ACS Q&A With Dr. Trey Baucum – Why Is My Heart Skipping?

A lot of people come into the medical office complaining that their heart is skipping. Understandably, you don’t want your heart doing that, particularly when you’re lying down at night. When the heart flutters, it tends to make people nervous.

Actually, this is a natural phenomenon of the heart. Almost every cell in the heart is capable of acting as a pacemaker. In a sense, they’re all “pacemaker wannabes.” 

If your heart starts skipping a lot, it may be trying to tell you something. It should be evaluated, usually with some simple tests like an echocardiogram. From there, we can determine whether this is simple, non-dangerous skipping or something that warrants more concern.