodging of common triggers, can facilitate stop them.

Causes of Heart Palpitations

Many things will cause heart palpitations. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the cause is either related to your heart or is unknown. Non-heart-related causes of palpitations include:

1. Strong emotions such as anxiety, fear, or stress; palpitations often occur throughout panic attacks.
2. Vigorous physical activity
3. Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, or illegal street medicine such as cocain and amphetamines
4. Medical conditions, including thyroid sickness, a low glucose level, anemia, low blood pressure, fever, and dehydration
5. Hormonal changes throughout period, pregnancy, or the perimenopausal period; sometimes, palpitations during maternity ar signs of anemia.
6. Medications, including diet pills, decongestants, asthma inhalers, ANd some drugs accustomed stop arrhythmias (a serious regular recurrence problem) or treat an hypoactive thyroid
7. Certain flavourer and nutritionary supplements
8. Abnormal electrolyte levels
9. Some people expertise palpitations when ingestion serious meals that ar made in carbohydrates, sugar, or fat. Sometimes, eating foods with high levels of monosodium salt (MSG), nitrates, or sodium will bring them on.

If you have heart palpitations after ingestion sure foods, the problem may well be food sensitivity. Keeping a food diary can facilitate you establish that foods to avoid.

Palpitations can additionally be associated with underlying cardiovascular disease. When they ar, palpitations are additional seemingly to represent cardiopathy. Heart conditions associated with palpitations include:

1. Prior heart attack
2. Coronary artery disease
3. Other heart issues such as symptom coronary failure, heart valve problems, or heart muscle problems.

Your doctor will conduct a physical examination, take your medical history, and ask concerning your current medications, diet, and lifestyle. The doctor also can raise once, how often, and under what circumstances palpitations occur.

Sometimes, a blood test will reveal the presence of anemia, electrolyte issues, or thyroid abnormalities and help establish the cause of palpitations. Other helpful tests include:

1. Electrocardiogram (ECG). An graphical record will be done either whereas you're at rest or whereas you're workout. The latter is called a stress graphical record. An graphical record records your heart's electrical signals and will discover abnormalities within the heart's rhythm.
2. Holter monitoring. A Holter monitor is worn on the chest. It continuously records your heart's electrical signals for twenty four to forty eight hours. It can discover rhythm abnormalities that weren't known throughout a regular graphical record take a look at.
3. Event recording. An event recorder is worn on the chest. You use a handheld device to record the heart's electrical signals once symptoms occur.
4. Chest X-ray.
5. Echocardiogram. This is an ultrasound examination of the center. It provides detailed info concerning the heart's structure and perform.
6. If necessary, your doctor may refer you to a specialist for extra tests or treatment.

Treatment of Heart Palpitations

Treatment of heart palpitations depends on their cause. In most cases, palpitations are found to be harmless and typically flee on their own. In those cases, no treatment is needed.

If palpitations are not as a result of an underlying condition, your doctor may advise you to avoid the things that trigger them. Strategies could include:

Reducing anxiety and stress. Common stress-reducing therapies include relaxation exercises, yoga, tai chi, biofeedback, guided mental imagery, and aromatherapy.

Avoiding certain foods, beverages, and substances. This may embody alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and illegal medicine.

Avoiding medications that act as stimulants. These include cough and cold medicines, and certain flavourer and nutritionary supplements.

If lifestyle changes fail to cut back or eliminate palpitations, your doctor may visit sure medications. In some cases, beta-blockers or calcium-channel blockers are used.

If your doctor finds that your palpitations are connected to an underlying condition, such as anemia, the focus are going to be on treating that condition. If the palpitations are caused by a medication, your doctor will attempt to notice another medication you'll be able to use. If the palpitations represent an cardiopathy, medications or procedures may be needed. You may even be spoken a regular recurrence specialist called an electrophysiologist.

Heart palpitations at night

Why do we have heart palpitations at night?

Before we discuss the matter of heart palpitations at night, we have to clarify the meaning of the word “palpitation” in general. Palpitations refer to irregular heart beats, usually the heart beats to fast, or with pauses from time to time and gives us an abnormal sensation, sometimes associated with dizziness, light-headed sensation, shortness of breath, chest pain etc.
We all had palpitation at least once in our life, and this doesn’t mean we have a heart disease, because these symptoms occur in healthy people during exercise or associated to stress, smoking, coffee. Even so, if the palpitation persist or are associated with shortness of breath, chest pain, fainting, dizziness, a doctor should be consulted as soon as possible.
Some patients complain they have heart palpitations at night, which prevent them from falling asleep or wake them up in the middle of the night.

Heart palpitations at night -causes:

Normal heart rate for an adult is 60-90 beats/minute. If the heart rate is higher the 90 beats per minute, then the condition is called tachycardia and can provoke palpitation. Not only rapid heart rate can cause palpitation but also irregular heart beats, known as arrhythmia, which is the main cause behind palpitation. Why some patients experience heart palpitations at night, during rest, when heart labor is smaller?
Heart palpitations at night can be determined by one of the following cause:

