Atrial Fibrillation Stomach Gas & Bloat Relationship?

[delcocat]

I saw a post about atrial fibrillation and stomach gas possible association.  I too have the same thing so it may not be all in your head if your suspect this to be the case.  Most dr.'s think your crazy or never heard of this when you even suggest it.  Thats whats wrong with most dr's.  They don't think outside the box and most always treat symptoms with side effect ridden drugs because this is what they learned.  I think we can guess or prognose just as well or better than they can at times particularly if we know something about health and or ourselves.  Never be afraid to speak up because I feel strongly that digestive tract problems are real and translate into other real nasty symptoms like this.  Fortunately we can prevent much of this & need to prevent it from happening. I do feel the more you get afib the worse it can become either physically, emmotionally or both no matter what the cause.  I thought up until now that I may have been the first to discover this but thought I would put this to a POLL since the question already exist out there about the afib gas connection.  I would like to know how many people feel that they get atrial fibrillation and feel that it may be related to gas or full, bloated stomach, intestinal or digestive tract troubles etc?  Any way I also would be interested in what anyone might have to say about it and or what they may have learned from this if they know or even think this to be the case for them and would also like to correspond with others to trade stories and info on what they've learned and done. Be well.  Sincerely, Rich - ***@****


This discussion is related to Stomach Gas and Arrythmia.

[prescottj]

I have read about cold water treatment. I think there was an episode of ER or one of those shows where a doctor explained that dunking your head in ice water triggers some mechanism in the brain that results in the regular (and slowed) rhythm returning. Found this on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnrYqxoXzkw

[prescottj]

Its been a little while since I've been on the site to review posts since I joined in 2013 and visited about a year ago. I recently googled some combination of related to atrial fibrillation and there was a sub-category for gas/vegal related links, which surprised me. As I had stated in one of my posts here, echoing what others have said, doctors, in lock step, won't admit any relationship. It's absurd.

I like your idea for developing a more thorough questionnaire.

[bushman47]

I stumbled across this blog a few days ago and joined the community today. I too have this nasty gas related A-Fib. My episodes started in 2005 following  prostate surgery. Just prior to that I was diagnosed with throat cancer. I had been eating terribly, working too hard, and I believe the combination high carbs and sugar along with broad spectrum antibiotics created my first A-Fib attack. Not to mention the extreme stress from all of the above. I went into the hospital for 3 days while they tried everything they could to understand the heart issue's. They were able to stop it with a combination of IV drips and sent me home with Metropolol. 240 mg a day!! My heart did check out fine, but that Metropolol prescription eventually put me into bradycardia. It was a slow process to recover from all this. I say it was adding insult to injury. The past ten years I have been still struggling with digestive issue's and A-Fib. I believe my intestinal flora was critically damaged by antibiotics, sugar, and stress. I also believe my intestinal track is overloaded with bad bacterial overgrowth. I hate when the A-Fib comes, as it pulls the life out of me. It lasts for many hours, up to 4 days, and is constant. My diet is already as boring as can be, as I have very limited foods I can eat; and because of that it's extremely difficult to hold my weight. When the A-Fib is going, I can lose 5 lbs. in just a couple of days because my heart rate is so intense. My gut has been pretty bad through all this, but I have helped the bloating with HCL capsules ( 650 mg.) It really helped the bowel movements come back to normal. I started getting results when I got up to 4 or 5 pills with my protein meals. I have even tried up to 7 pills without any indication of burning in my stomach;  proving my hydrochloric acid in my stomach has been critically low. So in my case, I can easily say there was more than just one thing going on.
I'd like to thank Rich for starting this blog, as I am going to further my efforts to nip this heart crap in the bud. I'm going to start a high quality probiotic, charcoal, DCL, etc. adding it to my arsenal.
I haven't seen any delocat postings lately, as I have read everybody's from top to bottom. I hope your still checking in from time to time, as your input brings much hope in dealing with this debilitating health issue. I want to thank everyone for their posts. Let's keep this information going because we will help one another in our efforts to cure or improve our gut integrity and A-Fib episodes.

[throwaguy]

Woah! I think there's something to this!!

My breakfast this morning (Aug 29 2015) was a tortilla, a scrambled egg, some leftover squash from yesterday, and a heaping of pinto beans (about 2 servings since I like my beans). About 2 hours later I started noticing mild chest discomfort and a "full" feeling. Took my pulse and it felt slightly elevated, I would guess it was between 96-102 beats per minute, I usually have a resting heart rate of 86-92. Also I had this god-awful dizziness feeling. The dizziness feeling continued for a couple hours.

I am a high-anxiety person so I figured it was just my anxiety yet again (I've had false alarms before due to anxiety and even an ER visit some years back). I went ahead and made me a "Sleepytime" brand tea with chamomile, tilia, and hawthorn. Heated up some hot water in the micro and drank it down, then waited around 30 minutes for it to get into the system. Strangely the chest discomfort remained despite the tea, so I guess it wasn't anxiety afterall using the process of elimination.

The "full" feeling chest discomfort continued into the afternoon. Then, around 2 hours ago I discovered this thread and then I had an epiphany "hmmm, maybe it's gas?". Then I remember I had some generic Kroger anti-gas pills in the cabinet, I went ahead and took one and chased it down with some water. Around 30 minutes ago the strange "full" chest discomfort feeling disappeared completely and my chest area feels "relaxed" again.

There DEFINITELY seems to be a connection between gas/trapped air and chest/heart area sensations. I notice in the past I was always burping a lot when I've had mild chest sensations, and reading through this thread it all seem to make sense now.

Of course, my heart function still seems lacking with the high resting rate and borderline high BP. But at least I know to look out for gas now.

[tntmamoo]

I'm now 45 years old but first got this symptom back when I was in my early 20's. I had just exerted myself with some heavy work and had eaten a meal comprising beans. I fell asleep and awoke with palpitations in my chest. Needless to say, I was petrified. I started to cold sweat and felt light headed. I could move around but felt a bit woozy. I didn't know what to do and decided that if this was a heart attack I should get myself to the emergency room. I went to shower but forgot to turn on the hot water and a huge shower of cold water hit me. It was shocking but immediately my fibrillation stopped. I didn't know what caused it but it did not resurface until eight years after.
I was at home and felt this tightness in my chest. It took me back to the first time it happened. I tried breathing shallow because the deeper my breaths were, the more pressure I felt in my chest. As I inhaled, it triggered another episode. At the same time I felt my stomach was bloated and had the desire to burp but it wasnt happening. I took an alka-seltzer and did manage to let out some gas but the fibrillation kept on. I tried hot mint tea, hoping this would assist in relieving the gas pressure. Eventually, after a good session of de-gassing, my heart rhythm regained normalcy.
I went to the doctor the next day to get a general check-up but did not tell him anything that had happened. I asked for an ECG and he complied only to have a normal heart wave result.
It has been some years now and I have learnt to adjust my breathing to avoid 'squeezing' my heart when I am gassy. If I inhale deeply and feel a skip, I immediately and deliberately breath shallower to avoid tripping my heart off.
It seems that in my case, gas pressure causes my atrial fibrillation.

I am able to indulge in work or sporting activity where my heart rate exceeds 160 BPM and feel no side effects or discomfort. I try to avoid gas producing foods but it's hard to really determine or pinpoint perpetrators.
I'm just glad I have figured out the culprit and want to extend thanks to other members who have testified of their experiences as it was of help to me personally.

Mark of the Caribbean

[Tav1234]

HI McAuthor,

did you manage to find any natural remedies that helped as i suffer the same symptoms?

regards,

Tav