What causes an extra systolic best?
Patient: I am now 66 and since the age of 22 I have had periods of becoming aware of a missed beat sensation. It feels like there is a hiatus - as though my heart has stopped for a moment followed by a stronger than normal beat. If I feel my pulse there is indeed a gap in the rhythm of my heart which corresponds with the feeling of the missed beat . I was told by a cardiologist about 20 years ago that I get an extra systolic beat and then a post extra systolic beat which is the one I feel. At the moment I am getting this a few times a minute. In the past it can go on like this for days or weeks. I always find it mildly disconcerting and wonder if there is a way of encouraging my heart to return to its normal rhythm. I don t get any other symptoms or pain. Doctor: Hello! Thank you for asking on HCM! Regarding your complains, I would explain that when you have an extrasystolic beat, it is followed (after a compensatory pause) by a post-extrasystolic beat that is stronger and disturbing.For a better evaluation of those ectopic beats, I would recommend you to perform an ambulatory 24 to 48 hours ECG monitoring, in order to investigate the nature of those extrasystoles, as well as their quantity.It is also needed to study the heart structure and function by a cardiac ultrasound, coupled with some additional lab tests (complete blood count, thyroid hormone blood levels, chest X ray, serum electrolytes, BUN and creatinine, etc).If you have a structurally normal heart and the extrasystolic arrhythmia is not clinically important (according to Holter monitoring), probably you are not going to get prescribed drugs). If an etiologic factor is detectable, a properly correction would resolve your heart beats issue.Hope to have bee nhelpful to you. greetings! Dr. Iliri