If you've been evaluated by your primary care doctor or specialist and the palpitations have been ruled benign, then they are merely the consequence of vagus nerve stimulation. You need to refrain from characterizing palpitations as within the class of cardiac arrhythmias. It's not the case at all.

Benign palpitations do not hold the capacity to damage or weaken your heart, nor transform into a cardiac arrhythmia or place you at any risk whatsoever. Most patients who experience benign palpitations become fearful based upon highly irrational beliefs derived from what they've read or heard from others which has resulted in misinterpretation. The problem occurs when a belief is established that is contrary to reality, producing varying degrees of apprehension that can extend to severely limiting the lifestyle of the affected individual and remaining close to safety.

These palpitation events will not shorten your life by even as much as a second in time. They occur from outside the heart, not from within. As I've stated many times, it's the equivalent of a muscle twitch elsewhere in the body. Simply because the muscle twitch occurs in the heart muscle doesn't make it dangerous in any manner. Benign palpitations that produce a muscle twitch at the level of the heart could no more cause a heart attack than a twitching eyelid could result in blindness.

The problem is not the palpitations, but rather what you believe them potentially capable of causing in the way of harm. The absence of factual information results in speculative conclusions that hold no accuracy whatsoever.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)