Understanding Unpleasant Heartbeat Awareness

The question asks to identify the medical term for the sensation of an unpleasant awareness of one's own heart beat. This feeling is often described as the heart pounding, fluttering, skipping a beat, or beating too fast.

Analyzing Medical Terms Related to Heartbeat

Let's look at the provided options to understand their meanings:

• Dyspnoea: This term refers to shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing. It is not related to the awareness of the heartbeat itself.
• Tachycardia: This refers to a heart rate that exceeds the normal resting rate, typically over 100 beats per minute in adults. While a rapid heartbeat can cause palpitations, tachycardia itself is the rapid rate, not the awareness of it.
• Bradycardia: This refers to a heart rate that is slower than the normal resting rate, typically below 60 beats per minute in adults. Like tachycardia, it describes the rate, not the subjective awareness.
• Palpitation: This is the medical term for the subjective sensation of feeling one's own heartbeat. This awareness is often described as unpleasant, forceful, or irregular.

Comparing Heartbeat Sensations

The key difference lies in the description: 'unpleasant awareness' points to a subjective feeling, which is precisely what palpitations are. The other terms describe objective measurements of heart rate (fast or slow) or breathing difficulty.

Here's a summary table:

Conclusion on Heartbeat Awareness

Based on the definitions, the unpleasant awareness of one's own heartbeat is specifically termed Palpitation.