question: I have heart palpitations now. I am a licensed acupuncturist. I have listened to my heart when this is happening and it sounds like what is described as premature atrial or ventricular contractions. I never had this until recently. Last fall, I had chest pain and nausea and slight shortness of breath when I woke up one morning. I went to the ER and was evaluated. They diagnosed me with idiopathic chest pain. I went back 2 more times for the same thing and same result - chest wall pain or idiopathic chest pain. There were no palpitations then. Later on, I have had these palpitations and a slight feeling of phlegm in the chest. I do cough up a little thin mucous from time to time. It is kind of worrying because I have never had this before. I am 43, I worked out for most all of my life and was in very good shape. It is suspected that I have Acute Intermittent Porphyria, as I started becoming very chemically sensitive with many environmental allergies in 2001. I did acupuncture and chiropractic and now no longer have chest pain but I have these palpitations. My blood pressure had gone up significantly last year. It had always been around 110/70 or so and it went up to 165/110 for a bit last fall when this happened. Later, I had gotten it down to 110/70 for a while again, however, it has recently run up to 135/83 or so and has stayed around that level for the past few weeks. Currently, I do not have medical insurance and am wondering if this could be serious, should I be evaluated again, and what is this most likely?