Heart Palpitations

[Sugarphreak]

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[jdmXSI]

last year was a super stressful year for me for both work and personall life. I started getting them in mid summer and by September they started waking me up in the middle of the night and it was pretty scary! If there is something in your life that is stressing you out, let it go. Look back to similar things that have happened to you in the past and did they eventually work themselves out?

As for dietary, I tried to eat as whole as possible. Cut out deep fried foods, processed food, coffee and alcohol for about 2 months. I did increase my water intake as I was below the recommended level, started taking vitamin b complex and d supplements. The one thing that really helped was weight training at the gym on a regular basis (4-5 times a week).

The one thing that fully eased my mind was I went to the dr and had a blood test and ekg (I think) and everything was fine.

That is all I can think of for now that helped with my situation.
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[locust]

I had similar situations in the past and did full blood work, ekg and a bunch of other tests.
I even ended up in internal medicine at one point for diagnostics.
It was alot of self induced stress and for me what helped was mostly diet and yoga / physical exercise and letting things go. Easier said then done.

One thing I found help during these episodes was a hot shower and just breathing the humid air. A humidifier helps as well.

I cut out alot of the processed food, and started to eat a lot leaner and cleaner.
Removed caffeine and really cut down snacks and sugar.

[heavyfuel]

This can also happen when your electrolytes get out of balance. I get them all the time when I'm on a low-carb week. Bottle of Gatorade or coconut water fixes it each time.

And turn the give-a-fuck down, that helps too.

[Sugarphreak]

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[zipdoa]

Originally posted by heavyfuel
And turn the give-a-fuck down, that helps too.

This, more than anything.

Stress is a real killer. Keep yourself in good shape, physically and mentally.

I found meditation worked best for me, get on that yoga time.

[ZenOps]

Could be worms too. A vigorous gargling of scope, listerine or a vodka nightcap before hitting the sheets helps some.

[firebane]

Its called old age LOL.

[bspot]

I get atrial fibrillation here and there, which has the same symptoms as what you're describing.

I've been defibrillated for it before, as I got down below 10 bpm and the heart monitor was alarming but after a bunch of tests know that everything is structurally fine in my heart.

What helped the most is getting it thoroughly checked out and being told I'm not going to die from it. I find I can usually just relax, calm myself down, and it will go away.

There have been a couple times in the last few years it's persisted (several hours) and the two solutions where:

1) My favorite soccer team scored a goal to win late, I stood up, cheered, sat down, and it was gone.

2) My car battery was dead and I was pop starting my car in the Petro parking lot at Edm Trail and Memorial (not much room). My heart was going crazy that day, so my wife had to push. I was focusing so hard to pop the clutch and get the car started, yet slam on the brakes before crashing into the nearest storefront and after all the focusing I was fine again.

For anyone who has this, look into taking a daily aspirin. It can happen without you feeling it, and stroke risk goes wayyyy up.

For everyone, daily aspirin actually is linked with longer life expectancy.

[Sugarphreak]

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[ZedMan]

I get this once in a while -- just a single kind of weird "miss" feeling in my chest followed by a strong beat. Get it most often when going to bed as well, or after eating. They started out when I moved for work (higher stress situation I guess) and coincided with some mild tachycardia. Anyways, got the full meal deal (EKG + HOLTER 24 hrs + echocardiogram) and was given a clean bill of health. Tachycardia went away once I managed to chill out a bit . Still kind of freaks me out, though. I liked it better when the ol' ticker just did it's thing and I never noticed it.

[Sugarphreak]

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[g-m]

you've left me with the sudden intense longing for salmon right when I was about to go to bed

[danno]

A couple years ago I had two weeks off and did next to nothing, I was so lazy I could feel my heart beating. I got nervous about the rhythm but as soon as I was back at work I forgot. Haha.

[Sugarphreak]

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[killramos]

I had it when I started a sit down office job and has fresh coffee available to me all day combined with work stress.

For me the cure was going off caffeine for a few weeks.

I still have problems if I exceed 1-2 red bulls in a day esp if I have had anything to drink.

Cutting ANY coffee will help a lot imo. It might get worse before it gets better if you drink it heavily as an fyi.

[revelations]

I had it for a while - its known as PVC (pre ventricular contraction) in the medical business. I went for a treadmill test (where I had it during the recovery stage) and I wore a heart loggin/monitor device for 4 days. A few episodes, but nothing really worth looking at they said.

Turns out it was related to my restless leg syndrome, which, can cause sleep issues, which can cause PVC. Also, as stupid as it sounds, I have NEVER (until recently) learned to breathe properly (through the belly instead of the chest) and thus have always been behind the curve. This has helped my restless leg, which has helped my PVC ......

[bspot]

Luckily for me caffeine and booze don't seem to do it. Binge boozing is a common trigger (A-fib is sometimes called "Holiday Heart Syndrome").

The one weirdest trigger.... wearing hockey pants, and bending over to tie my skates. The top of the pants pushing up into my diaphragm usually sets it off, although it stops as soon as I set up.

Weird.

Hearts should just work dammit.

[Sugarphreak]

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[flipstah]

Alcohol gives me heart palpitations. It sucks.

Sounds like you need to do something that's not as difficult as work but busier than sedentary life.

I think they call that a 'hobby'.