heart palpitations with the urge to cough

Harsh, one might try to be slightly more tactful. Yes, I did reach a point in my life where stress probably took its toll on me...Moving, less than good eating habits etc..but as always I try to be health conscious. We know all these facts you are talking about but a nice polite reminder might be nice. I do read labels, I dont eat a lot of artificial sweeteners or processed foods as a norm. I even have a personal trainer and am a nurse. Im not overweight, a smoker or heavy drinker but just looking for some helpful information while im uninsured and struggling. Im only human!

I have these same symptoms and do have Mitro Valve Prolapse.

This happens to me on occasion, I cough every time it happens. I'm 37, don't smoke, and drink alcohol only about 3or 4 times a year.
I do however drink lots of diet soda. About a case of diet Mountain Dew a week. Maybe I'll cut back and see if it still happens?

Reading through the cough/skip beat symptoms, the most similar ones to me are the 1st and last posts on page 10.
I recently seem to remember it happening more on the odd occasion. Seems to be at rest and when lounged out in the chair of the computer or TV, have had it also in bed asleep and wakes me up in a start, heart racing and feeling hot.
It seems to be a couple of heavy slow beats in a row which causes me to have this weak dry cough, then races a bit then goes away.
In bed it felt as if I was starved of breath, not a comfortable awakening.

I too have a low heartbeat at rest (60 something) and cant get above 120 much when exercising. I have also low range blood pressure too. I have been told this is endurance athlete category, but never rate myself there, even though I am fairly fit male adult at 46, not overweight, correct BMI, non smoker, drink very little alcohol, cut back on caffeine a while back, limit to 2 small cups a day, drink tea (little caffeine anyway), dont drink much in the way of sweetened soft drinks or chocolate. No added salt either. Eat healthily at most opportunities with a balanced intake. Really all in moderation!

I have read the postings here with interest, not panicking, just got me interested that its a quite common, but now thinking I should rule out anything else with a visit to the doc for any underlying reason.

I have the same thing! I am 28 and have this at different times throughout my adult life. It feels like my breath is caught up in my chest and it makes me cough. My husband has even listened to my heart skipping beats when this happens!

Like so many folk here, I first noticed symptoms in my early twenties. Usually it's one skipped beat, a pause followed by an especially hard thump as the heart kicks back in. Along with the usual urge to cough.

The only new info I can add is that I have a sinus arrhythmia, a heart rate that slows and speeds as I breathe, though this is apparently extremely common, especially in children and is totally harmless.

Other than that I have many of the same issues that others have talked about in here. I am a 27 year old male, not overweight, I don't drink alcahol, I eat well but I do smoke and have suffered with anxiety for around 6 years now. Interestingly I have always experienced quite bad heartburn and had a partial thyroidectamy when I was a teen, though thyroid function has always tested normal.

My palpatations seems to be affected by a few things -
1. Body position, laying on my side or sudden shifting of my torso will often trigger a small skip and a cough.
2. Sugar, I don't drink booze or caffein, but I certainly notice an increase after too much chocolate.
3. Lungs, I have noticed a marked increase in heart-skips if I have gunk on my lungs after a cold or bad hayfever season. In fact for many years I assumed the odd muscle twitch and cough reflex was actually irritation of my lung tissue, it wasn't until much later and with the aid of a stethoscope that I realised my heart was in fact skipping a beat.

I'm amazed to find a group of us all displaying very nearly identical symptoms and there's a few things mentioned in these posts that may be worth bringing up with my doctor.

I don't have anything too helpful to add, only that I have had a lot of these symptoms for a few years now (I just turned 25 in June). Mine are usually more of a fluttering, spasm-like feeling in my heart that can last for a couple seconds and forces me to catch my breath. It literally feels like there's a butterfly where my heart should be just flapping its wings (sounds so romantic, yeah right!) and I can barely make out separate beats. I do also get little, skipped beats and palpitations but I don't usually feel an urge to cough.

