An irregular heartbeat can be an unwelcome experience.
Some might feel a fluttering or flapping in their chest, almost as if a small bird were trapped inside.
Others talk about a sensation of their heart skipping beats, or a sudden thump that catches them off guard.
It can also feel like their heart is racing or pounding, sometimes accompanied by a feeling of unease or anxiety.
So, what's causing all these different heartbeats?
Understanding the different rhythms can help you recognise what's going on with your heartbeat and what you might find out after coming to the heart rhythm clinic.
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Ectopic beats
These are those random extra beats that come out of nowhere, kind of like a drum solo interrupting the band. They can happen in the atria or the ventricles and often feel like a skipped beat or a sudden thump. This is normal for everyone every so often. Mostly, they pass by unnoticed. Sometimes they’re a distracting nuisance. If there are many thousands a day, sometimes your heart can tire or they can represent an underlying heart muscle problem.
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Atrial Fibrillation, AF or AFib
This one’s completely chaotic – your heart’s upper chambers (the atria) just beat irregularly and often faster than they should. It’s like having a bunch of drummers, each playing their own tune without any coordination. This can make your heartbeat feel all over the place.
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Atrial flutter
It’s somewhat similar to AFib but it’s more organized in the top chambers. Imagine the top chamber electrics spinning like a tennis ball. The heart's atria beat rapidly but in a regular pattern, which can still mess with your heart’s efficiency and rhythm but feels a bit different than the chaos of AFib but it’s impossible to tell the difference without an ECG trace.