Heart palpitations can be a sign of several different problems – both mental and physical. Often, they’re caused by stress and anxiety. But over the course of the last few years, Long Covid has reportedly caused palpitations. A recent study has explored why this might happen.
Long Covid is when people suffer ongoing symptoms of Covid, 12 weeks after infection.
Some people with the condition have struggled with heart palpitations, chest pain, dizziness, or feeling faint.
Researchers, observing their patients, have concluded that these symptoms could be caused by problems with the autonomic nervous system – the part of your nervous system that monitors automatic activities such as heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure.
Doctors and nurses at Hammersmith Hospital and Imperial College London believe that the “debilitating” palpitations and other symptoms were caused by “orthostatic intolerance syndrome”.
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Orthostatic intolerance syndromes are when moving from a sitting or lying position to an upright position causes a low blood pressure in your arteries.
The British Heart Foundation explains: “When a healthy person stands up, some of the blood in the body will flow downwards with the pull of gravity.
“The body responds to prevent blood pressure falling – blood vessels narrow and there is a slight increase in heart rate.
“But in people with orthostatic problems, these automatic changes don’t happen.
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“Moving to an upright position causes a drop in the blood supply to the heart and brain and a fast heart rate as the body tries to compensate.”
For people that struggle with these issues with moving to an upright position, the study by Hammersmith Hospital and Imperial College London made recommendations.
It suggested: “Non-upright exercise such as cycling on a recumbent exercise bike and swimming are encouraged.”
It added: “The patient should be advised on rising cautiously from a lying or seated position and avoiding exacerbating factors such as prolonged standing, warm environments, and dehydration.”
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Shingles, memory loss, tinnitus, itchy skin, and tremors were among the more abnormal symptoms experienced.
Some studies have suggested that long Covid is an autoimmune disease, similar to Parkinson’s disease. An autoimmune disease is when the body’s immune system attacks itself.
The body cannot tell the difference between your own cells and foreign cells so causes the body to attack healthy cells.
According to one small study from 2021, 44 percent of long Covid patients involved had high levels of a type of antibody connected with other autoimmune diseases and lupus.