I went to a doctor a couple years ago and had a 24 heart monitor which, of course, came back normal. I've always had normal blood pressure and don't have any other conditions like asthma. My grandmother died of heart disease, but she was also a chain smoker for most of her life (I don't smoke, I limit my sugar and I rarely drink.) Anxiety does run in my family though, and I've always assumed it was tied to that. I've gone through periods of having near-daily panic attacks, including nocturnal panic attacks that wake me form a deep sleep with the feeling I'm dying (fun!) I've learned to control them these days, but I still get these flutters that scare me so badly. I get so depressed and overwhelmed with fear sometimes, and it's wonderful to know I'm not alone!

I wish I could afford to go to the doctor again, if only for a bit of reassurance, but I haven't had health insurance for ages now, being first a student and now unemployed. It's just so frustrating to feel like your body is essentially torturing you beyond your control :n (

As all of us in here, I too have been dealing with these symptoms now for 6 years.. on and off.. what I notice is this. The beating of the heart just seems to pause.. and I feel the need to Breathe in deep to kick it back in.. although I am sure this is not the case. I few times in the past I would be walking along and feel a weak flutter then the pause and feel really lightheaded.. I would breathe in deep and the feeling was pass.. I get these from time to time walking, driving or even siting at home. It seems that I get these symptoms more often when laying down.. mostly to one side more than the other.. it feels as if my hearts it beating.. then pauses.. then comes back with a much harder beat.. most of the time I can try and ignore it.. but when it happens every second heart beat it feels so bad I sometimes have to get up stretch get some water or anything to just change my pace for a few minutes then try to lay down again.. sometimes I do get the feeling of needing to cough when this pause happens.. Also I would like to point out, like one other post I have read here.. Alcohol DOES make these symptoms worse or sometimes it bring it on all together. This is strange because everything I read said that alcohol is a depressant and would not be likely to bring on such symptoms.. but I do assure you, they do in my case. I dont drink often anyhow.. but I just thought I would mention that. The is a certain level of anxiety accociated with these feelings and I am sure that the anxiety itself will not only help bring the symptoms on but make it last much longer, the more anxious you get the worse it gets and the more anxious in turn you become. and if it gets real bad the anxiety can turn into painic attacks.. which are far worse. and you WILL be going to the hospital. The best thing I can suggest is focus on your breathing.. slow in through your nose and out through your mouth.. if it help laying in a position wear the palputations are their weakest, or get up and either sit in a relaxing position on even stand in the shower all along doing a sort of meditation like breathing exercise. Just remind yourslef to calm down breathe easy and stay comfortable. This really helps me.. unless I have been drinking i which I hope I'll fall asleep quick enough to not remember feeling them. I hope this helps as reading all your replies as help me as well.

I am suffering from the same symptoms, earlier my wife thought that it could be something life thretening but after reading others I am less worried. 8)

Hi,

there is a connection with coughing and heart failure - so it is important to really get checked, and double-checked.
(http://heartdisease.about.com/lw/Health-Medicine/Conditions-and-diseases/Coughing-and-Heart-Failure.htm)
I've been misdiagnosed for several years by doctors who kept saying what I had was stress-related etc... In the end, I was stage 4 with cancer at 26. Since I've developed some heart trouble due to chemo and so many side effects.

I now have mild mitral valve regurgitation, and POTS (http://www.dinet.org/index.htm) and many other problems. And for the last year, I've been coughing and feel like my heart goes out-of-whack many times during the day. My coughing has gotten worse and so have my palpitations (change in heart rythm). I've no health insurance at the moment, and because I've had cancer, I can't be insured... No one will take me :-( but I know my cough is serious. it starts as soon as I exercise, get tired, am weak and start having lots of fatigue, and my heart goes crazy - though I'm not sure if it happens when I'm coughing. But it is not a normal cough. it sounds very hacking, sometimes dry and so painful, it feels like it's burning my chest. Sometimes, i also develop like an irony taste in my mouth that lasts for a while.

