Aa
Heart Palpitations
Hi, I'm 42. I began noticing palpitations (one or two very strong or misplaced heartbeats) back in I think 2008, 5 years ago. But I shrugged it off. I chalked it up to being tired, my hormones possibly changing, stress, etc. Back then this only happened MAYBE once in a blue moon, so I didn't allow it to bother me and I just carried on as though it didn't happen at all.
I have had anxiety since 2004 when I was attacked in the subway in NYC. It took me 3 years but I was able to manage my anxiety to the point where it didn't bother me any more, using Yoga and very small amounts of Valerian root when I was at my worst - apparently it bonds to the same receptor cells in the brain as Valium. I dropped all caffiene intake such as sodas, coffee, etc. However, I continued to eat milk chocolate and white flour products because I was addicted to them, and eventually I could "get away" with eating some without having an anxiety attack although I wasn't altogether comfortable after eating it.
4 years ago I got into a stressful work situation AND a stressful relationship, which were connected (I work with my bf). I began living with him and working with him. I began feeling anxiety symptoms return within 6 months, but continued managing them and I didn't feel that I had anxiety because of how I managed my symptoms.
Around 1 year ago I began to feel a "flashing" sensation of heat on the left side of my head, and sometimes up my back. I assumed these were "hot flashes" and were due to my hormones changing as I had turned 40. In addition my periods speeded up so that sometimes I had only 3 weeks in between instead of 4. This lead me to believe that I could be having "hot flashes" due to perimenopause. I was also diagnosed with a small fibroid in my uterus, which the Dr. assured me is another symptom of changng hormones and not to worry about it unless it got much larger.
Flash forward- around January of last year I felt a loooong heart palpitation. I had just been arguing with my bf and I walked out into the cold to get the mail. I was agitated, annoyed and overworked, tired with not enough sleep. I had never felt such a long palpitation before, it was a series of strong, too fast beats that didn't belong with my normal heart rhythm. I was terrified. I came home and spent the rest of the afternoon having an anxiety attack which I fended off with meditation. I chalked it up to our arguement. At this point I dropped ALL alcohol, ALL chocolate, ALL white flour and unnecessary sugar, corn syrup, etc from my diet. So far (it's been since Jauary) I have lost 15 lbs without increasing my exercise, just from diet alone. Wish I could have done this WITHOUT the palps:)
*to be continued in the comments section- it exceeded the "8000 character limit".*
I have had anxiety since 2004 when I was attacked in the subway in NYC. It took me 3 years but I was able to manage my anxiety to the point where it didn't bother me any more, using Yoga and very small amounts of Valerian root when I was at my worst - apparently it bonds to the same receptor cells in the brain as Valium. I dropped all caffiene intake such as sodas, coffee, etc. However, I continued to eat milk chocolate and white flour products because I was addicted to them, and eventually I could "get away" with eating some without having an anxiety attack although I wasn't altogether comfortable after eating it.
4 years ago I got into a stressful work situation AND a stressful relationship, which were connected (I work with my bf). I began living with him and working with him. I began feeling anxiety symptoms return within 6 months, but continued managing them and I didn't feel that I had anxiety because of how I managed my symptoms.
Around 1 year ago I began to feel a "flashing" sensation of heat on the left side of my head, and sometimes up my back. I assumed these were "hot flashes" and were due to my hormones changing as I had turned 40. In addition my periods speeded up so that sometimes I had only 3 weeks in between instead of 4. This lead me to believe that I could be having "hot flashes" due to perimenopause. I was also diagnosed with a small fibroid in my uterus, which the Dr. assured me is another symptom of changng hormones and not to worry about it unless it got much larger.
Flash forward- around January of last year I felt a loooong heart palpitation. I had just been arguing with my bf and I walked out into the cold to get the mail. I was agitated, annoyed and overworked, tired with not enough sleep. I had never felt such a long palpitation before, it was a series of strong, too fast beats that didn't belong with my normal heart rhythm. I was terrified. I came home and spent the rest of the afternoon having an anxiety attack which I fended off with meditation. I chalked it up to our arguement. At this point I dropped ALL alcohol, ALL chocolate, ALL white flour and unnecessary sugar, corn syrup, etc from my diet. So far (it's been since Jauary) I have lost 15 lbs without increasing my exercise, just from diet alone. Wish I could have done this WITHOUT the palps:)
*to be continued in the comments section- it exceeded the "8000 character limit".*
Well done! My mother suffered severe GERD and severe LPR for almost 6 years. To cut a long story short, a simple home baking soda test showed her stomach acid was severely low. I took her off acid blocker nexium and onto betaine HCI with pepsin supplements (to increase stomach acid) and digestive enzyme supplements (to improve digestion). GERD and LPR were gone in weeks.
