Heart Palpitations During Menopause

Many women experience heart palpitations during menopause, largely due to hormone fluctuations. During midlife, many women experience changes in their bodies, including less tolerance for caffeine, refined carbohydrates, aspartame and alcohol. These things can overstimulate the heart of a menopausal woman. Emotionally draining news or emotional life events can also contribute to heart palpitations during menopause.

Time Frame

The emotional and psychological changes during the perimenopause years are to the entire life cycle as the week leading up to your period is to the monthly cycle. Many life decisions seem to arise during the time leading up to menopause, adding additional stress to an already fragile midlife body. Many women cannot point to specific things in their personal or professional lives that are causing them stress; but the presence of heart palpitations tends to mean the body is protesting and speaking the only way it knows how.

Effects

Sudden, unexpected cardiac death accounts for more than 450,000 lives per year in the U.S., according to Dr. Christiane Northrup. Medical research tends to limit its focus to physical conditions leading to heart disease, often forgetting that the brain and heart are intricately connected. Fatal arrhythmia, known as ventricular fibrillation, is a self-perpetuating condition leading to the inability of the heart to pump blood efficiently. While this condition can occur spontaneously, it is often associated with psychological stresses such as bereavement, marital strife or job insecurity. Unfortunately, when a woman arrives in the emergency room with heart palpitations, she is often misdiagnosed with stress, depression or heartburn and dismissed. Though these problems may be present, it does not mean that the heart itself is not affected. Any heart irregularity or abnormal palpitations should be taken seriously and given medical attention.

Symptoms

Symptoms of heart palpitations are characterized by the feeling of your heart skipping a beat or beating too quickly within a specific time period. Heart palpitations generally happen sporadically over a period of two to three months. Heart palpitations can go along with hot flashes, another symptom of menopause, accelerating your heart rate between eight and 16 beats a minute. Some women have experienced heart rates of up to 200 beats per minute with heart palpitations.

Causes

Heart palpitations that occur during menopause are often thought to be a result of fluctuating hormones. Constantly evolving levels of estrogen and progesterone can create chaos on your body, causing your heart to pound violently or your body to sweat in excess. Women who take hormone replacement therapy may experience an increase in symptoms of heart palpitations, particularly during the early stages of treatment.

Heart palpitations will often go away in a few months, once hormones have calmed down. Menopause and heart palpitations commonly occur together and usually do not indicate serious health problems.

Considerations

If you are experiencing heart palpitations on an ongoing basis and are in menopause, see if you can alter your lifestyle to help the health of your heart. Avoid smoking and caffeinated drinks. Do not take diet pills during menopause. Get regular exercise, such as walking, to strengthen your heart.

While lifestyle changes can improve the function of your heart and may lessen the frequency of heart palpitations, consult with your physician if you have any concerns or questions about heart palpitations or other symptoms of menopause. Likewise, if you are experiencing rapid heartbeat and dizziness or chest tightness, go to an emergency room immediately.

References

• The Wisdom of Menopause; Christiane Northrup, M.D.; 2001
• Menopause Symptoms