Does a stool sample accurately find parasites that are living in the heart?
Answer Dear Katrina, There are a great many causes of heart palpitations. Parasites would be an extremely uncommon cause and since this appears to be something that is in your family I am going to set that issue aside for the moment. Marfan’s syndrome is a very rare genetic disorder that impacts not only the heart (which it often impacts severely with things like aortic dilation and rupture), and it would be almost impossible to make it to adulthood without knowing that you or someone in your family had this condition. The very best place you can start with this kind of problem is with a good diagnosis. If the symptom is in your heart, it would be best to start with a visit to an internist or a cardiologist to get a complete workup. A workup for palpitaions should include physical exam with with thorough listening to the heart, a blood chemistry to look for things like abnormal mineral electrolytes, and probably an electrocardiogram (EKG) and/or an echocardiogram – these tests allow a