Other issues that caused her acid reflux but resolved treating the problem - magnesium deficiency (magnesium is needed for nerve transmission), zinc deficiency (needed to create stomach acid), iron supplements (side effect) and a 2cm colon poylp (almost blocking the bowel!). There are many other listed reasons but acid reflux is guaranteed to never be due to a drug deficiency! :)
Other issues that caused her acid reflux but resolved treating the problem - magnesium deficiency (magnesium is needed for nerve transmission), zinc deficiency (needed to create stomach acid), iron supplements (side effect) and a 2cm colon poylp (almost blocking the bowel!). There are many other listed reasons but acid reflux is guaranteed to never be due to a drug deficiency! :)
I was again screwed over by the low-cost community clinic I tried to visit (the Ryan center in upper Manhattan). They had me on hold so long to talk about financial issues that I had to reschedule my appointment. So this brought on some stress. While on hold with them I browsed websites of symptoms of heart conditions which made my anxiety increase. I also browsed websites that discussed new findings that "hot flashes" may indicate heart trouble. I have had hot flashes for a year or more, but they seem to be subsiding very noticably in intensity and duration after faithfully taking my supplements now for a week.
I went home after attempting to get to the Ryan center, and was sitting on my bed browsing websites propped up on some blankets in a "bucket" position when I felt a gurgling come up from my stomach toward my esophagus, felt like gas bubbles. As soon as it got to my esophagus I had a medium intensity heart palpitation. At least now I have some evidence that it is indeed being stimulated by stomach events!
After this happened I again went though my usual anxiety reaction. Only this time I popped a Tums and some Valerian root powder in water right away and put on a relaxation YouTube. I noticed my right hand twitching most probably due to anxiety. I dug out the prescription for Xanex I had been given at the Emergency Room and called a couple of pharmacies to see if they could fill it - I'm going to start taking doctor's advice re: my anxiety and start treating it, no matter what I have to do. I also called the National Association of Health Underwriters but it was too late in the day, they had left. I want to find out a great health plan for cardiology in NY where I live and start paying for it - I was against this before but now I feel like I should do it, it's come to that. I need to have aaallllll the tests done and I am getting absolutely nowhere with low cost clinics - I've come to realize that they will kill you if you have a serious problem. Manhattan has incredible doctors so I will have to pay if I want to really make sure I am well to the fullest extent that I can. It's not fair but what else can I do? I don't want to have a real problem and not know it.
So that's where I stand right now - I'm getting to the bottom of these palps no matter what.
I went home after attempting to get to the Ryan center, and was sitting on my bed browsing websites propped up on some blankets in a "bucket" position when I felt a gurgling come up from my stomach toward my esophagus, felt like gas bubbles. As soon as it got to my esophagus I had a medium intensity heart palpitation. At least now I have some evidence that it is indeed being stimulated by stomach events!
After this happened I again went though my usual anxiety reaction. Only this time I popped a Tums and some Valerian root powder in water right away and put on a relaxation YouTube. I noticed my right hand twitching most probably due to anxiety. I dug out the prescription for Xanex I had been given at the Emergency Room and called a couple of pharmacies to see if they could fill it - I'm going to start taking doctor's advice re: my anxiety and start treating it, no matter what I have to do. I also called the National Association of Health Underwriters but it was too late in the day, they had left. I want to find out a great health plan for cardiology in NY where I live and start paying for it - I was against this before but now I feel like I should do it, it's come to that. I need to have aaallllll the tests done and I am getting absolutely nowhere with low cost clinics - I've come to realize that they will kill you if you have a serious problem. Manhattan has incredible doctors so I will have to pay if I want to really make sure I am well to the fullest extent that I can. It's not fair but what else can I do? I don't want to have a real problem and not know it.
So that's where I stand right now - I'm getting to the bottom of these palps no matter what.
I noticed that when I have anxious thoughts, my "hot flashes" come back. They are on the left side of my head only. Interesting - I was assuming they were caused by perimenopause, however they could very well be caused by my anxiety.
no more palps today, but I got that sensation that it MIGHT palpitate as I was standing in the flourescent lights trying to get my prescription filled for Xanex. Flourescent lights always affect my anxiety negatively. Great. What the hell is making my heart so "jumpy"? COULD it "just be my nerves"???
After reading about LPR all of yesterday, I switched to a GERD diet today and used GERD techniques - sleeping with upper body elevated, small meals, non-irritating foods ( so far oatmeal, soymilk, almond milk, quinoa, dark rye bread and turkey slices). Well guess what? No damn palls. COULD THIS BE IT??? I have a lot more energy today and no anxiety seems to be plagueing me. I sure hope I've found the answer.
