Palpitations

Being aware of your heart beat

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What are palpitations?

Heart palpitation is an awareness of your heart beat.

There are many possible causes of palpitations. They are common and very normal, certainly in the context of vigorous exercise or a stressful situation. You may experience palpitations when watching your favourite football team play, for example.Feeling stressed in the current circumstances is understandable.

Fortunately, with our video appointments, we can relieve you of any anxiety and help you get to the bottom of the problem from the safety of your home.

About palpitations

In this video, Dr Navin Chandra explains what you need to know about palpitations.
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Supplementary information about palpitations

Here, we’ve summarised the most important points about palpitations

What are palpitations?

Palpitations are an awareness of your heart beating.

There are many causes of palpitations and often this can be entirely normal such as during or immediately after vigorous exercise or in stressful situations. You may experience palpitations whilst watching your favourite football team, for example.

Palpitations are typically felt in the chest but can also be felt in the neck or ears. They can last from a few seconds to many minutes and can come on suddenly or gradually. They can feel like:

  • The heart is ‘missing’ a beat or ‘skipping’ a beat
  • The heart is beating irregularly
  • A pounding or thumping sensation
  • A fluttering sensation in the chest
  • A ‘nervous’ feeling

There are many possible causes of palpitations.

Everyone will experience palpitations at some point in their life, for example in the context of vigorous exercise or a stressful situation. You may experience palpitations when watching your favourite football team play, for example.

Causes include:

  • Heart rhythm problems
  • Heart conditions
  • Emotions and psychological triggers
  • Medications
  • Hormone changes
  • Strenuous exercise
  • Lack of sleep
  • Caffeine drinks – coffee, tea and energy drinks
  • Alcohol and hangovers
  • Rich or spicy food
  • Smoking
  • Illegal drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, ecstasy and cannabis

Although palpitations are usually benign, they can be associated with heart disease or a heart rhythm abnormality.

There are in fact many different types of heart rhythm abnormality including fast rhythms, slow rhythms or irregular rhythms. Some of these are more serious than others and can compromise the function of the heart.

It can be challenging to know if your palpitations are serious. Palpitations can be common in a lot of circumstances. However, if you are worried about them, it is definitely worth further evaluation.

Features that make palpitations more concerning include:

  • If they are prolonged
  • If they do not go away with rest
  • If they get worse with exercise
  • If they are increasing in frequency and/or intensity
  • If they are associated with other symptoms like chest tightness, breathlessness, dizziness or blackouts

At Many Beats it is our prerogative to diagnose your symptoms as early as possible and get you reassurance and support so you can live a long and healthy life.

We do this through comprehensive evaluation of you as an individual, risk factor assessment and appropriate investigations to get the correct answer for you.

Please book an appointment for a face to face consultation with one of our Cardiology team experts or book the Many Beats Complete Package to help us guide you on your journey to a healthy heart lifestyle.

Many Beats Complete

The Many Beats ‘Complete’ package offers clients a comprehensive cardiovascular evaluation that will assess all aspects of your heart health. This package will be tailored to your individual needs following a face-to-face consultation. Our experts will choose appropriate, state-of-the-art investigations to assess your risk of heart disease and your symptoms, if you have any.

These can include: cholesterol/diabetes blood tests, heart rhythm monitoring, blood pressure assessment, stress tests, scans of your heart and your arteries.

Treatment

Once you have seen one of our Cardiologists and completed your tests we will arrange a follow-up appointment with you to review your results and their implications. If your symptoms indicate heart disease we will start a personalised treatment plan immediately. Treatment approaches usually involve one or more of:

  • Lifestyle changes – including diet and exercise advice
  • Medication – to treat risk factors for heart disease and specific symptoms
  • Medical procedures or surgery – to understand the exact nature of your heart disease and work towards definitive treatment.

Many Beats gives you a map to turn your life around and avoid developing heart disease

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Insurers

We are happy to be assured by the following private medical insurance providers

It’s the wonderful words of our patients that make this job so worthwhile

Excellent bedside manner / patient care, thoughtful analysis and care. Great cardiologists!

J. T.

Dr Elghamaz was professional and compassionate in equal measure. He made me feel completely at ease and explained in detail exactly my situation answering all questions kindly and in a language I understood – not medical jargon. A complete gentleman under whose care I have every confidence.

