New palpitations

[shmtty28]

I'm 26/m.  I've been experiencing a new awareness of my heart beating.  When it happens it's not fast or slow, just normal pace.  I saw a doctor yesterday and he listened to my heart and did an EKG and told me that I was fine.  Later that day I felt like I was gonna have a heart attack!  Im a body builder and take many supplements including the proteins, creatine, aminos, and other vitamins.  Today I stopped all the supplements.  I do not feel like I should go to the gym.  Any advice would be appreciated

[itdood]

I've been there too, it happened in my late 20s, early 30s.  I used to weight train too, I wouldn't call it body building because I didn't do it to compete though I trained at a competitive pace.  People knew I "worked out" even when I had bulky clothes on.

As time went on, I experienced all sorts of fun and craziness with my heart.  Add to it that my father had a massive MI when he was only 42 and needed a heart transplant.  Long story short, many many tests, many many scares, I'm about to turn 45 and I haven't even died yet.  go figure! It never affected my life other than making me worry for no damn good reason.  It's even held me back.  I started running back in January, and I feel like I'm in better cardio shape now than when I was a "young man".  I could kick young ITdood's *** if he ever showed up at my doorstep.  

anyways, you're doing the right things by getting tested.   We start the aging process mid 20s, things are going to change with your body.  remember, I'm here to tell you that after 20 years of these changes I feel fantastic and all the worry was for naught.  

Easier said than done.  I know.  

Poster above me had some good info on the holter monitor.  that would be your next step if you have further concerns.

As for the supps, B12 can trigger palps.  the other stuff, the aminos, I can't think of anything.   I took creatine too when I worked out but I gave up on it, it moved me off a plateau I was on for years but I plateaued on that really quick and actually started to fall back.   why bother. Creatine was as far as I ever went.

[david2951]

  If these palpitations are fairly frequent (meaning it wasn't just for a few days and never before and never since) then I would say that it might be a good idea to ask for a 24 hour Holter study. If your insurance covers it, it will be of great help to you. You would go to a cardiologist and they hook up some EKG leads to your chest. You wear it for 24 hours as you go through your normal day. I would suggest going through everything you do, including all your athletic activities. They will ask you to keep a journal of when you feel any heart palpitations. You then turn the recording box in the next day and they analyze the results. If you are having certain sorts of arrhythmias they will probably show up on this test and you can move from there. If you feel no palpitations during this test, and no arrhythmias show up in your results (sometimes they present themselves even if you didn't feel the palpitations) then it might be best to ask for an event monitor, which is the same thing, except that you wear it for a month (and take it on and off during showering). The goal is to catch the palpitations in action. The problem with an arrhythmia issue is that unless you get the palpitations right in the doctor's office they can't really help you. Obviously your doc said you were fine because at that moment you were. But if they have the EKG from the whole day or whole month they just go to the times when you say you had the palpitations and they see what's going on.
    In the meantime, if your palpitations are bothersome, or if they start to come accompanied by more insidious symptoms such as dizziness or shortness of breath or chest pain, I would suggest avoiding certain things that can be "arrhythmia stimulants" such as anxiety, stress, caffeine, high carb diets, lots of sugar, processed food, heavy workouts, etc, etc. Just use common sense and learn what causes them for you.
      The only reason palpitations could be a truly bad thing is that certain types of arrhtymias such as V-tach or A-fib can lead to other more serious problems such as sudden cardiac death (V-tach which leads to deadly V-fib) or stroke (A-fib). If it turns out you have one these don't worry, you're still going to be fine. Depending on the severity you would just have to treat it with either medication, catheter ablation (an outpatient procedure) or perhaps (if it is pretty advanced, although probably not in your case) installing a pacemaker or ICD, so you wouldn't have to worry about going into sudden cardiac arrest. The good news is that you have felt your palpitations, so if anything really is wrong (probably not) you will be able to treat it before it does anything bad to you. Some people with the bad kinds of arrhythmias find out when they just suddenly pass out and die. That's not going to happen to you because you have noticed your palpitations and can now find out if they are of the dangerous variety or not. Good luck to you, and hoping your palpitations subside real soon!