So if you happen to have health insurance, use it - Get to see doctors and ALWAYS get a second opinion...

I was seen by a neurologist that just dismissed what I had (right leg weakness, leg convulsion and temporary loss of my toes movement), but after what happened to me, I don't back down, so I persisted and asked to be seen by a second neurologist who diagnosed me with a very severe vitamin deficiency (thanks radiotherapy for that) and if left untreated that could have left my foot paralized and symptoms getting worse all over my body...

When something is not working within your body, you must get to the source of it - our physical body is all we have to live - so it's worth the time to make sure it's all good. Good luck everyone

since 3 months ago i had these so called pvc's which have increased over the months, usually i had them my whole life but now they appear every week.. especially when i am at rest sitting down or lying in bed. Sometimes i even got them when i bend over or something.. however 3 months ago i was doing exercise and got 3 pvc's in a row for the first time in my life and lasted for 1 sec.. did i had a v-tach?

which caused my heart to beat very fast. then i felt dizzy and took me to hospital where they did all test but found nothing on ecg and bloodtest, x ray. also did an echo for 2 weeks ago and they said i had a fine heart. i had to take some meds because i got so anxious and they really help me to calm down but the heart palpitations did not stop for me. i stopped with cola, and drinks . i am only 20 years old and never had problem wit my heart.

Same symptoms here too! Im 46 and am told they are ectopic beats and normal for my age! I have had them over 10 yrs but they are worse now. I feel it up in my throat sometimes and again the autoreflex to cough cos of breathlessness for a second or two! Its reassuring that most people are told its nothing to worry about. Thanks.

Ditto to more or less all of the above.

When I had my first (and by far the worst) experience with this, I was 20 (24 now) and away at school. Nothing was really going on, I wasn't really stressed - I was in my dorm watching tv when it started. A heart flutter and a tickle deep in my lungs. I think I probably had single episodes of this before, heart skipping beats, but this thing went on every 20-30 seconds for an hour and a half. I thought I was dying.

Since then, I haven't had anything nearly as intense, but it's happened. For a while, it was happening 5-10 times a day. Went through all the tests, got nada. My heartbeat was fast, though. I got a sort of diagnosis of inappropriate sinus tachycardia and tried beta blockers (tried propranolol - it made me feel awful). Eventually I was put on metoprolol and dose adjusted up to 150mg/day - it has nearly gotten rid of the palps completely (along with the fast heartbeat). Maybe I'll have one, once ever couple days. My vision was also blacking out when I stood (not fainting, but almost) - the beta blockers seem to help with that as well.

Hope that helps someone.

Yes, I have the same thing. I've found that the coughing is the body's way of trying to jumpstart the heart when it hesitates or skips a beat. For me, if I don't push myself too much or skip meals, it's not a huge problem. I drove from California to Utah once during the summer heat and skipped lunch to save money. I finally stopped at a Del Taco and the heart palpitations started steady for about 10 minutes. After I cooled down and ate something, even 20 minutes later, they were still happening intermittently. Of course, I weigh only about 100 pounds and I think I really mistreated my body that day. So now I try to never skip a meal and not over burden myself. This does help.

I'm 38F. Just had total hysterectomy. When they pulled me out of Anethesia they said my heart raced. Made follow-up w/ Cardiolgist who said EKG and Sonogram were good. Put me on a Cardionet monitor for 3 weeks which showed I have a "flutter". I don't recall feeling it, but I rationalize it may be the cough I can get out of nowhere and the feeling like a bird fluttering its wings under my sternum. Doesn't last long, a few seconds at most. Going to most likely get Ablation to terminate the flutter...see Surgeon next week. Ablation success rate is really high. Hoping that's the end of my heart problems. (Don't smoke or drink - diet pop is my only caffeine, excercise helps and biofeedback).