R. R.

I called Dr Chahal’s secretary to get advice and an appointment for a stress echocardiogram as quickly as possible. Dr Chahal called me himself, to explain the procedure, and he managed to fit me in quickly, as I requested. On the day, he and his colleague carried out the test quickly, efficiently and kindly, explaining what they were doing and why. I would certainly recommend them as true healthcare professionals.

M. S.

Dr Elghamaz was very efficient, thorough and personable and made me feel at ease through through the process of undergoing several tests and then discussing results with myself and my husband to ensure we understood everything and were comfortable.

L. S.

Highly recommended. Professional, honest, put me at ease. Wonderful experience all around.

L. O.

Dr Elghamaz goes above and beyond for his patients. As well as being kind, he is extremely thorough, and I feel very comfortable knowing he is in charge of my care.

C. W.
Dr Sehmi is a fusion of the best of the old and new schools of medicine. Whilst reassuringly up to date with the latest evidence-based practice and comfortable with all the leading-edge technology of his field, he has always listened to my fears and given informed answers to all my questions.
S. L.

I had a really positive experience when I saw Dr Navin Chandra in his clinic. He took time to really listen to my problems and then explained what was wrong in simple terms. I had all my tests performed swiftly and have started to feel much better!

P.B.

Having been referred for specialist Cardiology review, I was very fortunate to be assigned Dr Sehmi as my Consultant. From the outset, his level of interest in my personal case has been exceptional. I have had several consultants for a variety of reasons over the years but Dr Sehmi is the first where a consultant has proactively followed up in between appointments to determine progress.

N. T.

I was admitted under Cardiology and Dr Chandra was my Consultant. He quickly got to the heart of the problem and he and his team didn’t miss a step. Later that evening Dr Chandra took the time to see my partner and his patience and knowledge gave us the answers to our many questions.

R. K.

Affiliations and memberships

We are happy to be associated with the following esteemed organisations

Live a longer and healthier life

Book an appointment and we’ll test your heart so we can map out a plan to give you the best chance of maximising your longevity

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How it works

3 easy steps to get on the road to heart health

GET AN APPOINTMENT

Just get in touch with us to book a date and time that suits you and we’ll let you know how to visit.

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GET TESTED

Typically, we’ll set you up to take specific tests that will give us the information we need to make an accurate assessment of your heart’s health and recommend a plan.

LIVE LONGER

With your cardiologist-vetted plan, we’ll support you in the long term so you can build the habits that will enable you to live a longer and healthier life.

More information on heart disease

We’ve produced many informative videos and blog posts so you can educate yourself about heart disease risk factors, symptoms, tests and treatments.

Read more about heart disease

Educate yourself further about your heart health by reading the links below

To learn more about cardiovascular disease, including the causes and prevention techniques, click here.

The NHS has an informative write-up on cardiovascular diseases, which can be found here.

A great test that tells the myths and facts about your heart health can be found here.

If you would like an excellent overview of the symptoms of heart attacks, please click here.

If you would like to learn more about all the types of heart diseases, please click here for more information.

About the cardiologists

The Many Beats team consists of not one, but four highly experienced consultant cardiologists

Dr Navtej Chahal

Consultant Cardiologist

PhD FESC FACC

Navtej is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He also consults at the London Northwest NHS Trust and the Royal Brompton Hospital, London having qualified from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School in 2001. He is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London…

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Dr Navin Chandra

Consultant Cardiologist

MD, MRCP, MBBS, BSc

Navin is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He is also a Consultant Cardiologist at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. He qualified from Guy’s, King’s & St. Thomas’s in 2004...

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Dr Ahmed Elghamaz

Consultant Cardiologist

FRCP, MB BCh

Ahmed is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. He also consults at Northwick Park Hospital and London North West Healthcare University Hospitals NHS Trust and is an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. He completed his junior…

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Dr Joban Sehmi

Consultant Cardiologist

BSc, MBBS, MRCP, PhD

Joban is a Consultant Cardiologist at Many Beats. His NHS practice is at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS trust. He sees patients privately at Spire in Bushey and Bishops Wood Hospital in Northwood. He trained in medicine at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ medical school and qualified in 2003 with numerous academic awards…

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