heart palpitations with the urge to cough

I am experiencing the exact same symptoms. They started about two months ago. It feels like my heart is catching and it makes me cough. I have bags of cough drops all over the place for when it gets bad. It does not seem to make sense that cough meds could help, but they do. My husband does not understand why it makes me cough, but I keep telling him that it feels like my heart is catching and it catches my breath. He is confused. Also, it is usually worse at night when I lay down. It happens during the day also, though, and at times is much worse than other times. I even went to the ER one night after my husband felt my pulse and could feel what felt like skips. They did an EKG that night and everything looked good. They referred me to my physician who ordered an echo gram and a holtor monitor. I wore the holtor monitor (heart monitor) for 24 hours but was frustrated because my heart was not skipping. The echo gram results were good and there were only a few skips detected by the monitor, most of those in my sleep. My doctor has referred me to cardiologist, whom I will see later in the month. I was amazed when I read your post and you described the exact same symptoms and even used the same wording I have used. I also considered cancelling my appointment with the cardiologist, but because of a past health problem, I have learned to not ignore issues. Both doctors I have seen told me that it may not be a problem, but it seems really odd to me that this just started. The doctors said it could be stress or too much caffeine. I gave up caffeine completely (including chocolate) about two weeks ago and it has continued. Also, my stress level is no greater than it has been during the last few years, so I don't know what is the deal. I am keeping my appmt with the cardiologist. Better safe than sorry.

hmmm hello all...i am getting the same problems...exactly as you say it guys... exactly the same!!! and when i lie down it gets worse...sometimes i get extra saliva too...dont know what it is..i am 26 yo and never had a heart problem...altough i sometimes felt weak at heart...anyways i have not seen a doctor yet...also i have a problem with the upper intestine because of stress it pupls and causes minor inconviniences sometimes..i dont know if that causes the sudden heartbeat changes...and if i take a deep breath something does not feel right,,,shall i see a doctor? or is it cuz of stress...because my intestine problem is causes by anxiety and stress...thank you.

Yes I to have the same thing happen to me. Although It started last feb. with a couple of trips to the hospital. I had some other systems but those were due to an injury I incurred I believe. It still continues to this day and my doctor is an id**t. I have had a Halter Monitor although no palpations that day, when I went to the hospital I had a EKG and Blood work, all was good with that no signs of heart attack. It can be random where nothing happens for a couple weeks then other times it keeps up for days at a time. I have the same catching of breath problems where I start coughing during the more spastic times. When searching in the begging I could not find much with my symptoms, now as of lately I am finding more and more posts with the exact same thing . Well Let us know how the visit with the cardioligist went.

Exact same symptoms here. Started as a Flutter when I was pregnant with my 12 yr old and progressed to a hard thud and cough as soon as two months ago. Would also happen mostly when laying down in the evenings. But I was also feeling very bad and having lots of strange other symptoms and going from Dr. to Dr. Thankfully, I had some one suggest an Endocrinologist. He diagnosed me with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and started me on Thyroid medicine. Surprising the hard 'thud' and cough has lessened back to a 'flutter' and cough. It has been one month on the medicine. I talked with my Endocrinologist today and he is sending me to a cardiologist with these sypmtons. He mentioned that it might be mitro valve prolaps but with some reasearch nothing on mitro valve has said these symptoms. I have had this off and on for 13 years but since it is such a hit and miss thing that when I did talk to one Dr. about it she said it was my stomach.. She has also given me bad medical advice on some other things and I do not see her any longer. I was very pleased to see this on the internet and that others experiencing the same symptoms because several years ago I could not find anything. Please update with any new information that you have on your condition and I will as soon as I see the cardiologist. Maybe together we can help others. Thank you for sharing and giving me hope.

abotu a year ago i started having heart palpitations whilst i was lying in bed - relaxed not stressed at all. i also didn't drink coffee at all at the time and i am a healthy 20yr old. i went to the doctors and they referd me to a specialist where i had various tests. the tests showed that i had a hole in my heart in between the top 2 chambers. the specialist said it was quite common and i didn't have to worry about it. then i didn't have any for a while but recently i've been getting the palpitations again so i think i might go back for more tests to make sure it's not getting worse. not sure if this is much help but it sounds similar- i couldn't breath sometimes and actually lurched forward out of bed to catch breath which was quite freaky. but mainly it happened when i was at my most relaxed.

