Palpitations prompt COVID patients to hit panic button

Doctors see rise in such cases; advise ECG to rule out serious heart problems

Irregular heartbeat can be uncomfortable as well as unnerving, and this feeling is something that many of us dealing with stress and anxiety are all too familiar with. Now, government and corporate hospitals are seeing an increase in the number of COVID-positive persons rushing in for doctor’s consultation for palpitations, which are so strong that one feels their heart pounding out of the chest or that it may explode at any moment. Some of them have even described the experience as “a train running at high speed”.

Doctors say such patients are advised to undergo electrocardiogram (ECG) test to know if the heart rhythm is abnormal. The ECG is performed free of cost at government hospitals, and at private healthcare facilities, it costs anywhere between ₹100 and ₹300.

Internal Medicine specialist Hemanth Kalakuntla says prior to advising an ECG test, they take into consideration the age of the patient, co-morbidities and medical history. “We have come across myocarditis (inflammation of heart muscle) among COVID patients in the first and second waves. We suggest patients with the infection to undergo ECG to rule out this possibility. The test helps us know if there are rhythm abnormalities or if anxiety is the cause for rapid heart rate,” he explains.