Heart or Brain?

[superdave19]

Trying to figure if problems ae heart? Brain? or both? It first began with me hearing my pulses in my ear. I lost alot of weight and my MD says the auditory nerve is very close to cartoid artery so it picks up pulses. Sometimes pulses are stronger and annoying. I'm 68 yr male, have had all blood work all ok. No procedure to remove this sound
but there are other occurrances...sometimes, heart will begin to beat at double its rate and last for hours, even if I am sitting and relaxing. A forced cough, or a few sneezes can trigger the faster heartbeat that lasts for hours. Besides that, as I can hear my pulses in head, I hear the "missfires" heart will go thump thump thump thump thum, whoosh whoosh alt. Rarely have palpitations but get them, get 8 rapid shots then stops. Sometimes heart decides to work hard and face and ears get hot. Other times, beats slow down and hardly hear pulse in ear. Also at bedtime, if I lay flay on back, 90 mins later am awakened by faster beat, dry mouth, I sit up for 5 mins it slows down and able to sleep for 4 hrs. This is fluid accumilating? I am taking Altace Ramipril 10 mg once daily and baby aspirin. Never had attacks, angina, shortness of breath, chest pains etc. I just did ecography test on cartoids (neck) and from top of legs (inner) to foot both sides. Awaiting results. I just got fitted for a 24 hr heart monitor. Usually this comes and goes in cycles, can be fine for 3 days and on 4th (randomly) beats double. As luck would have it, when I wore the monitor with 5 probes on chest, everything was fine, maybe some missed beats. As soon as Hosp removed the thing, an hr later, heart rate increased, face got hot, remained that way few hrs, sneezing and watery nose! Too bad monitor wasnt for 2 Days! Awaiting results from monitor. Redoing all my blood work. Generally the heart will be nice and regularly, so its nothing thats permanent, but other times, out of the blue, the heart receives a msg to start working hard beating faster for hrs. Other than me hearing the pulses, and it being a major annoyance, it doesnt seem to do anything physically. Have appointment to see Neurologist. I know the heart cant decide to pump faster or work harder on its own, it needs commands and I think its getting false commands from the part of brain that does auto functions. Need to know how to turn this off, biofeedback? yoga? Any inputs appreciated, thanks very much!

[superdave19]

Thank you for your continued inputs. I can relate to sliding hernia when lying down, but when I am sitting upright, or walking, standing, something is ordering the heart to beat twice as fast for 4 to 5 hrs before gradually subsides, If was something like restriction, heart would work hard all the time, but when Im relaxing it beats nice and slow. My main focus is how to turn this off, rather than wait it out for 4 hrs!!!! Suggestions have been biofeedback, yoga. There are 2 scenarios here, one is during day when it can occur, other is when I go to sleep. As you know, as mentioned if I cough or sneeze a few times this can trigger the rapid beats, but then I am immediately uprite, walking sitting, so you think gravity would take its course, but even standing walking, it continues for hrs. When it happens I try to do exercise (light) to get heart to beat even faster in the hope I can trick whatever it is to return to normal. What I will do is maintain a daily hourly log on what exercise Im doing, what Im eating etc and try to correlate this with beats. Curious, what is your professional attribute, you seem very well voiced on the subject. Ive also asked my Dr for referral to Neurologist to discuuss with him/her. Many thanks

[ed34]

With regards to the hernia there are two different types, but the 'sliding' one is the most common. People experience different problems and different intensities. When laying down, the top of the stomach moves up through the diaphram and when you stand up, it works its way back down. Each time you swallow, the contraction of muscles in the esophagus pulls it upwards in motion. Endoscopy is required for diagnosis in most cases.
With the vagus nerve, it is really down to a clever Doctor, or an MRI to see if it's damaged anywhere. Hopefully new blood tests will eliminate this problem by showing no deficiencies in the blood, particularly vitamin B.
I assume you have found no noticeable link between the episodes? like, what you are thinking at the time, what you are doing, had you just eaten or exercised etc etc. The more patterns you can find, the easier it will be for a Doctor to pinpoint the problem.

[superdave19]

Interesting information there. What is the test to determine if this nerve is functioning properly or is it a test I can do at home? For the possibility of Hernia, I have absolutely no pains, breathing discomfort, irregularities that come to mind in the eating dept. What is the ideal test to determine the hernia, endoscope down the throat? Will ecograph or ultrasound of stomache show this? At night after an hrs sleep or so, its not the pulse rate that increases but the intensity, but sitting up or moving around its gone in no time, but in day time can take 4 to 5 hrs of a faster heartrate to go away on its own. Hope its not hernia of stomache! Any self tests I can do to determine? I do sleep with upper body elevated but still get it. Thanks for taking the time to reply, greatly appreciated.

[ed34]

I've read your original post thoroughly again and two things come to mind which seem to commonly cause the issues that you have. Vagus nerve and Hiatus hernia. With the hernia, the stomach, or part of it, slips through the opening in the diaphram, mostly when laying down. When you sit up, gravity pulls it back down gradually. Coughing and sneezing can force it through too. This affects the heart rate and can cause rhythm problems. The vagus nerve controls heart rate from the brain stem, as well as many other tasks in the body, such as digestion. I have read that a lack of vitamins, particularly B, can cause the nerve to malfunction.

[superdave19]

Thanks for the input. Appreciated. I did complete blood work last June including thyroid T3's etc. Even did 24 hr urine continuous to check for specific chemicals. All ok. Have just repeated all blood work today to compare. What makes the awareness really up there, is I hear my pulses in ears 24/7 so I hear the skipping beats or stronger beats, faster etc. I awair results of ultrasound on both legs top to bottom and cartoids, plus the 24 hr monitor, and blood work. Will ask Dr next wk if I can have monitor for longer. If I play stressful videogames it doesnt trigger rapid beats, but a couple of sneezes or coughs will trigger heart to work faster for 4 to 5 hrs then it stops on its own. Also, unexplained weight loss to the tune of 30 lbs (160 to 130) although I eat well but do lots of vigorous exercise..Dr says after 65 yrs stomach loses 30% ability to absorb.

[ed34]

I don't think you are looking at this logically. It seems you are saying something like, my computer doesn't work properly therefore it must be the CPU because this runs all the software. There are many components to a computer which have to be working within tolerances for the CPU to stand a chance, for example, power. Your heart is the same, it depends on a few things to operate correctly. It could be something simple like a thyroid issue, or even an imbalance of electrolytes in the blood. It will require a few tests. You could request the holter monitor for more than 24hrs. If you tell the cardiologist it doesn't happen every day guaranteed, they usually extend it.
I personally doubt if it's the brain, unless you are having sudden bouts of anxiety.