Hello! I'm 47 years old, in pretty good health (good BP, etc.) and no major health issues. Just PM (peri-menopause) GERD and some overweight.

Last weekend, I experienced a few heart flutters during the day. I wasnt mowing the lawn or doing anything difficult at the time. I was just doing normal daily activities and I got this weird skip in my heart beat, like a flutter.

I thought it was just gas and I ignored it.

The next day, the flutter went from 2 times in one day - to 2 times every hour! It became annoying and I wondered what the heck was going on.

By the way, there have been no changes in my diet, meds, drinks, etc.

The next morning, it became even worse. My heart would flutter a few times every minute.

I called my Doctor.

I explained to her, what I just written here....she checked my heart and said she could hear an "extra heart beat" but nothing unusual or uncommon.

(My Mom has an extra heart beat, diag. when she was around my age.) and I thought, OK...its just something else I have inherited from her, but I still felt concerned.

The Doctor - to be on the safe side - placed me on an EKG for about 10 min. She read the reading and said my heart was strong, not too worry.

But I did, I worried...I dont like have a heart flutter every few min....it makes me feel so uneasy! a BLEEP in my heart beat, 50 times an hour! yikes! its awful.

So she sent me to the hospital for a 24/7 heart monitor.

I wore the monitor for 24 hours. I pressed the button each time I had a flutter. The flutter occured way over 100 times and that was before bed! I even ran out of room on the little diary they give ya to record each eposide on.

Today... I went back to the Hospital and had the monitor removed and the lady at the hospital placed the memory card into the copmuter, clicked and it printed 15 pages of data.

I was really wanting to know the results!!! But she did not read them, she only left them for my Doctor to look over and contact me..... and of course my Doctor is out of town until Monday!:(

While still with the heart monitor lady - she was on the phone- I took a quick glance at the print out. It recorded several different hours of data and there were your regular looking EKG lines that go up and down but SEVERAL that were flat_________________________lines after an up line it would be be flat.

^^^__________^^______^^^^^____________ like that.....

and I was so scared by seeing those series of flat lines, I'm thinking, geez that cant be good.

So here I'm facing the weekend of not knowing what my results are.

Please if you have any suggestions or advice, please post a reply! Thank you so much.

By the way, I am FULL BLOWN peri-menopausal and wonder:


-can heart flutters be from hormones?
-can it be from not drinking enough water?
-what would the ---flat lines--- on the print out mean?
-can heart flutters be life threatening?
-are there other folks that have 100's a day?

Any ideas are great appreciated!

Crazy in N.C and my hearts a flutter!

Hi Cindy,

Same thing here. I get irregular heart beat. It is scary, uncomfortable, and makes me dizzy/faint etc. I've had every cardiac test under the sun. All normal. Thyroid normal. Cholesterol fantastic, you name it. Don't drink, smoke, no caffeine, vegetarian, work out, trim, etc. Didn't make sense.
But, then, I started reading perimenopause symptoms and irregular heartbeat is one of them. I have just about every other symptom, too, except hot flashes. Other than that, I've got it. So, I had my hormones tested. Perfectly normal. But, I've been told that during perimenopause, which can last 10-15 years before menopause, your hormones often do test normal. But, you can still have irregular heartbeat, irregular periods, heavier periods when they do show up, headaches, dizziness/bad equilibrium, irritability, no sex drive, smaller breasts, hair loss, etc. etc. I've got all that. My doctor said I could try some progesterone cream, as hormone flutuations can cause irregular heartbeat. To my knowledge, flutter or fib can't hurt you, you only risk dropping a clot. Talk to your doctor about that. But, if it is perimenopausal and you have other symptoms, my guess is that is what the source is.
Hang in there--you're not alone

Hello, i just thought i could make u feel a little better by telling you that i am nly 18 yrs of age and that feeling of ectopic beat or "skipped beat" happens to me everyday, sometimes it gets so bad, i wonder am i gonna have a heart attack??....its very frightning...i also wore a monitor for 48 hours and lines very like the ones u got came up on my results 2!...the doctor said to me that that was where my heart was pausing or resting after it had performed an extra beat...he also reassured me that this was very common and not harmful at all...your not alone!:)

Hello Friends!

It is so comforting to know that I am not alone and that this is common. Thank you so much for your replies. This is the scariest thing I have ever had to deal with medically. It has raised my anxiety level way up! and that makes the PVCs even worse for me.

Last night it got so very bad, I was unable to breath and the feeling of the "skipped beat" was so annoying when it would THUMP! back after the pause and it felt like a kick. I went in to panic mode and ended up at the ER.

Those folks were top-notch! They had me on an EKG before I could blink my eyes. Sure enough, the Doc came in and as clear as day he could visually see the extra beat that I was calling a "flutter" or "skipped beat" he told me, its PVCs.... it was a common, not harmful...and did x-rays and blood work to be on the safe side too.

I felt so much better knowing the whole story of what was going on why and how....

but as I begin today....theres the PVCs knocking in my chest, I wonder, will I have to live like this forever?

Sometimes I also have shortness of breath, dizzy and feel so tired..does anyone know if that is from the PVCs?

A friend told me "PVCs can often be resolved with continuous rehydration and by repleting the balance of magnesium, calcium and potassium within the body." does anyone have information on this? what vitamin should I get? a multi-vit?

Any suggestions is greatly appreciated! Thank you all!

Don't worry. I am 16 and also have this same diagnosis; heart seems to skip a beat. I get this about 15 times per minute and my doctor also told me they are benign and i should only worry if other problems occur.