Hey everyone, I found someone online who helped my palps greatly, his name is NICK WALSH. He first told me to take Gas X if I was having a huge palp attack. This I did. The attack subsided in 15 minutes. Apparantly the active ingredient in the Gas X alkalizes the stomach very rapidly, causing it not to irritate the Vegas nerve any more.
He then told me that I can't live off of Gas X, I need to create a more alkaline digestive tract in general so that my esophagus can heal. He reccomended these things:
1) Aloe Vera GEL (not juice, the gel is different and works much better)
2) a great probiotic - the liquid in the bottle in the refrigerator that has billions of bacteria, not the pills or capsules.
3) Ph drops for your drinking water to make it more alkaline. Mine cost $20 from my local healthfood store.
4) oils and extracts that kill h.pilori, a common bacteria that causes us not to be able to digest food well and makes acid in the intestines
5) great digestive enzymes to be taken before meals
6) mineral drops to act as a supplement
If you want to know more, google NICK WALSH stop heart palpitations, he has a book and a website about this very subject. He himself had this for 7 years and researched it for that long, to come up with this protocol for keeping it away. I'm going on my 3 rd day and no palps. The Gas X has been a real godsend, it's the silver bullet that protects you until you can get your GI tract on track to create a non irritating environment in your body.
ALSO- IF you are a woman over 35, know that GERD/LPR is a symptom of MENOPAUSE as is anxiety, dizziness and other symptoms. There are great threads with tons of useful info about this. Your hormones are changing levels- when progesterone dominates it causes muscle weakness, and your GI tract is made of muscle. If you sphincters become weak, it causes GERD and therefore eventual heart palpitations in some people due to irritation of the Vegas nerve. Your whole mission should be to create a body that is as inflammation free as possible.
Follow the GERD diet- no spicy foods, no red meat, no fats and oils except healthy flax and other oils that are good for the body. Sleep with the head of your bed elevated 6-8 inches from the foot, and don't eat 2 hours before lying down, let gravity help you.
Oh, and try not to sit in abdomen-crunching positions, keep your back straight. It's harder than you think. I was slouching my way through life. Do exercises that don't pound and irritate but are smooth, like walking.
It's a LOT to learn and take in, I'm still learning a lot. What I didn't learn on my own, NICK WALSH helped me with.
He then told me that I can't live off of Gas X, I need to create a more alkaline digestive tract in general so that my esophagus can heal. He reccomended these things:
1) Aloe Vera GEL (not juice, the gel is different and works much better)
2) a great probiotic - the liquid in the bottle in the refrigerator that has billions of bacteria, not the pills or capsules.
3) Ph drops for your drinking water to make it more alkaline. Mine cost $20 from my local healthfood store.
4) oils and extracts that kill h.pilori, a common bacteria that causes us not to be able to digest food well and makes acid in the intestines
5) great digestive enzymes to be taken before meals
6) mineral drops to act as a supplement
If you want to know more, google NICK WALSH stop heart palpitations, he has a book and a website about this very subject. He himself had this for 7 years and researched it for that long, to come up with this protocol for keeping it away. I'm going on my 3 rd day and no palps. The Gas X has been a real godsend, it's the silver bullet that protects you until you can get your GI tract on track to create a non irritating environment in your body.
ALSO- IF you are a woman over 35, know that GERD/LPR is a symptom of MENOPAUSE as is anxiety, dizziness and other symptoms. There are great threads with tons of useful info about this. Your hormones are changing levels- when progesterone dominates it causes muscle weakness, and your GI tract is made of muscle. If you sphincters become weak, it causes GERD and therefore eventual heart palpitations in some people due to irritation of the Vegas nerve. Your whole mission should be to create a body that is as inflammation free as possible.
Follow the GERD diet- no spicy foods, no red meat, no fats and oils except healthy flax and other oils that are good for the body. Sleep with the head of your bed elevated 6-8 inches from the foot, and don't eat 2 hours before lying down, let gravity help you.
Oh, and try not to sit in abdomen-crunching positions, keep your back straight. It's harder than you think. I was slouching my way through life. Do exercises that don't pound and irritate but are smooth, like walking.
It's a LOT to learn and take in, I'm still learning a lot. What I didn't learn on my own, NICK WALSH helped me with.
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Heart Rhythm Community
Are there grounds to recommend coffee consumption? Recent studies perk interest.
Salt in food can hurt your heart.
Get answers to your top questions about this common — but scary — symptom
How to know when chest pain may be a sign of something else
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
