paramagic

Hi Erika

The fact that you are having palpations with the chest pain leads me to think it's more likely that you have a problem with your heart's conduction system, rather than signs of a heart attack. You could also just be having normal 'skipped beats' that are usually called 'PVCs' and are benign in most people. PVCs stands for 'premature ventricular complexes', and is basically a sudden early electrical impulse in your heart`s main pumping chambers.

How long do you normally feel the palpitations for before they stop? Does the chest pain only come when you have palpations? What are you doing when the palpations start? Are there any triggers like exercise, stress, caffeine, or otherwise? Also, did you have any palpitations while wearing the Holter monitor, so that your doctor could interpret the rhythm?

An actual heart attack, which is caused by a blockage in the blood vessels going to your heart, would be unlikely (although not impossible) at your age. One thing that might make it more likely is if you have certain risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, if you are a smoker, or if you're a diabetic. Also if you have any history of family members who have had heart attacks at early ages (I mean less than about 55 for females or 50 for men), then you might be at a higher risk. Being overweight and sedentary is not actually a MAJOR risk factor for heart disease and heart attack, but it can be linked to the major risk factors such as your cholesterol levels.