What really happens when your heart skips a beat?

Strange sensations in your chest can cause panic if you don’t understand what’s going on

- DR HELEN WALL

While it might be expected to have your heart ‘skip a beat’ when you’re the lead in a romcom movie, in real life the sensation of it beating hard and fast, or dipping in and out of beats, can be truly frightening.

In medical terms, the sensation of a noticeable heartbeat doing any of the above is referred to as ‘palpitations’. Some of you may be reading this having experienced them yourself and wondering if you should be worried. What – if anything – is your GP likely to do?

Palpitations come up commonly in my GP consultations, and mostly in women. The majority of women with palpitations are not found to have any underlying illness, but there are key steps that I need to take to determine this.