<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> I am so sorry that I am so late with this summary. I was hospitalized twice since I asking this question. I had a lot of responses and people did ask for a summary so here it is. The first thing I would like to caution folks about is that some people with irregular heartbeats have a serious tachycardia and should be seen by a doctor. The type of heat skipping that I was regularly having was one that the doctors, after many tests diagnosed as benign -- not the dangerous type. I must have gotten 70 or more responses from people with a similar condition, and others with events that need further medical evaluation, which I will not address. These skipped and extra beats, when they continue can be very distressing, even when one is told they are benign. Many people felt that going glutenfree helped minimize the condition. Others felt that they had these events when they ate any foods that they were sensitive to. MSG, caffeine, sodas, chocolate and all sorts of other individual intolerances Others stated that hypoglycemia, and electrolyte imbalances aggravated the condition. Others have connected it with environmental allergies such as mold and mildew. Another few people felt it was caused by the body being too acid and that for those people not on a salt restricted diet, that a teaspoon of baking soda (not after meals because that could interfere with digestion) stopped the problem. Here are some different responses. I have been puzzling as to how gas pressure could cause a cardiac arrhythmia as the heart and your digestive apparatus are separated by the diaphragm (a thick tough muscle) If your diaphragm were flawed and allowed a portion of intestine to migrate into the chest, gas pressure could irritate the heart. But relax! In this event you would have many other symptoms and the misplaced intestine would be noted on a chest x- ray. Another possibility is that the gas pressure in the stomach could cause a vagal reflex action on the heart. The vagus nerve responds to many parts of the body. If reducing the gas pressure with a healthy burp or with bicarb a vagal reflex may be a possibility. Please remember this is a guess and not a diagnosis. ---Gas can cause either problem. There is a sympathetic nerve from the diaphragm to the heart (also from the eyeball and the testicle to the heart)= that can affect the rhythm of the heart--I think it's important for your own peace of mind to understand the workings here. Gas can cause the weaker beat because of the pressure on the sympathetic nerve to the heart, which then results in a few stronger beats after the weak one. You're not actually missing a beat, just a weak one . These benign unifocal Pre-ventricular contractions (PVCs) occur when I have stomach bloating (aerophagia) and the stomach, being bloated, rubs up against the heart and ennervates it to skip beats. What you're feeling is the makeup beat which has to deal with about 1 1/2 times the normal blood.= I have to totally "burp" myself like a baby before I go to bed at night. that you are not aware of. You're one of those, like me, whose autonomic nervous system doesn't adjust quickly to such changes, so you're more aware of the quiet workings of your body than most. It's often unsettling, but also often means you will live longer because you won't be one of those who adjust to the pain of a heart attack so quickly that you do not feel the need to go the doc. I normally "skip" every fourth beat and have for decades. (Actually it's just a weak beat like yours.) Again all, please, if you have this problem, before thinking it is a benign condition, make sure you are diagnosed by a doctor.