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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Skipped Heart Beats?

Occasionally, in the past, my heart will skip beats. I can feel it flutter in my chest when it occurs and I sometimes get light headed. It usually doesn t last long and stops on its own...During the last week, every day I ve had an episode of my heart beating twice, then skips a beat, and this has been lasting for hours..Today, I took 0.3mg of Alprazolam while it was occuring. I fell asleep for about 2 hours, but then woke up, very drowzy, and yet my heart was still beating at 2, and skipping 1.....There has been a lot of stress in the home lately, and I ve always had anxiety disorder, but my heart doing this is a concern...Got an ideas? Thank you very much!! John
Thu, 19 Jul 2018
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Cardiologist,  's  Response
Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

Some palpitations are quite normal in every healthy individual due to physical activity or anxiety. Anyway, I would recommend consulting with your attending physician for a physical exam and some tests to investigate for possible cardiac arrhythmia:
- complete blood count for anemia
- a resting ECG and a cardiac ultrasound
- an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring in order to examine your heart rhythm trends for a prolonged time and investigate for possible cardiac arrhythmia
- blood electrolytes for any possible imbalances
- thyroid hormone levels for possible thyroid gland dysfunction. You should discuss with your doctor on the above tests.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
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What Causes Skipped Heart Beats?

Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice. Some palpitations are quite normal in every healthy individual due to physical activity or anxiety. Anyway, I would recommend consulting with your attending physician for a physical exam and some tests to investigate for possible cardiac arrhythmia: - complete blood count for anemia - a resting ECG and a cardiac ultrasound - an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring in order to examine your heart rhythm trends for a prolonged time and investigate for possible cardiac arrhythmia - blood electrolytes for any possible imbalances - thyroid hormone levels for possible thyroid gland dysfunction. You should discuss with your doctor on the above tests. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.