heart palpitations Are ruining my life

Hi Savanna, sorry to hear of your troubles. You mean your heart rate goes to 134? Does it stay that fast for a long time?

I know that doctors tend not to take this seriously at first, I've seen that happen to me, and lots of others see it too. And it seems that usually this is somewhat OK, it's scary but it's more of a problem long-term than short.

Have the given you any meds yet? At least for a fast heart rate something like the beta blockers are commonly given, and they sometimes help with palpitations, too.

Do you know if anything like this runs in your family?

Hi Savannah,

Im 36 years old and i know exactly how you feel. i have struggled with palpitations for years. The crazy thing is I only get them for a few months every year and then they seem to be there but I just find ways to make them not take over my life. They ruin everything! My intimacy with my wife, trying to enjoy time with family or friends, sleeping and also when im eating. here lately my heartrate gets really slow when im eating and i get more episodes of palpitations during and after. No one understands what it feels like. ive been to the ER and to cardiologists multiple times for the same problem. Sometimes i just want to just leave and cry because it feels so bad. I was fine for the last year and about 3 weeks ago they started again out of no where. i dont smoke or drink or do drugs or drink caffiene. i do all the right things and still they keep coming back to ruin my life. im tired of this. im just glad that you understand how it is and feels. i always like to talk to people that feel the same way becasue it makes you feel good that other people are out there that feel the same way and are going thru the same problem. continue to write to me and perhaps we can talk some more and hopefully try to make things better.

Hi Savannah,

I've experienced heart palpitations on and off for years but more intensely over the past few years. Recently I seem to have them roughly under control and wanted to share my experience of how I managed this. Bear in mind palpitations can come and go throughout your life.

I would recommend giving up all stimulants/depressants. At the recommendation of my cardiologist I stopped using caffeine, I don't feel like caffeine causes my arrhythmia but it can exacerbate it.

I was also using nicotine in the form of NRT or snus so I quit these as well. I'm fairly sure nicotine changes the type of arrhythmia I have, some of the scariest arrhythmic feelings I've had whilst on nicotine or in withdrawal of nicotine. The withdrawal process can make arrhythmia worse, I've been through this process a few times (after starting snus again) and it can be awful but ultimately worth it.

I also essentially quit alcohol too, like caffeine I don't think it directly causes my arrhythmia but if I'm having them it certainly makes it worse. These days I limit myself to a beer every now and then.

I've also experimented with many types of supplements; magnesium, potassium, taurine, Co-Q10, vitamin D and many others. Generally I found magnesium and potassium to be effective at stopping an acute attack but using them long term actually results in the arrhythmia getting worse. For this reason I no longer take supplements.

Diet has been really important for me, I was also diagnosed with colitis a few years ago so I had to take a close look at what I was eating. I used cronometer to track my diet and adjust it to fulfill my nutrient and macro-nutrient needs. A blood test revealed I had mild low potassium but was never recommended to address this so I decided to myself. I make a breakfast smoothie with:

2 bananas

avocado

kefir

blueberries

cucumber

cocoa powder (this is optional as other constituents of cocoa can worsen arrhythmia)

Some people recommend a low Tyramine diet, if you google "Tyramine red wine cheese" you'll find a story about a guy who cured his palpitations by reducing foods with Tyramine. I tried this but didn't have much success.

The vagus nerve can affect the heart, bloating and stomach upsets can bring on arrhythmia. After lunch is a prime time for my arrhythmia to come on. If I eat more smaller portions over the day I can avoid the afternoon flip flops.

Exercise also seems to play a part, not to much or too little. The tricky bit here is the type of arrhythmia you have. As I mentioned mine have changed a few times, I've had them appear when I exercise and also disappear when I exercise, this might be hard to believe but it's what happened to me! Luckily currently mine appear at rest and disappear if I exercise.

I've been following a ~30 mins a day exercise routine with a lot of stretches in between. I mentioned the vagus nerve above being a culprit but although I have no evidence for this I believe other nerves can also affect arrhythmia, so I've been very thorough in my stretches recently.

I hope some of this info helps, I've tried to note down all my trials and tribulations here and if I think of anymore I'll update here.

Best of luck, Tom.

Hi Savanna, I know this is an older post but I thought my experience might be something you are or were contending with. I've been progressively getting worse since March 2020. Now I'm house bound due to my inability to move without my heart racing up to 135 bpm or higher. Initially I had vestibular migraines, neck stiffness, nausea and acid reflux. It evolved into POTS. I also have gastritis and a UTI. With doctors living in silos and being clueless I had to do my own investigating. With the one constant being neck pain, I had my doctor send a req for a cervical MRI as I was convinced I had craniocervical instability. I didn't have that but I did have a mess in my neck - bulging discs and broken spurs in the spinal canal. Needless to say, its likely my vagus nerve is being compressed. If you look into this, it can cause a slew of issues including palpitations after eating which I currently contend with as well. I got rid of my migraines, dizziness and nausea by wearing a cervical collar every day and am getting traction work on my neck at a clinic that deals with whiplash, etc. For those of you enduring these heart issues (or gastro), you could very well have a spinal problem that needs addressing.