Hi my son recently experienced having a rapidly beating heart (and hard) with the feeling of body shaking as well with each beat. The first time this happened he was sleeping and it woke him up. He has been wearing a monitor for the past 30 days so Dr. s could record heart activity. He turned it in today and as of yet we have no answers. I am very concerned he could have some heart trouble. He is 41 yrs. old and heart trouble runs in our family. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Hi, This is Chat Doctor. Increased heart rate & palpitations can have a lot of causes. It can be normal sinus tachycardia due to anxiety or stress, or it could be abnormal supra ventricular tachycardia. For the diagnosis, you need to do ECG at the time of palpitation & tachycardia. If the duration of palpitations are short enough to reach a nearby hospital, we put a 24hr ECG monitoring (Holder Monitor). You also need to do a 2D Echo & thyroid function test to see for any associated abnormality if any. Thanks