Have you ever had that episode when you feel that your heart beats unusually fast? Sometimes you could feel like every beat is pounding inside. If you are expecting menopause to happen soon, you may be having menopause heart palpitations. Why does this happen? Do all women have this? Should you be alarmed if you have this? Learn more about heart palpitations and how to prevent and address such problem.
What is a Heart Palpitation?
A heart palpitation is the event where the beat of your heart feels abnormally strong and fast. It is just like your heart is skipping a beat or is sometimes having an extra beat after another. This sensation is something that you would easily notice. Normally, your heart beats regularly inside your thoracic cage (the rib cage that encloses your heart lungs and other organs). You don’t usually feel that normal beating inside, but with a heart palpitation, the beats are just stronger that you notice your heart beating this time. Some other times, you may feel your pulses to be stronger as well.
Heart palpitations happen following several causes. There could be an underlying disease of the heart that cause the palpitation. In some cases, a palpitation is caused by stress or anxiety. It could also happen when a person experiences allergy, especially the severe type of allergy. When a person’s blood sugar gets too low, it may also cause palpitations. Phobias and panic attacks could also cause palpitations.
Why Does It Happen in Menopause?
According to the gynecologist, Dr. David Portman, 25% to 40% of women in menopause experience heart palpitations. In an article for health, it is said that the heart palpitations in women usually happen within four years before the actual menopause begins. This means that the heart palpitations would most probably appear during Perimenopause or the first stage of a woman’s menopausal Journey. (Read about the different stages of menopause in this website.)
In menopause, heart palpitations usually happen because of the hormonal changes in the body during this period. The consult reflux of estrogen level when a woman is nearing menopause tricks the body for the quick changes, thus affecting the beating of the heart. Also, when a woman is into Hormonal replacement therapy, it may also increase the heart rate and palpitation is more likely to happen. It is known to be highly associated with hot flashes during menopause as well.
In a normal menopause-related heart palpitations, they usually last for few months. However, they will not recur once the estrogen levels are kept to a regular level and no longer fluctuating.
The heart palpitations that happen during menopause only lasts for a short period. Most of the time, they can only be felt for several seconds to a minute or two. This does not cause any serious problems to the woman experiencing it. However, if the duration of the heart palpitations last for long hours and the strength of palpitation is strangely or abnormally too elevated, then you may need to consult your physician about it.
How Do I Prevent Heart Palpitations?
Although it is a normal episode for menopausal women, there are ways you can prevent yourself from experiencing heart palpitations. The first thing you should do is to observe a healthy lifestyle. Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol to decrease palpitations. Intake of coffee and any beverages with high caffeine content should also be decreased, because they can cause palpitations.
Another method is to avoid stress. Stress and anxiety can cause you to have palpitations. To make sure that episodes of palpitations are decreased, it would help if you get enough rest and sleep, too. In that way, your mind and your body are relaxed. If you have an exercise routine and you feel that you are having palpitations, try to stop what you are doing and rest for a while.
What you need to keep in mind when having episodes of heart palpitations is to calm down. Relax your body and take slow, deep breaths. Do breathe deeply to help your heart regulate its rhythm. One way to do it is to perform pursed lip breathing. You do this by inhaling through your nose and exhaling through a pursed lip. When you say pursed lip, imagine blowing candles very slowly. That is how exhaling through a pursed lip looks like. This helps you feel calmer and you will just find out that your heart beats regulates in no time.
Where Do I Get Help for Heart Palpitations?
If you are frequently experiencing heart palpitations in your menopausal years, you can try some relaxation techniques to calm yourself down. You can also participate in yoga classes and some meditation techniques. Read about the benefits of yoga method.
Since the heart palpitations during menopause are just normal phenomena, it is not something that may cause you fatal conditions. However, if symptoms get worse despite simple measures, it is best to get a doctor’s advice. Your doctor may need to request for laboratories to diagnose an underlying cause. If not, you will be given instructions on how to manage your palpitations or be prescribed with appropriate medications.
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