Useful tips for heart palpitations appointment

If your heart palpitations come with fainting, chest pain or extreme shortness of breath, you may need immediate medical treatment. If no serious symptoms or signs come with your palpitations or if they occur for only a short time, you still may need a doctor’s advice to see if your palpitations are not dangerous or if they’re signals or symptoms of a more serious heart problem.

In order to make the most out of your appointment, you may want to prepare well for it by heeding the following tips:

For your part you may need to:

List down in a notebook questions to ask your doctor.

Call your doctor a week or two or days before your appointment day to know if you need to adhere to certain pre-appointment requirement such as diet restrictions, medicine restrictions, etc.

Remember your regular exercise and diet routines. If you don’t have a diet or exercise routine, you can confer with your doctor on how to get started on them.

To get the best appointment experience you may want to bring a friend or family member with you. Having someone with you during the appointment can be helpful in remembering all what the doctor has said that will help you understand your condition and take care of yourself much better.  Your companion may recall information that you may have forgotten or missed.

Write down or better yet, bring all the medications including steroids, herbs, supplements and prescription or over-the-counter drugs you are presently taking with you to show to your doctor

List down important information about yourself – This means your personal and family’s medical history especially if you or a member of your family is suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, arrhythmias, heart disease; list down also your stress factors and the recent major changes in your life.

List down as well symptoms you are experiencing that may not be connected to your heart palpitations.

You can save a lot of time in your appointment by writing down questions to ask you doctor. If you are uncertain what questions to ask you doctor, listed below are some questions you can use to ask your doctor:

What is causing my heart palpitations?
Could there be other conditions that may be causing my symptoms?
What steps do I need to take when my symptoms recur?
What tests do I need to undergo?
Is treatment needed for my palpitations?
What type of activity can I do everyday?
Are there other ways in lieu of the main course of treatment you recommend?
How can I best manage my palpitations and my other health problems?
Are there any restrictions that I need to follow?
Do I need to see a specialist?
Can you prescribe generic medicines in lieu to the brand names you prescribe?

If you come up with questions other than the ones above, do not hesitate to ask them to your doctor.

Your doctor in turn will need to ask questions in order to understand your condition much better. Some of his questions may go like these:

When was the first time you noticed your palpitations?
Are your palpitations infrequent or continuous?
Do your palpitations abruptly start and stop?
Do you still have a normal heart beat during your palpitations?
What factors worsen or better your symptoms?
Do you experience these symptoms: dizziness, fainting, chest pain or shortness during your palpitations?
Were you diagnosed with atrial fibrillation or other heart rhythm irregularities?

While waiting for your appointment, try to better your condition by avoiding stress factors or activities that might give you palpitations. Also try to avoid things that can cause your heart to palpitate like cold medicines, supplements or energy drinks that contain stimulants or too much alcohol or caffeine. Try also to avoid panic attacks or anxiety or anything that may cause you heart palpitations.