I have suffered from what you are talking about. I am a healthy 25 year old female and I have been through every battery of test you can imagine on my heart because of this. I used to feel like my heart stopped beating for a second and I would have to cough. It completely freaked me out and my husband and I had many a trip to the ER. Like a previous post, I wore a holter monitor, but felt that the irregular beat didn't occur when I wore it. After all my tests and meeting with a cardiologist, I was diagnosed with having Premature atrial heart contractions. It is completely normal. Everyone gets them. It isn't an extra beat, it is a "skipped" beat. Everyone has them but only about 50% of people can actually feel them when they happen. My cardiologist said no one knows why some people are more sensitive to feeling them and some others are not. She said I could take medication to keep them from happening, but the side effects wouldn't be worth it. They don't change your life expectancy and are not a risk. Some people get them only when they are stressed and some people get them every other heartbeat. It is sort of like your heart is re-seting itself, like an internal pace maker. It makes you feel like your heart skips a beat or has an extra beat and may make you cough as a reflex. Working out helps as does keeping stress levels and caffeine consumption down. I went for a long time after without having (or feeling) them until I got pregnant with my second child. My recommendation is to ask your doctor about it. It has given me a world of comfort because once you start having them and they scare you, the anxiety that is derived from having one makes you more likely to experience more of them. I hope this helps and gives you something to discuss with your respective doctors.

I'm having similar symptoms; coughing with skipped beats. As a former cardiac RN, I cannot recall a focus on the coughing but I do intend to find out what is causing my premature beats and what I may need to do to treat them.

I've had runs of this in the past, but never constant. At 42yo, they have now been present every single day for over a week. They do NOT get worse when lying down though. They actually improve a bit. We'll see.

im 14 and have these symptoms but it dont happen when im lying down

The first time I got this I was about 16 and actually stoned. It felt like my heart had stopped for about a second, and a cough was just pushed out of me. Well, I'm 35, haven't smoked pot in many years, and I can say this condition has never left me. I've had periods where it happens so rarely that I forget about it, and then other (like now) where it's a daily occurence. I'm not scared usually, but sometimes they last a little longer, or seem to run together and then I absolutely FREAK. It gets worse when I drink alcohol, and I've made several efforts to try to do the right thing and go to the gym, but after about 12 minutes on the treadmill--boom. It happens. And that's the end of my workout for sure. It sucks, and I feel like it's getting worse. Clearly, it's the kind of thing the medical profession considers imaginary or trivial, which really sucks for all of us. Anyone out here find relief??

This is amazing, a group of people that are actually having the same symptoms as myself! Back in 04' (I was a healthy non smoking, non drinking 24 y/o) I drove myself to the hospital because my heart felt like it was fluttering every other beat. They could feel it in my pulse, and the EKG confirmed it. It went away an hour later, but I had heartburn for the rest of the week, and felt sick. When I searched/spoke to doctors back then I was told there was no connection between the two. Now on occasion, maybe once a week, I will get the 'thud' in the chest and have to cough. In fact I just had one today which made me search. There has to be a connection with the heartburn, because all day today I have been feeling it.

I am sitting here reading posts that could be me. I am F/44, 50 lbs overweight. My ankles have been swelling a lot more than usual. I had been having heart palpitations every day and night for the last 2 weeks. I have have had a productive cough. WHat about CHF? My dad had it. I have 4 kids. My DR. said (when I had palpitations before sporatically) that it was stress, but now a combination of symptoms? Also, I am short of breath, to teh point of panic, when lying down.

I've been having these since November (5 months now). They started one day when I had horrible food poisoning and an especially heavy cycle. I saw my endocrinologist a couple of weeks later and my TSH was out of whack, which he said was causing my palpitations (I'd been overdosing on my Levoxyl, so he lowered my dosage). The palpitations actually haven't gone away, and have even gotten worse.

The last 2 nights in a row I haven't been able to sleep because it CONSTANTLY palpitates (for up to an hour) with coughing and dizziness. I sit up, and I'm fine. I was just on a Holter monitor this weekend and my EKG and ultrasound "looked fine." I had 2 small episodes (30-60 seconds each) while on the monitor, but nothing like this.

However, I did have some Easter chocolate over the weekend. I've basically given up caffeine/chocolate in the past couple months, so maybe this triggered it.

No more stress/anxiety than usual, really. They seem to happen most when I'm relaxed and/or lying down (although not always).

I'm 37, so maybe I'm pre-menopausal. That would be a bummer.

I have had similar issues in the past, and the cardiologist I went to said it was vaso vagal syncope. I would ask your doctor if this diagnosis might possibly relate to your symptoms. I was put on a low dose of a beta blocker, and it seemed improve my symptoms alot. Hope this helps.

Its funny, I have been having heart palps for about a year now. Have gone thru extensive testing and I'm told my heart is fine. I wish I could explain it better. I am trying to get some information together about what happens when people have these, when they are having them, when they started having them, things going in life when they started and thing going on in life when they happen. etc... please leave your email on a posting and I'll send you a email. Just trying to pin point the trigger, had no idea so many people have the same issue until I got on the web to do research