Diagnosing heart palpitations

Once you get to the hospital, your doctor will take your vital signs. These include your temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respirations. The doctor will use a stethoscope to listen to your heart and lungs. He will take your blood pressure by wrapping a cuff around your arm. The doctor will probably use the pulse oximeter as well. He will place it on your ear, finger, or toe, and connect it to a machine. It measures the oxygen in your blood, which is an important detail, since  your body may need extra oxygen at this time. If you need extra oxygen, the doctor will give it to you either via a mask or nasal prongs. You should tell your doctor if the oxygen is drying out your nose, or if the nasal prongs bother you. The doctor will usually take a blood sample from a vein in your arm. To examine blood gases, the doctor needs to take blood from an artery in your wrist, elbow, or groin. It helps to test for oxygen in your blood. An electrocardiograph, or ECG is valuable as well. ECG helps detect the source of the problem and determine why you feel these heart palpitations. However, it might be hard for your caregiver to find out what is causing your symptoms.

A common situation is that people see a caregiver when their palpitations have stopped. Caregivers have a better chance of finding out what is wrong if he sees you when your palpitations are happening. Your caregiver will review your medical history and any symptoms you have due to palpitations. He will examine you, and listen to your heart and lungs with a stethoscope, as well as perform other tests required for diagnosing heart palpitations. These other heart tests are necessary if your caregivers think that you may have a heart problem. A chest x-ray might also help to check your heart and lungs. An ultrasound of your heart, called an echocardiogram, can find problems with your heart that do not show up on an ECG or in an x-ray. If you have problems with fainting, you may need a tilt table test, which could show what happens to your heart and your blood pressure when you change positions.

If your doctor cannot see the cause of your heart palpitations immediately, he must do as many tests he can, because it is extremely important to detect the primary problem. Once he diagnoses you, he can prescribe appropriate treatment for your heart palpitations.

Treatment for heart palpitations

Treatment depends on the cause of the palpitations, your symptoms, and other health problems you may have beside heart palpitations. If your palpitations cause few symptoms and you are generally healthy, you may not need any treatment, but you may still need to make lifestyle changes, such as decreasing stress and avoiding alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. Work with your caregiver to find the right exercise program for you, and do not exercise longer or harder than your caregiver has instructed you to. If your symptoms bother you or you have other health problems, you may need other treatment that will help you better.