Re: Rapid Heart Beat

Posted By C.F.D. on June 30, 1999 at 10:01:33
I am a health 29 year old man who is very active.  I've always been an athlete all my life with no problems.  I played college basketball for four years.  My second year in college I used "Brain Pep", which is one of those pills used to "increase oxygen to your Brain", thus making you think better.  I used this product for about a month then stopped because of an anxious feeling that came over me.  Since then(10 years ago), when I step onto the basketball court to play I would occasionally(this does not happen all the time) get rapid heart beats.  This would happen once while I am playing and last for about 5-20 seconds then everything is back to normal.  During this time, I feel a bit light headed and nervous, and once it passes, then I can play for hours without any further problems.  This is very puzzling to me because I've had two EKG's and everything is fine.  I've also worn a monitoring device for a month while playing and of course  I got no rapid heart beats for that month.  Yesterday scared me the most because while playing I had a bout that lasted for about 10 minutes.  I stopped playing to relax for a few but it did not stop.  It stopped only after I had sat down for about 5 minutes.  I was shaken.  This only happens sometimes when I play basketball.  It has never happen while jogging or lifting weigths.  Do I need to be afraid of this? and can something that happen 10 years ago still affect me today?  

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Posted By CCF CARDIO MD - CRC on June 30, 1999 at 14:54:39
I don't know what is in "brain prep" but I doubt it would still have any sort of effect on you.  It's hard to say what the palpitations are and the best way to find wout would be to be able to "Catch" them on a Holter monitor.  I would discuss this option with your doctor.  
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies.  Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.  The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your










Follow Ups:


Rapid Heart Beat Marilyn Murphy 7/03/1999
(1)

Re: Rapid Heart Beat CCF CARDIO MD - CRC 7/08/1999
(0)