I keep having heart palpitations.

I keep having heart palpitations?

• So, I keep getting these weird heart palpitations. I get them every few days or so, and they come in bursts, where I might have a few in the space of an hour. The severity varies, but generally it feels something along the lines of my heart stumbling, or tripping and falling on it's face. I'm 14, female and I do have a family history of heart problems (My Grandad had heart cancer and died, and my Dad had a problem with his heart valves and died...) I eat well, I'm thin as a stick and possibly don't weigh enough. Do you think I should go to the doctor about it, or is it nothing serious?

• Answer:

  Palpitations happen to a lot of people but the fact you said it feels like tripping or stumbling makes me think you could have a heart arrhythmnia. You need to see a cardiologist, you'll have an ECG, but that only measures what it is doing for one minute. You must explain it comes on every few days and then you'll get a Holter monitor, it's like a tiny portable ECG machine that records your heart for 24 hours so it can pick up when it goes funny. Most heart arrhythmias can be treated with tablets. I used pills for a while and hated them, 3 years ago I had a little operation which was great and solved everything.