• too much stress and anxiety gathered during the daytime. It is a habit now that every time we go to sleep, we think again at the daily problems and try to find a solution, as it is said night is a good adviser. If your mind is concerned about certain problems happening in your life, you may be lying down and think about it over and over again, but the emotions and the psychical tension can generate palpitation.
• excessive consumption of caffeine before sleeping can generate insomnia and palpitation, if you drink a lot of coffee, especially before sleeping, you may consider giving up.
• smoking
• alcohol consumption
• medication-some drugs used to treat different diseases (like asthma, heart diseases, high blood pressure, cold) can determine palpitation: pseudoephedrine used in cold medication, theophylline for asthma etc.
• pregnancy
• fever-it is well known that body temperature elevation is associated with rapid heart beats and sometimes with palpitations
• vigorous exercise before sleeping
• breathing problems determined by lung diseases determine a low level of oxygen in the body, which can lead to heart palpitations at night
• heart problem-patients with heart failure may develop paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (shortness of breath that occurs suddenly during night in patient with left heart failure) and palpitations, forcing them to wake up and search for an open window to get fresh air
• hyperthyroidism (a higher level of thyroid hormones can determine irregular or rapid heart beats)
• elevated blood pressure

If I have heart palpitations at night-how can my doctor discover if there is something wrong in my body?
Yes it is possible. For patients that have these symptoms only during night it is difficult to  diagnose them during a simple medical visit, but if a special device called holter ecg is used, then this is no longer a problem. Holter ECG is a portable medical device that the patient “wears” for 24 hours and it records heart activity during this period of time.
Heart palpitations at night-treatment
Heart palpitations at night can be treated only after proper tests are made in order to establish the correct diagnosis. In many cases, palpitations have no serious cause and a short time treatment associated with a life style change can be the “cure”.
Special precaution in patients with heart palpitations at night:

• avoid consumption of alcohol, coffee, drugs (marijuana, cocaine) or smoking
• avoid stress and anxiety-there are many types of techniques used against anxiety (psychotherapy, sports, taking vacation, travelling etc.)
• sometimes medication is needed in order to control anxiety
• respect your hours of sleep
• avoid if possible the intake of medication that stimulate palpitations

Heart palpitations at night can be very uncomfortable, but sometimes a simple change in the  daily habits can make them disappear.

7 weeks pregnant symptoms

Pregnancy is a fascinating news for the future parents, as a child is a blessing for every family and a miracle of life. But every miracle has its own price and the nine month until it is brought to real life can be very exhausting for the mother as she has to make important changes in her life, together with the changes made in her body.
This article is mainly about the 7 weeks pregnant symptoms but we should specify that many times women find out they are pregnant after they are investigated for tiredness, morning sickness, nausea and vomiting (many times confused with a digestive disorder). Once they find out they are pregnant they begin to be worried about what is going to happen next, “is the baby all right?” ”doesn’t he/she suffering from a malformation”, “when will he/she move?”, “how does it feel when u have contractions”, “how will I gave birth, where?” etc. These are only a few questions young mother ask more often, but there are many others.

The main 7 weeks pregnant symptoms

What are the 7 weeks pregnant symptoms ? Before we enumerate  the 7 weeks  pregnant symptoms we should mention some information about the baby. At this age, your baby will measure about 4-5 mm, but by the end of the week he/she will grow significantly to about 13 mm. Even if the changes in your body aren’t so obvious, you will feel pregnant as other symptoms occur. One of the 7 weeks pregnant symptoms is weight gain, even if at this point it is just 1 or 2 pounds.
Other 7 weeks pregnant symptoms-the baby’s growth: the uterus has doubled its size, the neural tube is closed and the development of brain begins in this week, also nasal cavities and mouth are forming. The heart is already formed and the heart valves are about to be completed, the future lungs are growing and the intestines and digestives system begin to take shape, as other glands. By the week 7, limbs are visible on the echography, even the future fingers and toes and by the end of the week a smooth layer of skin will develop.
The 7 weeks pregnant symptoms include varied signs and symptoms as we will see next. One of the most frequent manifestations among 7 weeks pregnant symptoms is morning sickness (a symptom that usually occurs between 2-8 weeks after conception). This is one of the 7 weeks pregnant symptoms but can occur even from the first week and will diminish in time. As it happens frequently in medicine, there are exceptions: some women don’t have morning sick, nausea or vomiting during pregnancy, while others deal these symptoms throughout all of their pregnancy. The morning sickness will grow stronger in  weeks, the nausea will be moderate, also vomiting frequently occurs. Digestive symptoms must be carefully managed, as pregnancy is often associated with appendicitis, cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder) or urinary stones.

Other manifestations among 7 weeks pregnant symptoms:

• fatigue-a symptom that can occur early in the pregnancy, even from the first week. Pregnant women feel more tired, even if they don’t make any effort, and the need of lying down and sleep is more intense, but this doesn’t mean they are sick; it is simply one of the changes related to pregnancy.
• headaches-hormonal imbalance related to pregnancy is the cause of these symptoms that can occur early in the pregnancy and usually tend to go away in the second trimester. Lack of sleep or dehydration, smoking, strong odors, chocolate, coffee, stress tends to play also a role in this. Some of the women experience intense headaches or even migraine (before taking any medication, you should consult your doctor to see the risks and benefits)
• excessive salivation-it is more frequent in women that experience morning sick.
• metallic taste-it is a less frequent 7 weeks pregnant symptoms, caused by hormones imbalance, and usually goes away in the second trimester.
• frequent urination- it is normal and it is caused by hormones imbalance. Also the amount of blood is larger in pregnant women, so the kidneys have a lot more to work.
• swollen or tender breasts, darkening of areolas -may start after 1-2 weeks after conception.
• lower backaches
• food craving or food aversion to certain types of food that can last the entire pregnancy not just for 7 weeks pregnant symptoms.

As we saw above, 7 weeks pregnant symptoms vary from one woman to another and seem unbearable for outsiders, but these symptoms are all forgotten once the mother holds her “miracle” in her arms.