Irregularly fast heart beats - symptom of heart attack?

Dear Ask The Doctor: Hi, I'm a 27 year old, male, non-smoking college graduate. I have always been in good health, exercise regularly, and rarely get sick. However, I have always worried about my heart health. Sometimes, my heartbeat is irregularly fast even at rest or after a brief walk. These episodes always pass and I end up feeling fine later. Recently after exercising my heart actually felt like it was in pain. Now after three days, my heart still aches, my left arm is sore and the left side of my jaw feels stiff. However, every time I brought this up with my doctor in the past, all blood pressure checks and test turned up nothing. Now that I am out of college I have lost my health insurance and I'm really getting scared. Any help anyone can provide me with would be tremendously appreciated. - Calvin

Dear Calvin: These episodes of fast heart beats (known as palpitation) may be due to increased feelings of anxiety and stress. You may try to associate (if any) any feelings of anxiety or stress that you experience with the onset of your symptoms. With all your tests being normal, it possibly rules out any cardiac related disorder. Palpitations associated with other symptoms, including sweating, faintness, chest pain or dizziness, indicate irregular or poor heart function and should be investigated. You may want to reduce your anxiety and stress as much as possible to note any improvement in your symptoms. Meditation, yoga and relaxation or breathing exercises would be beneficial alongwith some aerobics like walks, jogging, swimming or bike riding.