AboutDavid Richardson Expertise Adult heart function and disease. Not very good about children lesss than 12. Hypertension is o.k. Heart rhythm a special interest.
Experience Certified in cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Was chairman of division of cardiology at the Medical College of Virginia. Am now mostly retired.
Organizations Fellow of American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology and member of American Physiological Society..
Publications Circulation, American Heart Journal, Hypertension.
Education/Credentials M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Residency training at Yale Uhniversity School of Medicine and Medical College of Virginia.
Awards and Honors Gold Heartt Award from American Heart Association in 1995.
Question I'm a 16 year old male, about 5'8" and around 51kg. Last week, while i was in
bed i had a sudden abnormally strong heartbeat. I suddenly became worried.
It was followed by around 6 more heartbeats and a sudden feeling cold (my
temperature was around 36.3). I went to the doctor and had an x-ray and
ECG and the results all came out normal and the doctor said it could just be
anxiety. The past few days i've been having around 1-2 abnormal beats per
night (no more cold) but if i focus on keeping my thoughts on not worrying
about my skipped beats i manage to go to sleep pretty soon. I'd just like to
ask if this is a normal occurrence and what to do about it? I've never felt these
before last week.
Answer Dear Chris,
Skipped beats are normal heart activity, no threat to life or health in someone with normal EKG and echo. About half of us have them, they are easy to understand as normal from knowledge of the heart's electrical system, and they don't mean you will ever get heart disease or any catastrophe. They are truly harmless. Anxiety and panic make them more frequent. What to do about it is ignore the skipped beats.
Please write back if this note doesn't answer all your questions.
