Harry: So you can feel your heart beating in your chest?

Yvonne: Well more or less below the sternum. Now the doctor has got me on a medicine called Inderal.

Harry: Have they tried to find out what the cause is because there are many causes of these heart palpitations.

Yvonne: No, he hasn't. What can be causing this?

Harry: Well very commonly heart palpitations are caused by anxiety. So if you've got some psychological problem and you're very anxious about something then one of the manifestations is heart palpitations. You can understand that when you're anxious and worried, your heart is going to beat faster and you're going to become aware of the heartbeat. That's just one example. There are also a number of other causes, which may be related to some problem in the heart and there are various possibilities here. Another possibility would be if your metabolic rate has increased and the important condition here is an increased activity of the thyroid gland. So if your thyroid gland is overactive, that can cause palpitations. So all I'm saying is that it is terribly important that you try to find out which of these causes is responsible for the palpitations.

Yvonne: Okay.

Harry: And when you know what the cause is then you treat that. So, for example, if it's because of an overactive thyroid, then you treat that and if it's anxiety you handle that. But sometimes we don't find a cause and then we just simply have to use medication symptomatically, as it were, in order to calm the heart and reduce the palpitations.

Yvonne: Okay. Thank you very much.