 | Joseph P. Galichia, MD is the founder and Medical Director of the Galichia Medical Group, PA. He is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of interventional cardiology. In the 70's, Dr. Galichia studied in Zurich, Switzerland with the inventors of the balloon angioplasty technique for treating heart disease. As a result of his experience, he was able to bring this historic technique back to the United States where he was one of the first physicians to perform coronary angioplasty here. A noted medical spokesman, he appears on a weekly Newstalk segment on KWCH Channel 12 and has a weekly syndicated radio talk show on KNSS 1330 AM every Saturday live from 11:00 am to noon. Dr. Galichia may be contacted by sending an e-mail to service@galichia.com |
Health & Medicine
2001-09-01 11:03:00
Take your health to heart
Question: I am a 23-year-old female who was diagnosed with a heart murmur at birth. Recently, I have noticed palpitations during periods of high caffeine intake or stress. Could these things or others be in any way related to these palpitations? And if so, are they a life threatening risk? Are there any preventive measures? What happens when the heart palpitates?
Answer: Palpitations occur when one feels a fluttering or irregular feeling in the chest. Usually the sensations are related to cardiac irregularities. Most often the rhythm changes are minor consisting of an occasional PVC or irritable beat that arises in one of the pumping chambers. These beats may also arise from the reservoir chambers known as atria. Most of these are benign but they may be related to significant underlying disease and should be evaluated.Other more serious rhythm changes may evoke the same sensation and have more serious implications. These disturbances include atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia and a host of other rhythmdisturbances. In my opinion, all of these should be evaluated and understood completely. In the absence of underlying heart disease, many of the causes of palpitation may not need further treatment, but the moreserious causes need aggressive management.Simple PVCs or PACs are usually benign and are not life threatening. They are often made worse by caffeine consumption, alcohol, or nicotine. Stress and a lack of sleep may also make the symptoms worse. Heart murmurs and sounds created by blood flow within the heart or blood vessels can be heard with a stethoscope. Many are benign and have no significance. Others are related to minor alular abnormalities, but I strongly feel thatany adult with a murmur should have an echocardiogram to rule out more serious causes. In your particular situation, any murmur present since birth deserves such a study. Mitral valve prolapse is a common finding of this type, but still deserves a comprehensive understanding.
