Is anyone else able to control their palps with super-hydration?

I've known for many years that my 2 biggest palpitation triggers are sugar and dehydration.  After realizing those things and learning to watch them I went from having thousands of palps a day and semi-frequent SVT episodes to having a 5 year break from both.  So great!

However, several months ago i noticed a tremendous increase in palpitations.  I started having hundreds or thousands a day again and it was really starting to upset me.  I wracked my brain to think about what I might've changed and it occurred to me I hadn't been drinking as much water as I used to.  So I started seriously hydrating myself again the palpitations disappeared again and haven't come back in weeks.  I went from 100-1000 a day to practically none.  It especially helps to drink a glass or two right before bed for some reason.

I just seem really really sensitive to electrolyte changes.  When I have SVTs, my potassium is always low.  And it's clear that high sodium also affects strongly my heart.

Anyone else have any luck controlling their palpitations this way?

[Celeste77]

Absolutely! One of the biggest contributors to my PVC's and IST is dehydration. I started trying to keep hydrated after a trip to the ER awhile back. It's amazing how everything settled down with a few IV bags of fluid.
I also drink 1 to 2 glasses of ice water (ice water helps break the IST too) before bed and notice a big difference. Like you, my potassium is low alot too. My serum levels run between 3.0 and 3.6 at all times.

Today I spent all day out working in the yard, mowing, raking, etc. and was sweating like crazy.
Dummy me didn't drink enough and I'm paying the price big time.
I've been in bigeminy for about an hour now and my heartrate is staying around 110 even with relaxation. You'd think I'd learn!

[southerncharm]

why is your K low?  Do you eat a balanced diet?

[SillyHeart]

Celeste, a bag of IV fluids fixes everything for me, too.

I wonder why drinking before bed seems to help particularly well, but it does.

[Celeste77]

I wonder why drinking before bed seems to help particularly well, but it does.

I might be way off here, but I'm betting that it has something to do with blood volume.
After seeing the difference fluid and sodium made with my IST, I have to wonder if it works the
same way with PVC's. I've never researched it, but now that you brought it to mind, I'll be doing just that!   :)

Have a great heart day!!

[Celeste77]

Not sure who your asking, but I have what is thought to be a gated ion-channel K+ deficiency/disorder.

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

wow maybe thats my problem but i only get pac once a year for last two years and they last for 9 weeks or more but when i get them i will drink dsrink , i might drink a bottle water a day . and really dont have them through year so guess thats not my problem darn wish it was .lol i dont know why mine come they just do

[degrassi]

yeah right.that is more than likely everyone's "problem"........low K.  LOL.

[va_tony]

I agree that drinking plenty of fluids is a great idea. Something we should all do. I've been in afib for the last two weeks and come to think of it, I haven't been drinking as much water as I should... and here it's summer and I've been outside a lot. I guess the safest course is to intentionally drink eight glasses of water a day spread throughout the day.

Although I don't think any of us will ever run into this problem, it is possible to drink too much water and suffer water intoxication (hyponatremia). Marathon runners sometimes experience this.. they become dehydrated and drink too much water without the accompanying electrolytes.

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

yes i have heard of people dying from drinking to much water so be carefull drink as much as you can through the day but dont over do it .

[aussie mum]

Hi hope all is well !! Can you please explain to me what IST is ??

Thanks :}

[Celeste77]

Hello, and thank you...all is well other then my IST started back up yesturday, ironically enough. :(

IST stands for Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia, which is a rapid heart rate coming from the sinus node. The EKG is perfectly normal other then an accelerated sinus heart rate. A person's resting heart rate is usually greater than 100 beats per minute or rapidly accelerates to greater than 100bpm (mine hung out around 140 bpm today). The heart rate also increases dramatically with small amounts of exercise, emotional or physical stress, but drops back down to 70 to 90 bpm while sleeping. It's thought to be caused by an disorder of the sinus node itself, or an imbalance of the autonomic nervous system, now called dysautonomia.

Hope that helps and all is well with you and yours also!

[anacyde]

Funny to see this tonight.  I've been having them terribly for two days and I'm dehydrated and on a sugar high.  I do notice that 8 glasses (8 oz each) per day helps a lot of things, including palpitations.  Seems easy to drink zero glasses of water a day for me though.  I just don't get thirsty, so it's an effort.

[va_tony]

BTW.  After my last post, I started dinking at least 8 glasses a day to see if my 3 week long episode of afib would disappear if I hydrated. It worked after 2 days!!  Can't be a 100% sure the hydration was the cure but the I'm now back in normal sinus rhythm. Thanks for the suggestion SillyHeart.